JohnL
New member
Mts Pierce & Jackson, Saturday Feb 17
After a good deal of email back and forth between Giff, Mike and I regarding a potential objective for Saturday, we ultimately decided on Ike/Pierce with Pierce/Jackson as a backup. There were about ten vehicles in the Crawford Path lot when we pulled in about 8:45 with a couple hikers just starting up the trail. We quickly geared up and headed up the well packed trail.
The walk up was straightforward and we admired the beauty and the quiet of the snow covered forest. We soon came upon the two hikers we had seen leaving the parking lot, briefly chatted and passed them by. As we climbed higher I took out the camera and began shooting a few shots of the guys in front of me making their way through the snow clad trees. The strong winds now made their way though the thin tree cover and we weaved our way through the undulating waves of windswept snow. Soon we broke into the open areas near the junction with the Webster Cliff Trail. Reduced visibility (less than fifty yards) combined with the heavy winds precluded our heading over to Mt Eisenhower. So up we climbed, over the viewless summit of Mt Pierce and with a broken trail ahead of us, we easily made our way over to the Mizpah Hut.
Here we stopped for a quick lunch and we were joined for a solo hiker, Gary, from Vermont. He also is on a quest to climb all the NH 4000 Footers this winter and he peppered us with questions. Come to find out later, this was his first season doing any winter hiking! He joined us for the remainder of the hike, despite our minor misadventure of missing the turn onto the Webster Cliff Trail and continuing down the Mizpah Cutoff for a short ways. With the myriad of false trails around the tent site, a moment’s inattention led us on a half mile goose chase.
The trail over to Mt Jackson was broken out but the packed snow was hardly consolidated. We broke through the track countless times, often popping a knee-deep posthole in the middle of the trail. With our four pairs of snowshoes along with at least two other hikers crossing over, it should be in better shape than we found it.
As we came into the proximity of the summit cone of Mt Jackson, we chatted with each other about backtracking to the Hut if we did not feel like breaking trail down the Webster-Jackson Trail. No sooner had we said this when two hikers came over the top from Mt Jackson. They had broken trail all the way (4 hours) with some assistance from two female hikers who had caught up with them. We gave each other a quick glance so we knew the answer to any question we may have had about which trail to take down.
We thanked the guys for breaking trail and headed to the summit where we met the two women who helped break trail. Through their drawn-up scarves, they chatted with us for a few minutes before I recognized one of them; Michelle. We had hiked together several times a few years back here in the Whites as well as when I finished up my NE67 in the Rangeley area and again up in BSP when five (IIRC) in our group finished up their NE67. It was great to meet again in such a serendipitous fashion, similar to the way we met up on Mt Eisenhower on a cold and very windy day five winters ago. She and her friend Priscilla were making a short day trip of Mt Jackson and their timing was excellent to have two strong hikers break trail ahead of them for most of the way up the mountain.
Our crew was eager to keep moving so we said our good-byes and with that, we were off. Just a short distance down the trail a group of what seemed like eight people was stopped and had taken over a large area directly on and around the trail. At first I thought someone might be injured. I asked if everyone was okay and they said they were just making a snowshoe repair. We were relieved with this news and we continued our descent. We now knew the trail was well stomped down and we cruised down the trail, slowing only to admire the early afternoon lighting in the forest.
We exited the woods shortly after 2:00 and about twenty minutes later we were at the car, gearing down and putting on some dry cotton clothes for the ride home. We said good-bye to Gary, hoping we would run into him again on the trails. After that there was only the long ride ahead of us with dinner and a hot shower waiting at home.
continue for Monday's hike....
After a good deal of email back and forth between Giff, Mike and I regarding a potential objective for Saturday, we ultimately decided on Ike/Pierce with Pierce/Jackson as a backup. There were about ten vehicles in the Crawford Path lot when we pulled in about 8:45 with a couple hikers just starting up the trail. We quickly geared up and headed up the well packed trail.
The walk up was straightforward and we admired the beauty and the quiet of the snow covered forest. We soon came upon the two hikers we had seen leaving the parking lot, briefly chatted and passed them by. As we climbed higher I took out the camera and began shooting a few shots of the guys in front of me making their way through the snow clad trees. The strong winds now made their way though the thin tree cover and we weaved our way through the undulating waves of windswept snow. Soon we broke into the open areas near the junction with the Webster Cliff Trail. Reduced visibility (less than fifty yards) combined with the heavy winds precluded our heading over to Mt Eisenhower. So up we climbed, over the viewless summit of Mt Pierce and with a broken trail ahead of us, we easily made our way over to the Mizpah Hut.
Here we stopped for a quick lunch and we were joined for a solo hiker, Gary, from Vermont. He also is on a quest to climb all the NH 4000 Footers this winter and he peppered us with questions. Come to find out later, this was his first season doing any winter hiking! He joined us for the remainder of the hike, despite our minor misadventure of missing the turn onto the Webster Cliff Trail and continuing down the Mizpah Cutoff for a short ways. With the myriad of false trails around the tent site, a moment’s inattention led us on a half mile goose chase.
The trail over to Mt Jackson was broken out but the packed snow was hardly consolidated. We broke through the track countless times, often popping a knee-deep posthole in the middle of the trail. With our four pairs of snowshoes along with at least two other hikers crossing over, it should be in better shape than we found it.
As we came into the proximity of the summit cone of Mt Jackson, we chatted with each other about backtracking to the Hut if we did not feel like breaking trail down the Webster-Jackson Trail. No sooner had we said this when two hikers came over the top from Mt Jackson. They had broken trail all the way (4 hours) with some assistance from two female hikers who had caught up with them. We gave each other a quick glance so we knew the answer to any question we may have had about which trail to take down.
We thanked the guys for breaking trail and headed to the summit where we met the two women who helped break trail. Through their drawn-up scarves, they chatted with us for a few minutes before I recognized one of them; Michelle. We had hiked together several times a few years back here in the Whites as well as when I finished up my NE67 in the Rangeley area and again up in BSP when five (IIRC) in our group finished up their NE67. It was great to meet again in such a serendipitous fashion, similar to the way we met up on Mt Eisenhower on a cold and very windy day five winters ago. She and her friend Priscilla were making a short day trip of Mt Jackson and their timing was excellent to have two strong hikers break trail ahead of them for most of the way up the mountain.
Our crew was eager to keep moving so we said our good-byes and with that, we were off. Just a short distance down the trail a group of what seemed like eight people was stopped and had taken over a large area directly on and around the trail. At first I thought someone might be injured. I asked if everyone was okay and they said they were just making a snowshoe repair. We were relieved with this news and we continued our descent. We now knew the trail was well stomped down and we cruised down the trail, slowing only to admire the early afternoon lighting in the forest.
We exited the woods shortly after 2:00 and about twenty minutes later we were at the car, gearing down and putting on some dry cotton clothes for the ride home. We said good-bye to Gary, hoping we would run into him again on the trails. After that there was only the long ride ahead of us with dinner and a hot shower waiting at home.
continue for Monday's hike....