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Pierce and Eisenhower
5/28/2018
Crawford Path, Edmands Path
Around 10.1 miles
3180 feet of elevation gain
Sage and I posed for a picture before I left to hike solo. I am excited that we are now wearing T-shirts with Union of Concerned Scientists' (UCS) logo when we hike.
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| Photo by Trish Herr |
After saying our goodbyes, I started hiking on Crawford Path. Mom and Sage took the 2-mile road walk leading to Edmands Path.
There they went! I watched them for a second before immersing myself in Crawford Path foliage.
When I am alone, I become more confident, observant, and clear-headed. When I first began solo hiking, I was nervous and wanted to make sure I did everything perfectly. Now that I have solo hiked several mountains, I feel more comfortable being responsible for myself out there. Since my first solo hike, my enjoyment of solitude has increased.
Brand-new shoes:
Rocky trail...
I spotted a chipmunk sitting on a tree branch, enjoying her/his snack.
After reaching this intersection, I believe I started hiking faster. It usually takes me the first mile or mile and a half to "get into my hiking groove," if you will.
Onward...
I saw numerous streams along the way.
I love this shirt! I am happy to be supporting UCS.
Trying to show the logo...
Close to the alpine-zone...
I was excited to get above treeline!
It was a cloudy day, but it felt amazing to be up there.
Hiking up Pierce...
Little plant formations...
On the summit...
Powerade tastes better on a hike, when you are working out.
Heading over to Eisenhower...
Little beauties...
The clouds dissipated a bit.
The Mount Washington Hotel...
More flowers...
I loved seeing beautiful purple and green plants...
Cool ladder...
Up I go...
Still cloudy...
I reached the summit! I still hadn't come across Sage and Mom.
I took some summit selfies and then ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
After a mildly short break, I started heading back down...
I was getting a little bit worried that I had not seen Sage and Mom yet, but I assumed I would see them soon.
Sure enough, I came across them while hiking down Eisenhower! We greeted each other, took some pictures, and then I headed down the summit cone while they kept ascending.
Once I reached the intersection with Edmands Path, I hiked down, off the ridge.
Coming down...
Some white flowers I saw:
Pretty green foliage...
Looking down...
The trees were so fully green and beautiful.
I finished hiking down Edmands Path, and then I just had the 2-mile roadwalk left.
The scenery I saw while walking the road was beautiful.
Gorgeous sky and clouds...
I was happy to finally reach the point at which I started the hike.
Awesome hike report! I really like hiking solo too. Having mild autism, I enjoy any opportunity to find peace and quiet and just immerse myself in nature…although sadly that’s often easier said than done up here in Colorado. Are crowds getting to be an issue in New Hampshire? It seems like you had the trail to yourself for the most part.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I always seem to have some pretty amusing encounters whenever I hike solo. For instance, when I visited Lost Maples Park back when I was still living in Texas, I passed at one point a family with a boy aged 7 or 8 who was playing “real-life Super Mario Galaxy”, doing spin jumps all over the fairly steep and rocky downhill trail while imitating Mario's "Yahoo!"s. Meanwhile his parents had worried faces, as though they were internally screaming “Careful. CAREFUL!” I don’t know if you & Sage played those games when you were little, but I thought it was funny since I had just beaten Super Mario Galaxy 2 at the time.
I am so happy to see you are noticing and enjoying the flowers and other plants. I y hiking days, they slowed me down a lot-looking them up etc. But in some ways they were the best part for me.
ReplyDeleteI could never hike alone... Prema (my daughter) would kill me if I went without her! Unless we did a "meet up," like you did with your mom and sister. Your choice of trails reminded me of when you were little and did these peaks, after that guy tried to convince your mom you shouldn't (though in reverse this time). Thanks for including all those flower shots; what do you think about the Alpine Garden this year (I know you are the maintainers)? We miss every year and are hoping to finally see it in bloom. Thanks for your work!
ReplyDelete