HikerAmiga
New member
Mt. Crawford, 3119 feet; Crawford Notch off Rte 302, NH; elevation gain, 2119; 5 miles RT, (my time) 4 hours
Let me share with you the ABC’s of my hiking experience on this much anticipated hike to Mt. Crawford on this day:
A – Annoying bugs
B – Buzzing bugs
C – Curse the bugs!!
Ok, enough of that! You get the picture!
I have long wanted to hike Mt. Crawford and I finally decided that today would be my attempt at hiking it. My expectations were to enjoy a lovely hike due to all the hype I’d heard about this mountain but alas, it was NOT to be as I envisioned. Yes, the bugs were annoying and though they didn’t seem to be biting (except for two who got me in the face and arm), they seemed to have a fetish for my eyes and at times, I could barely see where I was going as I squinted to avoid their landing in my eyes.
Now for ground conditions, the Davis trail was great—nice and dry, clear of any blowdowns and well maintained it appeared with many rock steps to aid on the steeper sections of which there are a few. As a matter of fact, just a tad before the start of the ledges, an AMC crew was hard at work doing maintenance to the water bars! This trail starts off very level after one crosses the Bemis Bridge (over the Saco River) through dense forest and after about 15 minutes or so, it starts to gradually steepen. Eventually, one comes out onto several outcrops of ledges (for me, much anticipated ledges as I was starved and thought to take a lunch break on these!).
Now the interesting part for me was that I found the last .3 mile to go on for ever as each time I reached a different ledge thinking that it was the summit, I noticed it wasn’t and I kept going and going and finally arrived at the highest point on that darn mountain (despite all the descriptions I read I never once saw a cairn, by the way). Oh, and speaking of missing cairns, there was not even a summit sign??
Ok, skipping down further on the ABC’s of my hiking experience on this much anticipated hike to Mt. Crawford on this day:
M – Missing cairns, missing summit sign??
N- Noisy hike and I do mean N-O-I-S-Y – Motorcyle Vrrrroooom’s could be heard incessantly to nearly the summit!! (Sound travels very well in this Presidential Dry River Wilderness and due to the Vrooooms, I really didn't feel I was in a wilderness!
O – Ohhhhhh, the damn bugs were worst on the summit!! (see my bug pics near the end of my album)
Well, on the plus side, I do have to admit that I was pleased that the isolated T storms did not occur in my neck of the woods and later on, I was also pleased that I got the opportunity to redeem myself when I gave an unknown and tired-looking hiker that I met briefly on the trail, a ride to his campground. (I say I redeemed myself because on another recent hike, I didn’t offer Meg and Little Sister a ride to their trailhead when I should have known that it was them and that I should have offered but maybe I should have offered regardless of whether it was them or not, if that makes sense??--I'm ranting; need rest.
More ABC's to end off:
X - Xcellent hike, I guess, just because I was fortunate enough to get out there and enjoy another fine mountain!
Y – You, the reader are commendable too for reading this far into this silly report
Z – Zzzzzz’s - long day, I should stop this jabber and go now and hit the sack to get some rest! :wink:
Pictures are here: http://hikeramiga.phanfare.com/album/315303#imageID=19191920
Best,
HikerAmiga
Let me share with you the ABC’s of my hiking experience on this much anticipated hike to Mt. Crawford on this day:
A – Annoying bugs
B – Buzzing bugs
C – Curse the bugs!!
Ok, enough of that! You get the picture!
I have long wanted to hike Mt. Crawford and I finally decided that today would be my attempt at hiking it. My expectations were to enjoy a lovely hike due to all the hype I’d heard about this mountain but alas, it was NOT to be as I envisioned. Yes, the bugs were annoying and though they didn’t seem to be biting (except for two who got me in the face and arm), they seemed to have a fetish for my eyes and at times, I could barely see where I was going as I squinted to avoid their landing in my eyes.
Now for ground conditions, the Davis trail was great—nice and dry, clear of any blowdowns and well maintained it appeared with many rock steps to aid on the steeper sections of which there are a few. As a matter of fact, just a tad before the start of the ledges, an AMC crew was hard at work doing maintenance to the water bars! This trail starts off very level after one crosses the Bemis Bridge (over the Saco River) through dense forest and after about 15 minutes or so, it starts to gradually steepen. Eventually, one comes out onto several outcrops of ledges (for me, much anticipated ledges as I was starved and thought to take a lunch break on these!).
Now the interesting part for me was that I found the last .3 mile to go on for ever as each time I reached a different ledge thinking that it was the summit, I noticed it wasn’t and I kept going and going and finally arrived at the highest point on that darn mountain (despite all the descriptions I read I never once saw a cairn, by the way). Oh, and speaking of missing cairns, there was not even a summit sign??
Ok, skipping down further on the ABC’s of my hiking experience on this much anticipated hike to Mt. Crawford on this day:
M – Missing cairns, missing summit sign??
N- Noisy hike and I do mean N-O-I-S-Y – Motorcyle Vrrrroooom’s could be heard incessantly to nearly the summit!! (Sound travels very well in this Presidential Dry River Wilderness and due to the Vrooooms, I really didn't feel I was in a wilderness!
O – Ohhhhhh, the damn bugs were worst on the summit!! (see my bug pics near the end of my album)
Well, on the plus side, I do have to admit that I was pleased that the isolated T storms did not occur in my neck of the woods and later on, I was also pleased that I got the opportunity to redeem myself when I gave an unknown and tired-looking hiker that I met briefly on the trail, a ride to his campground. (I say I redeemed myself because on another recent hike, I didn’t offer Meg and Little Sister a ride to their trailhead when I should have known that it was them and that I should have offered but maybe I should have offered regardless of whether it was them or not, if that makes sense??--I'm ranting; need rest.
More ABC's to end off:
X - Xcellent hike, I guess, just because I was fortunate enough to get out there and enjoy another fine mountain!
Y – You, the reader are commendable too for reading this far into this silly report
Z – Zzzzzz’s - long day, I should stop this jabber and go now and hit the sack to get some rest! :wink:
Pictures are here: http://hikeramiga.phanfare.com/album/315303#imageID=19191920
Best,
HikerAmiga
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