| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Jackson, Mt. Pierce, Mt. Eisenhower, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Webster-Jackson Trail, Webster Cliff Trail, Crawford Path, Eisenhower Loop |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, February 8, 2025 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Must have been 50 cars around crawford notch around 930 am |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow - Drifts |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Met Maverick who was having a great time going up Jackson |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Made a bad decision ascending Jackson first. I was on the fence about which direction to go and figured with all the cars in Crawford, everything would see some traffic today. But also knew if I was going to orphan a peak, I wanted to orphan Jackson, not Eisenhower. Boy was I wrong. Condition up Jackson were good, not great. Snowshoes from the TH, but a bunch of folks in spikes were churning up the trail. Made good time to the summit of Jackson though in about 90 minutes.
This is where the 'fun' began. Some tracks leaving the summit towards pierce that quickly disappeared - by guess it some folks investigating before heading back down Webster-Jackson. But I pushed on. Nasty drifts, spruce traps, blow downs and difficulty following the trail. At time I could find a faint trench, but often just felt like bushwhacking. Was hoping that I'd see traffic coming the opposite direction, but no such luck. Similarly, was hoping I'd see some traffic once i got to the hut, but again, no such luck. Took a little over 3 hrs to get from Jackson to the summit of Pierce. If you're contemplating this route anytime in the neat future, I would advise against it. It would have been faster and less effort to descend Jackson back to the TH and ascend Pierce from the base.
It was 2:30 by the time I hit the jct to Eisenhower. I knew I had neither the time nor energy to break out Eisenhower, but just my luck, there were snowshoe tracks heading to Eisenhower. Followed a lovely path (despite some bare boot post-holes, WTF people?!) to about the half-way point, where the tracks took a bizarre turn to the left (obviously off-trail), which I followed until a dead end, where the author had clearly turned around. Nearing 3pm, I figured I still had a shot and set a 4pm turn-around, knowing I could handily descend Crawford from Pierce in a headlamp if needed. I trudged on, in and out of the trees. The exposed stretches were good footing with either minimal snow or exposed rock while the corridors in the trees were brutal with drifts and spruce traps. I was spending too much time trying to find the trail though, in aggressive winds, and eventually gave up on following the trail, with the peak in-sight and simply bushwhacked on the more exposed areas and over some krumholz, to the east of the actual trail, which worked much better than trying to follow the trail. I made my way back to the trail at the beginning of the summit cone, finding the familiar ladder peaking through the snow. Summit cone was in relatively good shape compared to the rest of the day, and made it to the summit by 3:40.
Followed my tracks back to the Crawford path jct by about 4:20, then switched to spikes for the descent after shoes all day. Made it down by 5:15, with some light to spare. |
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 | Name: |
Big Al Dente |
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 | E-Mail: |
bigaldentenh@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2025-02-09 |
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 | Link: |
 https:// |
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Disclaimer: Reports are not verified - conditions may vary. Use at own risk. Always be prepared when hiking. Observe all signs. Trail conditions reports are not substitutes for weather reports or common sense. |
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