Crawford Path – David Kotz

Southern Presies

There’s still snow in them thar hills.

Today was a glorious day – one of those blue-sky days that makes you amazed to be part of this world, especially when you are strolling above treeline along one of the most incredible mountain ranges in the northeastern United States. Three friends and I took advantage of the Memorial Day holiday to head for the Presidential Range of the White Mountains here in New Hampshire. Centered on Mount Washington, the highest peak in the northeast, most of the peaks in this range are named for U.S. Presidents and nearly the entire range is above treeline.

Jen, Lelia, Lars, David, and Karhu on Mount Monroe, with Mount Washington in the background. Presidential Range, White Mountains, NH.

Today, we left one car near the western base of Mount Washington, hiked up the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail to Lakes of the Clouds, where there is an AMC Hut, then followed the ridgeline south over Mounts Monroe, Eisenhower, and Pierce, before descending the Crawford Path to our second car in Crawford Notch. We were ably led throughout by the indomitable Karhu, who had a knack for sniffing out the right the trail and pausing whenever he reached a trail junction. We often stopped to enjoy the sunshine and nibble a snack.

We had spectacular views and occasionally crossed some of the winter’s remaining patches of snow! Check out the full photo gallery to share the views.

Mount Pierce and Mitzpah Hut

View of the Presidential Range from near the summit of Mt. Pierce, White Mountains.

Back in New Hampshire, I spent the weekend at the Mount Washington Hotel in the White Mountains – with perfect weather and a grand view of the Presidential Range. Pam joined me for the two-night stay. On Saturday morning the day broke cool and clear so I headed a few miles down the road to Crawford Notch and headed up the Crawford Path. This path is the oldest continuously used mountain trail in the United States, dating to 1819. There were few people on the trail this early in the morning (7am), but that would soon change. Read on, and check out the photo gallery.

Mitzpah hut

A hike up to Mitzpah hut on a snowy day.

My friend David Metsky wrote this trip report about our hike up to Mitzpah hut on a snowy day.

On a fine winter weekend, Dave Kotz and I decided to hike up to Mizpah Hut from Crawford Notch, via the Crawford Path. It had just snowed and we were expecting deep snow conditions. But the snow was very light and fluffy, so hiking wasn’t a problem.

The trip to the hut is pretty straightforward, just up the Crawford Path and take a right onto the Mizpah cut-off, total distance is only about 3 miles. People had hiked in front of us, but in places the light snow had drifted in and completely covered the tracks.

When we got to the closed hut the weather seemed to be turning worse. The snow was falling heavier as we stopped for lunch. There were lots of folks tenting near the hut (much too close, actually) and one group set up their tents under a huge huge cornice on the far end of the hut. I hope they made it through the night.

We walked around the hut to the backside for a view, then nice hike outthrough the snowy trees. The weather started clearing a bit, and we got nice views in the notch of the old Crawford House, Saco Lake, and the old Crawford Depot. Through the clouds we even got some nice views of Mt Avalon and Mt Field. Then we shoveled out Dave’s car and were on our way.

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