Crawford Path to Mt. Washington
New Hampshire
White Mountains National Forest
New Hampshire
White Mountains National Forest
Expedition Date: October 18th 2012
Crew: Dylan DeVesty, Ryan Devesty
Distance: 15 miles
Summits: Pierce, Eisenhower, Franklin, Monroe, Washington
Elevation Gain and loss: 8700 feet
Average Temperature: 20 degrees
Completion Time: 12 hours
Completion Time: 12 hours
The historic Crawford Path ranks as the oldest continuously used and
maintained hiking trail in the Northeastern United States. Dating to
1819, the Crawford Path runs from Route 302 in the vicinity of the
Crawford Hostel to the 6,288-foot summit of Mount Washington.
Base Camp for the weekend. It was $3 dollars a night for parking at the Crawford Connector Trail head. We arrived Friday night at 12am for a 4:30am wake up call Saturday.
Saturday morning we were on the trail by 5am. It was fully dark still so headlamps were a must, especially with all the ice we ran into rite out of the gate.
Crawford Path passes over or very near the summits of Mount Pierce, Mount Eisenhower, Mount Franklin and Mount Monroe before its terminus at the peak of Mount Washington.
It also passes by the well-known Lakes of the Clouds in the vicinity
of the AMC hut bearing the same name. It is the premiere hiking trail
in the southern Presidentials and this path typically constitutes a
significant portion of a "Presidential Traverse.
We expected some snow but nothing like this. As we gained elevation it just got deeper. We went from early Autumn in NJ to full blown Winter in NH.
That golden line out in the horizon is the Atlantic Ocean over half the state of NH and the whole state of Maine. It caught us off guard at first and we didn't even know what it was. Soon we realized we were starring at the Atlantic Ocean. What a sight on this clear morning with the sun beaming down on us.
The ice was bad! We had yaktrax over our boots which gave us well needed traction. Made the going slow.
The climb to our 5th summit Mt. Washington was long and tiring. We had been climbing for 6.5 hours at this point and already bagged 4 peaks. It was getting real.
Blazer Bob tested and approved at the Summit of Mt. Washington "The Home of the Worlds Worse Weather" Yew... For Blazer Products click the link below.
The view from the entrance of Mt Washington Resort. We bagged 5 peaks on this 12 hour day trip including Mt. Washington "Home of The Worlds Worse Weather." One of the hardest day trips of my life. What a day...
