| Summary | |
| Owner | MITOC Gallery Administrator |
| Creation Date | 2007-01-29 10:25:58 UTC-0500 |
| Description |
Mt. Pierce January 27th 2007 Steve Block, Anne Lightbody, Stephanie Waterman, Aaron Yahr, Chris Barnhart, Chris Holmes, Meghan Reedy & Noah Silverman After solving on Friday the most complicated transportation logistics problem ever in the history of hiking, the execution on Saturday went perfectly and we all arrived at Crawford Notch without incident. The weather was pretty good, with little wind, scattered clouds and temperatures well above that of the previous frigid evening. We departed the parking lot a little before 10am and began the steady climb up the Crawford Path. We held a steady pace and soon arrived at the Mitzpah Cut-Off trail junction. Waiting for us there was a pair of enterprising birds, who had obviously worked out that this junction was a popular place for a snack break. The birds looked down on as we muched trail mix, swooping down within a second if anything was dropped on the ground. We took the Mizpah Cut-Off trail to the Mizpah Hut and from there followed the AT along the ridge. Here the terrain was steeper and the snow more hard-packed, so we put on crampons and made slow progress upwards. The skies cleared as we approached the summit and a couple of ledges provided great views over the Southern Presidentials and into Crawford Notch. Conditions on top were pretty good, so we pulled out the stoves to make hot chocolate. Once we'd made sure everybody was cold, we packed up and crossed an exposed section back towards the Crawford path, just in time to see a huge bank of dark cloud racing towards us. Back in the trees, the descent trail wasn't quite steep enough for butt-sliding but we made good time and arrived at the trailhead just as dusk fell. Steve |