WeRmudfun
New member
Well it has been almost 2 months since we have been able to breathe in fresh 4000+’ air and this hike was well worth it. Between the Christmas season and work requirements it’s been a long 2 months. We also broke in a new camcorder on this hike. We hope to incorporate both camcorders into our future videos.
We got to the Crawford Connector trailhead parking lot, off Mt Clinton Road, about 7:30AM. We decided that light traction would be the order of the day and we wore them start to finish. All the reports we had read online made it sound as if snowshoes would be overkill and they were right. We packed for the cold, but it ended up staying in our packs as the day turned out to be quite unusually nice for Jan 31.
The hike over to Crawford Path was uneventful and the trail was nicely packed. After taking the bridge to cross Gibbs Brook, we saw that the Mizpah Spring Hut was closed, which we figured, so there was no sense making the side trip to see an empty hut. We headed up the Crawford Path, stopping at Gibbs Falls to see the frozen falls, then we stopped to check out the artifacts from the dam that use to be the water supply the Crawford House.
We continued along the trail, which is also nicely packed, on what seemed to be a continuous incline, but nothing overly strenuous. Checking snow depth from a fallen tree, we figured there was only about 7’ of snow on the trail. What we were thinking is how much fun the new sleds were going to be coming down in some spots.
Spoiler alert, we did try them on the way down, but they are extremely fast, so we need practice on a smaller hill first.
We did stopped at the trail junction for the Mizpah to spend a little time with the GrayJays. We hadn’t run into too many people at this point. Continuing to move along we hit the Alpine Zone, we grabbed the Mount Pierce geocache just before it. Yup we geocache all year round and some are winter friendly. Funny thing was we no sooner entered the Alpine Zone and it looked like a winter wonder land. There seemed to be much more snow on the ground and trees. It wasn’t long after that we got our first sneak preview of the views. Mountain Forecast has listed that there would be winds 20-30 MPH and cloudy, so far they had been wrong. There were clouds looking over to Washington, but they looked more like a backdrop, the summit was cloud free. When we got to the trail junction with the Webster Cliff Trail, we took it to bag Mt Pierce for the 4th time and really were enjoying the day and the views.
We could see clouds on the horizon and figured we should get a move on to Eisenhower before they came in to ruin the day. The ridge walk was as pleasant as it has been the last few times we took it. As we were walking along we saw were someone had postholed. I stuck my trekking pole in and it appeared to go down 2ish feet. There is much more snow on top than heading up to the top. We ran into one couple that made us realize that we are ‘peakbaggers’. They were just out for a hike, they didn’t summit either mountain. They went as far as the Eisenhower Loop Trail and turned around. I don’t think I could do that. Now I want to try, but I think I might fail.
When we got to the Loop Trail and started heading up, things in the weather department were changing. We could hear the wind starting to whip around. The hike up was easy, but when we hit the summit that was the first time we put the hats and hoods on. The views were not as great as they were on Pierce. We took some pictures and a video pan. The clouds were messing with the auto focus so some of the video pan is blurred. We had the summit to ourselves, but didn’t waste much time up there. The two summits were like night and day as far as wind conditions went. I guess Mountain Forecast, did get part of it right.
We were hoping to have lunch on the summit, but that was not going to work, so we stopped and had lunch at the Loop Trail junction on the way down. As when we ate more people were making the trek over to Ike including a guy in ¾ length pants and no shirt. We asked if he lost a bet. He said no, he just hikes this way. Power to him, we saw him later in the day too and he was still shirtless.
After lunch we headed back across the ridge and down to the parking lot. We thought about going down Edmunds Path and road walking Mt Clinton road, but not have the snowshoes we were afraid, we might need them.
Overall it was a great day to get out and hike after a long recess from hiking.
Anyone interested in seeing the hike or trail conditions we did post our usual video on YouTube, just click the link… Best viewed at 1080p60
We got to the Crawford Connector trailhead parking lot, off Mt Clinton Road, about 7:30AM. We decided that light traction would be the order of the day and we wore them start to finish. All the reports we had read online made it sound as if snowshoes would be overkill and they were right. We packed for the cold, but it ended up staying in our packs as the day turned out to be quite unusually nice for Jan 31.
The hike over to Crawford Path was uneventful and the trail was nicely packed. After taking the bridge to cross Gibbs Brook, we saw that the Mizpah Spring Hut was closed, which we figured, so there was no sense making the side trip to see an empty hut. We headed up the Crawford Path, stopping at Gibbs Falls to see the frozen falls, then we stopped to check out the artifacts from the dam that use to be the water supply the Crawford House.
We continued along the trail, which is also nicely packed, on what seemed to be a continuous incline, but nothing overly strenuous. Checking snow depth from a fallen tree, we figured there was only about 7’ of snow on the trail. What we were thinking is how much fun the new sleds were going to be coming down in some spots.
Spoiler alert, we did try them on the way down, but they are extremely fast, so we need practice on a smaller hill first. We did stopped at the trail junction for the Mizpah to spend a little time with the GrayJays. We hadn’t run into too many people at this point. Continuing to move along we hit the Alpine Zone, we grabbed the Mount Pierce geocache just before it. Yup we geocache all year round and some are winter friendly. Funny thing was we no sooner entered the Alpine Zone and it looked like a winter wonder land. There seemed to be much more snow on the ground and trees. It wasn’t long after that we got our first sneak preview of the views. Mountain Forecast has listed that there would be winds 20-30 MPH and cloudy, so far they had been wrong. There were clouds looking over to Washington, but they looked more like a backdrop, the summit was cloud free. When we got to the trail junction with the Webster Cliff Trail, we took it to bag Mt Pierce for the 4th time and really were enjoying the day and the views.
We could see clouds on the horizon and figured we should get a move on to Eisenhower before they came in to ruin the day. The ridge walk was as pleasant as it has been the last few times we took it. As we were walking along we saw were someone had postholed. I stuck my trekking pole in and it appeared to go down 2ish feet. There is much more snow on top than heading up to the top. We ran into one couple that made us realize that we are ‘peakbaggers’. They were just out for a hike, they didn’t summit either mountain. They went as far as the Eisenhower Loop Trail and turned around. I don’t think I could do that. Now I want to try, but I think I might fail.
When we got to the Loop Trail and started heading up, things in the weather department were changing. We could hear the wind starting to whip around. The hike up was easy, but when we hit the summit that was the first time we put the hats and hoods on. The views were not as great as they were on Pierce. We took some pictures and a video pan. The clouds were messing with the auto focus so some of the video pan is blurred. We had the summit to ourselves, but didn’t waste much time up there. The two summits were like night and day as far as wind conditions went. I guess Mountain Forecast, did get part of it right.
We were hoping to have lunch on the summit, but that was not going to work, so we stopped and had lunch at the Loop Trail junction on the way down. As when we ate more people were making the trek over to Ike including a guy in ¾ length pants and no shirt. We asked if he lost a bet. He said no, he just hikes this way. Power to him, we saw him later in the day too and he was still shirtless.
After lunch we headed back across the ridge and down to the parking lot. We thought about going down Edmunds Path and road walking Mt Clinton road, but not have the snowshoes we were afraid, we might need them.
Overall it was a great day to get out and hike after a long recess from hiking.
Anyone interested in seeing the hike or trail conditions we did post our usual video on YouTube, just click the link… Best viewed at 1080p60
