Lots of folks out yesterday enjoying just about perfect weather and conditions up on the ridge. We ran into several larger groups and many small groups and looks like everyone else was enjoying the long views, lack of bugs and nice breeze. It started out cold at Appalachia and when arriving at Madison hut there was frost on the ground. I had been on the fence if I was going to do a full presi of a "lite" version but once we un on the ridge we switched into full presi mode. Although there were lot of folks out on the ridgeline, I didn't run into that many folks I recognized, with a few notable exceptions like Trailtrotter Sue and chance sighting of Doug Mayer in trailrunning form heading in the opposite direction.
We headed up over Washington with goal of not being sucked into the "summit black hole". After a wait in line for water we headed out having spent about 15 minutes. We then headed down to Lakes and scored some of the last snacks of the day which were greatly appreciated. While at lakes we noticed that despite a scree wall that the old closed route of Crawford Path that heads out from the hut seems to be getting a lot of use these days.
As we headed over Monroe the high clouds from the south were starting to come in but views and conditions were heard to beat. On Eisenhower we got our one and only cloud shadow when a puffy cloud went overhead. We also ran into a family from the NW that were hiking with their daughter who had attended Dartmouth. They were somewhat happy to hear that the minimal traverse did not include Jackson as they had gotten a somewhat late start and they were getting concerned that they would be getting down far later then expected.
I definitely think that my dislike for non winter use of the lower Crawford Path from Pierce to Rt 302 is related to being the end of a traverse day. Add in headlamps for the lower part and reinforces my dislike. Despite generally dry conditions recently it feels like every step is a mud hole followed by a rock to slip on. Eventually after what seemed like a hours we came out the parking lot and ran into a few other groups that had finished.
Overall hard to beat the day.
We headed up over Washington with goal of not being sucked into the "summit black hole". After a wait in line for water we headed out having spent about 15 minutes. We then headed down to Lakes and scored some of the last snacks of the day which were greatly appreciated. While at lakes we noticed that despite a scree wall that the old closed route of Crawford Path that heads out from the hut seems to be getting a lot of use these days.
As we headed over Monroe the high clouds from the south were starting to come in but views and conditions were heard to beat. On Eisenhower we got our one and only cloud shadow when a puffy cloud went overhead. We also ran into a family from the NW that were hiking with their daughter who had attended Dartmouth. They were somewhat happy to hear that the minimal traverse did not include Jackson as they had gotten a somewhat late start and they were getting concerned that they would be getting down far later then expected.
I definitely think that my dislike for non winter use of the lower Crawford Path from Pierce to Rt 302 is related to being the end of a traverse day. Add in headlamps for the lower part and reinforces my dislike. Despite generally dry conditions recently it feels like every step is a mud hole followed by a rock to slip on. Eventually after what seemed like a hours we came out the parking lot and ran into a few other groups that had finished.
Overall hard to beat the day.
