It was pretty cold to start off, only 2 degrees in the parking lot. Pete and I decided not to bring our snowshoes since there was only 2-3 inches on new snow and under that the trail was relatively packed down. At least these were the conditions at the beginning of Crawford Path trail leading from the parking lot. We were the first hikers of the day on the trail, so we had fresh track. The snow got progressively deeper the higher we went. I would estimate in the deepest sections, snow was averaging about 1-2 feet with snowdrifts thigh deep. All in all we probably could have used our snowshoes for ½ hour out of the entire hike, so I think we made the right call in not bringing them.
It as pretty cold up on the summit of Pierce due to the wind. We had to take cover behind some trees and put on more clothes, but we were only in the wind for about 10 minutes before we were back in the comfort of the trees, I’m guessing the temp was around –10 degrees at this point. The sky was really clear with only a few clouds, so we were able to see the summit of Mt. Washington in the distance. From here we headed south to Mt. Jackson, passing the Mitzpuh hut along the way, where we ate some lunch. We saw one other hiker coming up the trail, so after we passed him we didn’t have to break trail anymore, which was good.
It wasn’t as cold on the top of Jackson, and from here we headed back down to Crawford Notch via the Webster-Jackson trail, this part of the trail was nice and back down by snowshoers. We ran into some more of those Gray Jays, so I had to feed them some of my chex mix. We made it back to the car and headed over to the lodge get warm and change out of our snowy clothes. 8.5 miles in 5 hours 23 minutes.
It as pretty cold up on the summit of Pierce due to the wind. We had to take cover behind some trees and put on more clothes, but we were only in the wind for about 10 minutes before we were back in the comfort of the trees, I’m guessing the temp was around –10 degrees at this point. The sky was really clear with only a few clouds, so we were able to see the summit of Mt. Washington in the distance. From here we headed south to Mt. Jackson, passing the Mitzpuh hut along the way, where we ate some lunch. We saw one other hiker coming up the trail, so after we passed him we didn’t have to break trail anymore, which was good.
It wasn’t as cold on the top of Jackson, and from here we headed back down to Crawford Notch via the Webster-Jackson trail, this part of the trail was nice and back down by snowshoers. We ran into some more of those Gray Jays, so I had to feed them some of my chex mix. We made it back to the car and headed over to the lodge get warm and change out of our snowy clothes. 8.5 miles in 5 hours 23 minutes.
