Stratton Mountain (3,936 ft) 2-21-21

Distance: 7.51 mi.
Elevation: 1,835 ft (overall) 2,068 ft (total)
Time: 2:17 (Summit) 3:53 (Total)
Trails: Long Trail

With little time so far this winter for hiking, it was time to get in my first "winter" hike of the season. I picked Stratton Mountain because I wanted to get back here when the views were clearer than the last time I was here, and I also knew it would be an easier hike due to the gradual incline and lower elevation gain for a New England Hundred Highest peak. But also, and maybe more importantly, my hiking partner Miles the Mountain Monkey needed this peak to get closer to finishing up his hundred highest peaks.

For some reason I was thinking that the Stratton-Arlington Road wasn't plowed all the way to the summer trail head and that I would be hiking in from the IP Road to get to the trail crossing there. I was a bit surprised to find it was and that there wasn't any tracks heading out the IP road. From the summer trail head though there was a nice packed trail. This meant a bit longer hike than I initially planned, but probably better conditions and not needing to avoid snowmobile traffic walking up the side of their trail to get to where the Long Trail crosses is.

Starting the hike at the normal summer time trail head

The trail to the crossing of the snowmobile trail is mostly flat and today was well packed. It made for a good warm up for the hike. There are a couple small brooks through here, but they all had bridges or were easy to step across. Once to the snowmobile trail I quickly crosses even though you could easily hear if someone was coming. I took a quick break to adjust just off to the side before continuing on.

A nice easy start to warm up with

After crossing the snomobile trail the hiking trail starts to gain a little elevation, but still stays pretty mellow. There was what appeared to be one brook crossing through here that looked like the terrain under the snow was pretty rocky. This was a bit messy to snowshoe across mostly because it appears recent traffic was more from skiers and it wasn't packed well.

As you continue up the mountain it slowly gets a little bit steeper about two thirds of the way up, but it never really gets that steep. I still think this is one of the easiest hikes on the NEHH list. Gradually you do work out of the hardwoods and into more spruce trees. A lot of snow has accumulated on the branches in places and quite often I had to lean out and around branches or duck under low hanging ones. Near the summit the trail levels out a little bit again before going though a narrower opening in the trees just before the summit area and tower.

Snow covered trees closer to the summit

As expected in the winter, today the tower was covered in snow and ice that had built up on it. That means going up the stairs is a bit tricky since they aren't flat, they can be slippery, and there isn't much room for your feet. I carefully made my way up to get the views and take some pictures. I didn't stay up as long as I normally would have because it was pretty cold and very windy above the trees today. You could go up into the cabin to get out of the wind, but all the windows are also covered in snow and ice so you wouldn't be able to see anything. The views are great in all directions though and it wasn't anywhere near as hazy as the last time I was here.

Summit tower

Summit view to the south

Summit view to the north

The tower had a thick layer of snow and ice

After a fair amount of time on the summit enjoying the blue sky and sun, I left the other hikers that had shown up and headed back down the mountain. The hike down went smoothly considering the snowshoe that I noticed had a broken binding at the start of the hike broke even more. It stayed on well, but twisted side to side too much at times. In the end conditions were good enough I could have used spikes for the descent. About half of the people today were wearing them anyways.

Hiking back down with low branches to duck under

Limited view to the south on the descent

Back to the open hardwoods

Today turned out to be a great hike on a nice gentle peak. It was good to get out for the one winter hike I actually had time for. The only thing that could have been better were if there was less wind so I could have stayed on the tower longer. But below the trees the wind wasn't bad at all so I can't complain.

Google Earth representation of the hike

For all the pictures from the hike, just go to my gallery on SmugMug

Mt. Pierce, Mt. Eisenhower & Mt Jackson 3-7-20

Distance: 11.8 mi.
Elevation: 2,920 ft (overall) 4,911 ft (total)
Time: 1:54 (Pierce) 3:01 (Eisenhower) 4:01 (Pierce) 5:31 (Jackson) 6:37 (Road) 6:52 (Total)
Trails: Crawford Connector, Crawford Path, Eisenhower Loop, Webster Cliff Trail, Webster Jackson Trail, Route 302

With the official winter hiking season almost over, I needed to get at least a second hike in for the season. The weather was looking pretty good other than a little windy. Given the forecast, I decided it was time to get some of the southern presidentials checked off the list. These would give the chance of great views while providing shelter in the trees for most of the hike. My plan for today was Mt. Pierce, my favorite southern presidential peak, and Mt. Eisenhower. If weather, time, and energy allowed, maybe I would add on either Mt. Monroe of Mt. Jackson.

From the Mt. Clinton Rd parking lot I used the Crawford Connector to get over to the Crawford Path. This short trail was well packed from everyone else previously this winter. Once on the Crawford Path the trail was even smoother. It was like super highway and was perfect for microspikes. The hike up the trail went quicker than I thought it would as I played leapfrog with a group of other hikers. The trail has a steady incline for almost the whole length of it which made it easier to keep a nice pace that was a bit quicker than I expected. Once up to the ridge though, the trees stopped sheltering me from the wind and it was time to adjust layers and put on either some goggles or sunglasses. I started off by tagging Mt. Pierce since it is so close to the junction. It is almost my favorite of the southern peaks on the range due to its great views while still having partial tree cover which is different than all the peaks to the north.

Packed trail heading up the Crawford Path

The summit of Mt. Pierce was a good place to adjust layers, get on my goggles, and strap on my snowshoes. The Crawford Path should be decently packed, but I expected some drifting and would rather have snowshoes on for that instead of not have them on for the well packed sections. The area around the junction of the Crawford Path and Webster Cliff Trail was the first place snowshoes were useful as there wasn't one set path here and there was certainly some drifting in the snow. After this though the trail was pretty easy to follow and had only a little bit of unpacked snow on top of it most of the time.

View from Mt. Pierce

At this point the wind speeds became more evident. You start to come out of the trees more and until you are completely exposed. The wind was blowing in from the west and I was glad to have my goggles on. It was cold enough I also needed to think about having my face covered as well. I covered what I could, but too much covering and the goggles would just fog up. I was generating enough body heat that I was warm enough with some of my face exposed.

Mt. Eisenhower getting closer

As I neared the summit of Mt. Eisenhower the wind was starting to blow the snow around as well which helped make my face colder. Once up onto the summit of Eisenhower I bundled up more and made sure I was covered up well. There is no shelter other than the summit cairn and I wanted to stay and enjoy the views for a while even if it was cold and windy. After a nice break here and plenty of pictures, it was time to head out. I had decided I wasn't going to try and add Mt. Monroe to this hike because it was too much time exposed to the elements. I probably had enough gear, but better gear would have made that much distance more enjoyable. So I turned around and headed back towards Mt. Pierce.

Mt. Eisenhower summit cairn

Mt. Washington from Mt. Eisenhower

The hike back to Pierce went well with the wind still blowing and the sun still shining. I headed back up to the summit to take in the views again and because I forgot to get a picture of Miles here the first time. It was busier this time with more hikers that were coming up just to tag Mt. Pierce. I checked the time and it was still earlier than I had planned. Since I was still feeling good and had the time, I decided I would add on Mt. Jackson to today's hike. If I wasn't feeling it, I could always bail out after the hut and come back down using the Mizpah Cutoff.

Getting back towards Mt. Pierce

The hike down to the hut was good except the last tenth or two. Most of the trail was pretty well packed and there was only a few tight places due to snow laden trees. The last stretch though is a bit steeper dropping down to the hut and the track was pretty messed up here. It seems a number of hikers have hiked through here without snowshoes which made for lots of deep, messy, and irregularly space holes to avoid. It took care to stay out of them with my snowshoes and a couple of times I avoided the trail all together to stay out of them. There were some people gathered at the hut and also a pair of hikers that were setting up a tent in the opening. I was still feeling good so I decided to go all the way to Jackson from here.

Heading south after Mt. Pierce

Mizpah Hut with some snow up against the doors

The trail to Mt. Jackson was a mix of conditions. In places it was clear others had used snowshoes, in some places it looked like only people without snowshoes had been through, and in other places the trail was drifted in. There was only one place where the trail was hard to follow. In an open area there were tracks leading in two directions. I checked out both directions and picked the one that looked better. I'm not sure if I picked the right one or not, but the path eventually had to push through a small band of thicker spruce trees, so it probably wasn't actually the trail. It was a short off trail path that quickly came back onto the trail though. The rest of the hike to the summit went smoothly and even the steep last section of rock wasn't bad.

Mixed trail conditions heading over to Mt. Jackson

Getting close to Mt. Jackson

The summit of Jackson was windy so I bundled back up again before spending some time taking pictures and enjoying the last big views of the day. It felt good to look all the way back up to Mt. Eisenhower and see how far I had hiked today. After ample time enjoying the summit to myself, I decided it was time to head down off the mountains for the day. Just below the summit and back into the trees, I took off some layers and switched over to microspikes. The trail from here down was like a packed highway again and the spikes would make for a faster descent.

View from Mt. Jackson

Willey Range from Mt. Jackson

View west from Mt. Jackson

On the way down I passed a few people headed up, but traffic was pretty light being later in the day. I made good time on the way down as there aren't many steep sections through here and the conditions were so good. The only difficult part of the descent was a couple sections of ice where the lower part of the trail has some short steep and rocky sections in the warmer months. Other than that the worst part was needing to walk the side of the road back to my truck once I was down.

Packed trail coming down from Mt. Jackson

View of today's three peaks from the entrance of the Mt. Washington Hotel
From the rounded dome of Mt. Eisenhower on the left to small open summit of Jackson on the right

Google Earth representation of the hike

For all the pictures from the hike, just go to my gallery on SmugMug

North Hancock (4,420 ft) & South Hancock (4,319 ft) 1-18-20

Distance: 9.84 mi.
Elevation: 2,275 ft (overall) 3,120 ft (total)
Time: 3:14 (North Hancock) 4:15 (South Hancock) 5:55 (Total)
Trails: Hancock Notch Trail, Cedar Brook Trail, Hancock Loop Trail

I've hiked the Hancocks twice before (first time, second time) with snow covering the trails, but today was the first time I've been able to count them as a "winter" peaks on the 4K list. I'd like to see more of what this hike looks like without snow on the ground, but I had a commitment in the evening and needed a hike I could get done in a relatively short period of time.

I brought my snowshoes with me in the truck this morning, but decided when getting my gear on not to bring them on the hike. Looking up the trail as I crossed it on the road things looked pretty packed down. About 150 feet up the trail I stopped and thought about going back for the snowshoes as the snow was just a bit soft on top. I decided against it and kept hiking up the trail since it was just a bit of soft snow on top. In the end I should have brought them with me today.

Packed Trail and gentle hiking

At the first small brook crossing I put on my microspikes just to be sure I didn't slip on the icy rocks. The extra traction wasn't going to hurt for the trail either. The hike up the trail went pretty fast as it is a long gradual climb to the Hancock Loop Trail. The section of trail that has been rerouted away from the water crossings and mud was nice and had some good character to it. The brook crossings that do still remain along the trail were solidly bridged today, but I still tried to hike over rocks or logs just in case.

Brook Crossing

Frost on the ice at a brook crossing

The Hancock Loop Trail gets a little bit steeper before it splits to head up the peaks. This was the area where I was starting to rethink not bringing the snowshoes. At the split I went left and headed up North Hancock first. I've done the loop in both directions and prefer this way a little bit more. It was going up the steep trail here that I started to really want my snowshoes. They have more traction than spikes and the televators would have been nice. I made the best of it though as spikes were still doing pretty good.

Hancock Loop Trail to North Hancock

Steep climb up North Hancock

After a nice break at the summit of North Hancock and chatting with the other hikers there, I headed across the ridge to South Hancock. I needed some more layers as the cold temps and wind on North Hancock had cooled me off. Along the ridge is where the trail was the least packed down and there was more soft snow on top of it. It would have been worth bringing the snowshoes today just for the walk along the ridge as I had to go slower with spikes and watch where I stepped more. It was still a nice hike over to South Hancock with plenty of snow on the trees and some varying conditions that kept things interesting.

View from North Hancock

A winter wonderland between the peaks

I had the summit of South Hancock to myself for a while before some well known and accomplished hikers (and her dog) showed up. It was nice to meet them in person and chat briefly before we all headed down about the same time. They came up the Arrow Slide which I thought was pretty impressive given the winter conditions. They said it went well until needing to break through the trees at the top. The hike down South Hancock went quick (about 15 minutes if I recall) as at one point near the top I kind of slipped and landed on my butt. I decided this was bound to happen more on the way down and made the best of it by just sliding on my butt where I could and walking the other parts. This was both fast and fun in sections and you had to be careful not to get going too fast. Normally I prefer not to slide down the mountain as it makes it harder for those going up after (in my opinion), but without my snowshoes I thought it would be slow and tedious trying not to fall with just spikes on since others had slide down recently as well.

View from South Hancock

Once back down to the split in the Hancock Loop Trail I did a bit of a fast walk the rest of the way out. Not having snowshoes across the ridge slowed me down more than I hoped for and I still had a time commitment to get home for after the hike. The cool temps made it so that I could do this without getting to hot on the way out. The temps also drained my batteries more in my camera so I wasn't able to take any more pictures after getting to the Hancock Notch Trail. This gave me less reason to stop and more reason to keep hiking along back to the truck.

Smooth sailing down the Cedar Brook Trail

In the end the hike went pretty smoothly and I was still home on time. I wish I had brought my snowshoes with me, but it was nice to finally count these two peaks as winter peaks even though I have only ever hiked them in the snow.

Google Earth representation of the hike

For all the pictures from the hike, just go to my gallery on SmugMug

Old Speck Mtn (4,170 ft) 2-11-19

Distance: 7.13 mi.
Elevation: 2,773 ft (overall) 3,502 ft (total)
Time: 2:40 (Summit) 4:36 (Total)
Trails: Old Speck Trail

With a weekend in northern NH and Mondays off from work right now, it seemed like a great time to bag a winter peak. The closest 4K peak to where I was staying was Old Speck Mountain, so I decided to bring my gear with me and hike up. The last forecast I saw before heading up north was for temps on the summit around 0, but not a lot of wind and only some clouds. That turned out to be partly correct in the end.

I got to the trail head around 9am and found it plowed well, but narrower than in summer. Still room for a number of cars, but not as many as normal. There were also a couple other vehicles with hikers, but they all hiked across the street as I didn't see anyone else after leaving the parking lot. So after picking out my gear and putting it all together I headed up the trail.

The trail was smooth and hard at the start which also made it easy to follow. I started off with my microspikes and ended up leaving them on until I got back to my truck. After a short flat section, the trail starts the steady climb to the summit. The lower section includes one well frozen over brook crossing followed by a series of switchbacks before leaving the lower hardwoods near the upper junction of the Eyebrow Trail.

The only real water crossing, frozen over

Around this same part of the trail you will also come past your first view point with has a nice view down through Grafton Notch. You can also see up towards the summit as well. After this the trail stayed mostly in the spruce which was a bit thicker, but had some more open sections of forest. These open sections could be tricky to navigate after a fresh snow as I didn't notice lots of blazes and they are also getting closer to knee and hip level instead of head height. During the summer there are also some nice sections of exposed ledge that they trail follows through here. I love sections like that, but today the rocks was deeply covered in snow. There still were some views from these sections of trail though.

From the first view point

A brief open section of trail

As the trail got closer to the summit, it also got a bit rougher and was no longer the smooth trench in the snow. The trail at times turned into some spots of less consolidated snowshoe prints/holes. It also appeared to deviate from the summer route as there was at least one feature I remember from the summer that the trail didn't go by today. At a couple points the tracks in the snow would split as previous hikers appeared unsure about the trail. The tracks either stopped quickly, or shortly met back up with the main path. In all instances today, the path to the left was the correct one to follow.

Those blazes are getting a bit low

Where the AT turns off and the trail continues to the summit it was easy to follow through the trees. The snow wasn't deep enough that branches were in your face and this section doesn't gain much elevation so it was pretty easy going. There was only one fallen tree that was easy to walk right around. Once at the summit I added on my outer layer now that I wasn't hiking. I then headed up the tower with my camera and weather meter. At the top I first checked out the 360 degrees views, then checked the wind speeds and temperature. While I knew it was supposed to be cold today, I was surprised when my weather meter claimed it was -17 degrees. I checked the other temperature reading and saw the same thing, guess it was right. No wonder I didn't stop as much to take pictures, I needed to stay warm. The wind was also blowing pretty well which made it feel like a balmy -34 degrees. My coldest summit yet, beating Mt. Hale 7 years ago which was -13.

I stayed up on the tower as long as I could taking pictures and enjoying the views, but dang it was cold and I eventually needed to head back down the tower so I at least had the trees to block the wind. So after a bit longer at the summit, I grabbed my gear and headed back down. I could feel my feet getting a bit cold and thought it best to get moving and warm them back up. Had I known it was going to be this cold, I would have had on a different pair of socks.

The tower at the summit

View northeast over the notch

Looking southwest over the Mahoosuc Notch

Summit view to the southeast

Gray Jay waiting for a snack

The hike back down went smoothly. I knew which tracks to follow and knew that the trail would be in good shape. I moved quick enough to stay warm and only stopped a few more times for pictures or to adjust my gear. The hardest part of the trail today was one ice flow over some exposed rock which had a nice path around it just into the trees. In what seemed like little time, I was back to the parking lot and my truck. I took off my spikes and got my gear ready to go into the truck. Normally I would change some of my layers into dry clothing, but today I wanted to just get in the truck and run the heater. I'd change into another set of clothes later after I was warm.

The trickiest part of the trail today

All in all the hike went very well today with making good time and having great views. It was a bit colder and windier than expected, but I had limited access to forecasts leading up to the hike, which is why I brought lots of options to put into my pack. It was nice to get back to this peak and also check off another 4K in the winter.

Google Earth representation of the hike

For all the pictures from the hike, just go to my gallery on SmugMug

Mt. Monroe (5,372 ft) 12-13-18

Distance: 6.94 mi.
Elevation: 2,860 ft (overall) 3,051 ft (total)
Time: 3:08 (Hut) 3:30 (Monroe) 3:44 (Hut) 5:42 (Total)
Trails: Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail, Monroe Loop

With some time off and the forecast of a bluebird day, I decided it was a good day to try and get in a pre-winter hike of Mt. Monroe. Given the forecast, I wanted something above treeline. I also have not hike the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail before, so I could do some redlining. Adding in the already winter like conditions, and I could check out the hut with with a wall of snow already up against the doors.

Knowing that parking at the cog would cost more, I started the day at the USFS parking lot instead. I was redlining today, so saving $5 and getting to hike the whole trail was the better deal. Even though it was supposed to be warm up high, to start the day it was below 0 at the trail head. Inversion had kept the summit of Mt. Washington warmer than the valley the last couple of days, so it was already 10-15 degrees above up high. I started up the trail with my snowshoes on my pack as well as my spikes. The trail was a bit too narrow and bumpy for snowshoes to be good yet. Spikes could have helped, but weren't really needed.

Crossing Franklin Brook

Before too long and without any difficult sections, I was soon at the junction next to the Ammonoosuc River. From here, spikes would have been helpful, but I still held off on using them. I wasn't in too much of a rush and paying attention to where I put my feet meant I could get by without them. It was nice hiking near the river, and I am sure the trail being so close to it is even better in the summer. There were a few nice views from along this section that provided some good looks up into the ravine as well.

A side hill section of trail along the river

Looking up through the ravine

Once to the Gem Pool, I took my first long break of the day. I could tell just from looking that now the trail was going to get steep. After some time resting and having a snack, I put on my snowshoes. The traction was going to be helpful, but I also wanted the televators to help my legs on the climb. I love having heal lifts on snowshoes and how much better it makes a steep climb. The climb up the Gem Pool was certainly steep, but by keeping a steady pace I wasn't doing too bad. For how little hiking I had done leading up to the end of the year, my legs weren't feeling too bad.

Gem Pool

Higher up in elevation at the cascades, it was interesting seeing how much water was still flowing at such a high elevation. With temps so cold lately and how high up you are, you wouldn't initially think that much water would still be flowing. Above the cascade the trail started to get some drifting of snow in it and the current route deviated from the real trail to take a bit easier and less obstructed route. I didn't see where it actually went back into the trees, but did see where it came out. In the end the trail also came up from the wrong side of the hut as well.

Going up steeply

The cascades

Getting closer to treeline, the trail continued to follow the drainage above the cascades before eventually going to the left more and following a route through the trees that provided fewer obstacles. There was some drifting through here that slowed me down a bit in the steeper sections. Being a Thursday, there hadn't been much recent traffic. Soon the hut started coming into sight and the drifting went away. It was replaced by a very firm layer of snow. I kept on my snowshoes, but spikes would have been fine after the hut.

The Lakes of the Clouds Hut and Mt. Washington

Snow sculpted sign

From the hut you could tell that all the other hikers have been making a straight line approach to the summit. With the snow being so hard, you could go pretty much anywhere lately. With smooth conditions, it didn't take long to get up to the summit. Once I got to the summit, I spent nearly 45 minutes just enjoying the views and taking pictures. It was in the high 20s and the wind was only blowing at about 5mph, a great day to be above treeline.

A straight path up Mt. Monroe

Mt. Washington from the summit

View to the west

View to the south

View to the north

Fun with my crystal ball

More fun with the crystal ball

In the back of my head I was hoping to climb Mt. Washington today as well. But while on the summit I decided against it. I got a later start than I wanted to and took a bit more time getting up to the hut than planned. If I tried for Mt. Washington, I wouldn't be back down until after dark, and I didn't really feel like doing that today. So I decided to take my time and just enjoy the hike a bit more. So I hiked back down to the hut and took some more pictures before going back down into the trees. The decent went smoothly and I kept my snowshoes until until the Gem Pool again. After that I sent back to bare booting it until back at the truck. On the way out I decided to hike the trail out the Cog Railway base station, and then walk the road back to the parking lot. This was I could reline that section of trail as well.

A little bit of snow blocking the doors

Snow encased trees on the way down

In the end the hike went well and the weather was great. It couldn't have gotten much better today. And on a humorous note, I happened to see online that someone I went to grade school with happened to be hiking Mt. Isolation today. After a joking comment made on a photo showing Mt. Monroe where I said I could see myself, it just so happened that the person they were hiking with produced a photo of the summit of Mt. Monroe while I was standing at the top. They were playing with their zoom lens while I happened to be standing at the top. You can't make out much for details, but I can tell that it is the appropriate clothing for what I was wearing and didn't match the only other hiker I saw near the summit.

Me on the summit of Mt. Monroe as seen from Mt. Isolation

For all the pictures from the hike, just go to my Mt. Monroe gallery on SmugMug

Google Earth representation of the hike