Monroe - Eisenhower - Pierce

Ammonoosuc, Crawford Path

February 22, 2010

Met up with Jeff for a tour of the Southern Presi's. Cloudy sky to start, but temp was 34 degrees and rising as we pulled into the Cog parking lot. The lot was plowed down to pavement and the access road had been sanded.

We barebooted to the Gem Pool, then switched to snow shoes for the steeper section of the trail and the untracked snow. As we approached the hut we started to get views of Washington and blue sky. Throughout the day we would have a mixture of blue sky and clouds, sometimes with 50 foot viz. The clouds gave the views a lot of character.

With limited viz at times we made our way from Monroe exploring the ridge, checking out views of the ravines all around us. Between Eisenhower and Pierce we found very deep drifts that were more like walls of snow. We picked our way between the spruce trees enjoying playing in the fresh powder. We did manage to find a few should deep spurce traps, but it only added to the adventure.

As we approached Pierce we lost all track of the trail, but found a large snowfield that gave us an approached from the South East that was barrier free. After a snack on the summit we headed down to our waiting car at the Highland Center. When we reached the Mizpah cutoff we finally saw the first human tracks that we had seen all day.

Yet another great day in the mountains!

Directions to Trailhead
Rte 93 north to Exit 35. Follow Route 3 East to the intersection with Route 302 in Twin Mountain. Take a right onto Route 302 and follow it south for @ 5 miles to the base rod for the Cog. Follow this to the end and park. The Highland Center and Crawford Station are @ 5 miles further south on Rte 302.

Length of Hike:
8:00 hours
10.0 miles

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