Mt Eisenhower (4761)
Trail: Edmonds Path to Eisenhower loop
Date: Sunday 9/20/98
Attending: Gabe, Simone, & John Chicoine
Miles: 3.3 mi. Time: 3 hours to summit. 5hr 45min. total.
AMC huts, / shelters / camping site: None
Weather: Cool and clear fall day, with a nice breeze on the summit
To get there from Rt.3, take Rt. 302 past Mt. Washington Rd. to Mt Clinton Rd. just across from the Crawford Notch R.R. Station. Drive two miles up Clinton Rd. to Edmonds Path Trailhead parking lot on the right. We really like this trail. It’s very well maintained and the trail is very interesting. Quite a distance up, there is rock gateway built 
onto the trail! (It would be cool enough to find this a few hundred feet into the trail, but to find it so far along, it represents lots of hiking for lots of days just to get to the location.) There are two bridges at the start of the trail over a nice foot-washing stream that we always like to see as we start out a hike because we know that we’ll be cooling off the dogs later in the day. (Refreshing!!!) We took only one 5-minute break on this climb, but the trail is not excessively tiring. For those of you willing to risk large fines by camping in illegal camp sites, we noticed a possible camp site 2/3 of the way up. The trail loops past and around the summit, then up (Eisenhower loop) bolder climb, (not ledge) steeply up a 100ft. rock pile that makes up the dome like summit of Eisenhower.
On the summit we met a nice family that had been over-nighting on the Southern Presidentials and planning to spend another night in the gulf below Mt Franklin. The husband had just finished his 4K’s and had planned to re-do them with his Wife and two girls 7 & 10 years old. The 10 year old had 7 peaks and the 7 year old was just starting out. This was our 4’th peak and attempting to complete all 48 was hardly a flickering thought, but they strongly encouraged us to go for it. (It was quite an encouragement to see his family enjoying themselves out here.) After lingering quite a bit, we got it into our heads that we might be able to get to Mt. Monroe, (only 1.5 miles) away, if we hurry! (it was after 2:00 by now.)
Society speaks and all men listen,
mountains speak and wise men listen.” John Muir
Hiking Lesson # 1; (1.5 miles one way is 3 miles round trip.) You’d think educated people like us would be able to figure that out before trying it out.
Hiking Lesson # 2; (Never change your itinerary just because a summit looks like it’s “just over there”.)
Needless to say, we never made it to Mt. Monroe. (This is the second time we were just 20 minutes from the top of Monroe but didn’t summit. I ran out of steam and we just ran out of time, under a 1/2 mile away from the summit. We did hike over to Mt. Franklin (Not an official 4k summit) but it has very nice views none the less. Although Mt. Eisenhower was a moderate hike, do-able in less than 6 hours round trip, we added 2+ hours to the day by trying to “bag” Monroe. We were beat by the end of the day. I remember just wanting to nap in the cool mossy patch by the car. But, we still had the long 3.5-hour ride home so after only a 5-minute nap, off we drove.