Elevation gain: 3270 feet
Trails used: Crawford Connector, Crawford Path, Appalachian Trail, Mount Eisenhower Loop.
What a way to end February. Based on the weather forecast, our main plan was to head up and get Middle Carter since I still needed that one for my AMC winter 48. While we were driving through Twin Mountain though, the Presidential Range was out in the open with nary a cloud around it. So a quick check of the weather (which was quite a bit different from the day before) and off we went to do Mount Eisenhower, which was along our driving route anyways.
Mount Eisenhower is located in Chandlers Purchase, New Hampshire. It was formerly known as Mount Pleasant before it was renamed after President Eisenhower. The shortest route to the summit (in summer) is via Edmands Path; the trail in winter would require a walk down Mount Clinton Road which is groomed for snowmobiling. The Appalachian Trail runs over the summit of Mount Eisenhower on its way to Maine and/or Georgia (depending on if you are a northbound thru-hiker or southbound).
Mount Eisenhower is on the New Hampshire Four Thousand Footer's list, the New England/New Hampshire 100 Highest/New Hampshire 200 Highest List, and the New Hampshire 3k List.
Brian is excited as he heads up the Crawford Connector trail so we can get to the Crawford Path which we would take up rather than doing the road walk and seeing if Edmunds Path was/is broken out to the summit of Mount Eisenhower.
The bridge over Gibbs Brook with the junction for the Crawford Connector and Crawford Path just on the other side.
We opted to bareboot instead of using snowshoes as the snow was hard packed so the snowshoes went for a ride today.
Brian just loves all the snow on the tree's. The higher we got up on the Crawford Path, of course, the deeper snow and snow laden trees came out to play.
Hey, its still winter up here. Just don't step off the trail.
Almost above treeline and the fine scenery with Mount Jefferson, Mount Monroe, Mount Washington and Mount Jefferson coming into view.
Hey, Mount Eisenhower looks so far away from where we are. We bypassed going to the summit of Mount Pierce and headed over towards Mount Eisenhower.
The views heading up to the summit of Mount Eisenhower looking over towards Mount Isolation and Mount Davis with Kearsarge North in the background.
Looking up to the summit of Mount Eisenhower as it gets closer and closer.
Looking back towards Mount Pierce on the way to the summit of Mount Eisenhower.
Views looking south towards the Moat Mountains, Mount Chocorua, Mount Passaconaway and Mount Whiteface and the Tripyramids.
Mount Pierce, Mount Jackson and Mount Webster along the southern Presidential Range. Mount Willey just above Mount Pierce, Mount Carrigain almost dead center, and Mount Passaconaway and Mount Whiteface to the left (in background).
The Willey Range, the Bretton Woods ski area, the Twins and Bonds Range with Franconia Ridge in the background from just below the summit of Mount Eisenhower.
Brian sitting on the summit cairn on the summit of Mount Eisenhower (elevation 4780'). It's usually a lot taller than it is now.
Looking further up Crawford Path towards Mount Monroe, Mount Washington, Mount Clay and Mount Jefferson from the summit of Mount Eisenhower. It was in the clear all day.
The Doubleheads, Kearsarge North, the Attitash ski area in the background. Mount Isolation and Mount Davis are in the foreground.
Its not cold up here, honestly. Me on the summit of Mount Eisenhower.
43 winter 4000 foot peaks for me. A beautiful winter day to grab this peak.
Another view of Franconia Ridge and the Bonds Range, Willey Range and Twin Mountain Range with the Bretton Woods ski area to the left.
On the way back down, we stopped for a snack break and of course, some Grey Jays also stopped for their own snack break.
This Grey Jay looks like it was super imposed on the picture but I caught it as it was starting to take off after grabbing a piece of brownie off Brian's glove.
What a beauty of a winter day. A good decision to hike this one instead as we usually don't get too many days like this (well, since we work Monday through Friday so Saturday and Sunday are our only days to hike). On the way down, we passed roughly around 60 people heading up with half of them being a sizeable group of about 32 Korean's.
The only downer for the hike was that I took a spill coming down off of the summit of Mount Eisenhower and twisted my knee awkwardly. I still managed to make it down with almost no problems but the next few days after was a bit of a challenge.
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