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Erin
and I drove up on a Friday afternoon to spend the night at the
AMC
Crawford Hostel at the head of Crawford Notch. It's directly across Rt 302
from the start of the Crawford Path, and close to a lot of trailheads. Our
goal was to climb Mt Eisenhower and possibly
Mt Monroe. It was snowing
when we got there, but it was supposed to stop by morning, so we were
hoping for the best.
After
cooking our supper in the hostel's kitchen/dining room, we settled into
our bunks for the night in one the adjoining bunkrooms. I slept in the top
of the two-tiered bunk; Erin took the bottom. Unlike the backcountry huts,
Crawford Hostel is heated, and is nice and warm.
The
hostel was pretty much filled to capacity due to an ongoing Wilderness
First Responder class, so it was rather noisy at night with all the
snoring. Sometime after we had finally gotten to sleep, a woman came in
and noisily took the bunk next to ours, which of course woke us up. After
what seemed like hours of shuffling equipment and changing clothes, she
finally went to bed.
In
the morning, it was still snowing hard but it wasn't windy, and the
forecast called for improving weather. People were all heading in
different directions: a couple of guys were planning to climb Mt
Tom,
someone else was hoping to go all the way to Mt Washington on the Crawford
Path, and a whole bunch were just staying right there for the first
aid classes.
After
eating a quick breakfast, we drove to the Edmands Path Trailhead, but the
snow was too deep and unpacked on the trail to climb without snowshoes,
which we did not have. So we settled on the Crawford Path instead,
which is more heavily traveled, and thus more likely to be packed. I
figured we could at least get to Mt Pierce, and then maybe continue on to
Mt Eisenhower.
Returning
to the hostel to park, we crossed the road and started up the trail. It
was packed, but in a narrow strip, and we postholed often. Along the way,
I noticed that many of the blazes on trees, which are normally at eye
level, were almost touching the surface of the snow. |
Me
on the Crawford Path. Stepping off the packed strip of snow, I had
postholed up to my left knee. |
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