November 24, 2022

Start/End: Crawford Notch, Rt. 302

Peaks: Pierce (4,310'), Eisenhower (4,780'), "Franklin" (4,974')

Elevation Gain: 3,945 ft

RT Mileage: 11.19 mi

Duration: 7 hours, 36 minutes

Snow/Ice Difficulty: Grade I

For my first winter hike of the season, I decided to start off strong and complete at least a few peaks in the southern Presidentials. My plan was to do an out-and-back hike of Crawford Path, going as far as possible before returning. I initially intended to continue ascending until Mt. Monroe, but was unfortunately cut short by bad weather.

After an early night the previous day, I woke up on Thanksgiving morning at 5:15 AM and began getting ready. After a 2.5-hour drive, I arrived at Crawford Notch at 8:10, and was on the trail by 8:20. The first 2.7 miles of the trail to Mt. Pierce were below treeline and the snow was extremely well-packed. However, there were numerous sections of exposed ice below 3,500 ft, but they didn't pose much of a problem with microspikes. At 10:25, I was standing on the summit of Mt. Pierce, my first 4,000er of the day.

This was the first hike ever on which I brought my DSLR camera, so I got it out on the summit of Mt. Pierce and photographed a cool lenticular cloud which was developing over the summit of Mt. Washington. While I didn't know it at the time, this lenticular cloud would be my main source of problems later in the day.

Not very many hikers continued past Mt. Pierce, so the trail to Mt. Eisenhower was loosely packed with only a couple of sets of footprints to follow. Additionally, the trail kept repeatedly going in and out of treeline, making layering annoying since it was windless and warm below treeline but breezy above. The trail broke treeline for good at 4,400 ft, 300 vertical feet below the summit of Mt. Eisenhower.

These last 300 vertical feet became quite difficult all of a sudden. The weather still appeared nice and clear, but the winds picked up very quickly. While I couldn't see what was happening on the other side of Mt. Eisenhower, it was pretty obvious that something behind Mt. Eisenhower was causing the weather to take a turn for the worse. I summited at 11:40 AM in the midst of brutal winds but still clear skies, marking my second 4,000er of the day.

After just 45 minutes of not being able to see the other Presidentials, the lenticular cloud over Mt. Washington had expanded to envelop most of the surrounding peaks as well. However, Mt. Eisenhower was still well in the clear and Mt. Franklin and Mt. Monroe were both just out of the clouds, so I decided to carry on.

Not a single other hiker continued past Mt. Eisenhower, so I was breaking trail in ankle-to-knee deep snow, and progress was extremely slow. Clouds swept in from behind Mt. Monroe extremely quickly, and by the time I made it down to the col between Mt. Eisenhower and Mt. Franklin, neither peak was visible anymore. By this point I was ascending directly against the winds, which by this point were absolutely howling, while still breaking trail. It was absolutely brutal out there, and it was a humbling reminder that the Presidentials in winter are not to be messed with.

After an hour of tantalizingly slow hiking, I finally gained the plateau that is Mt. Franklin at 12:30 PM. While this "peak" stands at 4,900 ft elevation, it is technically a subsidiary peak of Mt. Monroe since it only has 60 feet of prominence, and is thus not considered a 4,000er. In my fatigued state, with horrible weather and trail conditions, I deemed it suicidal to continue onto Mt. Monroe, so I set up my camera, took my summit pictures, and started descending.

Conditions worsened on the descent to the col from Mt. Franklin, but at least the wind was coming from behind now. However, the wind had already displaced my footprints from the ascent, so I was breaking trail all the way through on the way down to the col as well. From the col, I took the spur around Mt. Eisenhower instead of the main trail over, as was planned. The spur was below treeline, and thus windless, which was a nice bonus, but it was also knee-deep in untouched snow, so I was breaking trail for these 0.6 miles too.

At last I emerged above treeline on the other side of Mt. Eisenhower and joined back with the main trail, giving my legs a well-earned break after breaking trail nonstop for the past 2 hours. Completely exhausted, the ascent to Mt. Pierce on the return was tedious, but at least it was on packed trail. I summited Mt. Pierce for the second time this day at 2:15, only to see that all of the southern Presidentials except Mt. Washington were again in the clear. Just went to show how unpredictable the Presidentials can be, but it was still a very disappointing moment.

The last 2.7 miles back to the trailhead were again uneventful. I casually strolled down this part at a moderate pace, taking about an hour and a half. I made it back down to the parking lot at 3:45, ending a long and very eventful day of hiking.