Mt. Moriah (4049)

Trail: Rattle River, Kenduskeag

Date: Friday Aug. 30 Saturday, Aug 31’st

Attending: Shawn, Gary, Gabe, Simone and John

Miles: 12Time: 8Hrs.

AMC huts, / shelters / camping site:Rattle River Shelter

Weather: Partly cloudy, high 70’s at the base, 60’s on the summit

# 45 for us.

“The finest workers in stone are not copper or steel tools, but the gentle touches of air and water working at their leisure with a liberal allowance of time”. ..Henry David Thoreau

This trail is a hike of extremes that manages to balance out into a trail worth hiking at least once. We’re glad we did this hike, but we’re not likely to hike this trail again. The Rattle River Trail is the last leg of the AT on the Carter Moriah Range. It crosses Rt. 2 app. 4 miles east of Gorham NH. Our approach to bagging this peak was to drive up to Gorham (4 hours) on Friday afternoon, hike in 1.6 miles from Rt. 2. to the Rattle River Shelter for Friday Night and day hike to the peak on Saturday. This first stretch of the hike hardly breaks a 4-degree incline. The Trail is wide enough for 2 hikers abreast, with hardly a bolder to break one’s stride. The temps were cool, but the humidity was extremely high from the recent rains. We made it to the shelter in 45 minutes. What a nice place to spend the night. The shelter could sleep 6 to 8, and has a half dozen tent sites. Several of the sites are along the side of Rattle River next to one of the most awesome basins 12Ft. across and 7Ft. deep. Plan to get wet! This basin is impossible to resist. We couldn’t! (About 10 minutes farther up the trail is another irresistible swimming pool and water slide.) We met an elderly lady (Mary) that’s a real mile monster. She’s completed section hiking the AT, The Long Trail, the New England 4K’s and more. She refers to herself as a trail snail, but we never caught up to her and she was hauling a full pack. We met Rolling Stone, (a North to South) through hiker, enjoying his experience. I fear he’s running a bit late, but our best wishes go with him in hopes that he makes his goal to finish his quest by Christmas. Gary had a surprise for the evening; he packed enough dry wood up to the shelter for an evening fire. Simone and I opted to sleep in the shelter with Mary and Rolling Stone.

After a relatively sleepless night for all of us, Gary awoke to catch a glimpse of a fishercat on the side of the river looking for breakfast. Our breakfast consisted of the usual bag of oatmeal. We packed our daypacks for the trip, and stashed the backpacks in the shelter. The first mile after the shelter is very moderate, but as with every 4K, eventually you’ve got to pick up the elevation somewhere. Once this trail starts it’s assent, it never lets up for the next 2 miles. (It’s almost stairway steep). Thank God for the cool morning temps and the cloud ceiling that hadn’t burnt off yet. The last 1.6 miles on the Kenduskeag are moderate, but by the time we got to this section I was beat and every steep section took more than I wanted to give.

The last tenth of the trail to the peak is a rock scramble to an open knob about 20 ft. in diameter. We were really in need of the relaxing hour we spent on the summit enjoying the 360-degree views. We met a family of 5 that hiked up the Carter Moriah trail. The Father was just finishing his 48, and the children (ages 10 to 13) were hiking their first.

Our descent was just as I expected, tough on the knees. The flat section of the trail was a relief we all needed. Once we hit the flats we all zoned out and headed full stride for the shelter. Swimming in the basin was the driving motivation. Cold water! Full emersion! Total renewal! Every hot spot, sore joint, and tight muscle washed away in just a few minutes of exquisite refreshing mountain river water. The hike out to the car seemed like it was over in a blink of the eye and we never broke a sweat.

“We are not truly civilized if we concern ourselves only with the relation of man to man.
What is important is the relation of Man to all of Life.”
Rachael Carson

Mt. Tripyramid Middle (4110)

Mt. Tripyramid North (4140)

Trail: Sabbaday Brook Trail.
Date: Sunday 9/31/01
Attending: Shawn, Simone and John
Miles: 12 Time: 7 hours round trip
AMC huts, / shelters / camping site:
Weather: Partly Cloudy, 60’s at the base, 40’s on the summit.

Just the three of us, But wait! Not the usual three. “John, Simone, and Shawn? Where’s Gabe? 40 mountains and Gabe has been with us on every one! We have never bagged a 4K without Gabe. We’re out of sync. Gabe just had to fulfill his commitments with Royal Rangers. This means Simone and I will have to bag these peaks again to sync Gabe back up. By-The-By, these were #’s 40 and 41. Sabbaday Brook Trail is a great way to bag these peaks.

Although there were lots of river crossings and the trail could definitely be impassable in high water conditions. Other than the river crossings, (which got me calf deep with both feet on the second to the last crossing back to the car.) We rate this trail 90% easy to moderate. The other 10% is steep but not unreasonable except for about 50ft. of slide that was a bit of hands and knees. I guess ¼mile of steep hiking to bag a 4K is not a bad deal. We backtracked over the Tripyramid trail to Middle and then North peak. The peaks themselves aren’t anything spectacular, North peak is entirely wooded with only a limited view of Middle Peak off a spur next to the summit. Middle peak is wooded but less sparse than North Peak, so there are only some views over and through the treetops. I lifted Simone up a few inches so she could see Mt. Osceola. The Sabbaday Brook Trail is most definitely the “Road less traveled” we only saw 2 other people on this trail but was saw 12 other people on the Tripyramids Ridge trail hiking from the WaterVille Valley side. There were very few places to set up a camp site on the lower section of the trail but above the slide we saw several good sites; Not that I would have wanted to carry a pack up the steep section of this trail. There is plenty of water up to the last ½mile from the Tripyramids ridge trail. We managed to get back to the car by 4:00 and meandered back up the Kancamagus Highway taking pictures at roadside stops like tourists in foliage season. We Were!

Read about other Tripyramids trips:

Mt. Tripyramid Middle (4110)

Mt. Tripyramid North (4140)

Trail: Sabbaday Brook Trail.
Date: Saturday 9/22/02
Attending: Shawn, Gabe, Simone and John
Miles: 12 Time: 7.5 hours round trip
AMC huts, / shelters / camping site:
Weather: Partly Cloudy, 70’s at the base, 50’s on the summit.

One more time, at least for a few of us. This was a catch-up hike. Now that we’re closing in on the final 3 hikes to complete the list, we had to bring Gabe back in sync with Simone and I. After all this work together there was no way I was going to have a partial celebration on # 48.

What happened to this Hike! I thought this was one of the easy ones. Not that there are any “easy” peak but in our memory we seemed to have painted this hike a bit different than it went on this trip. Quite possibly because we knew we’d have to bag this peak twice regardless of how long it took. Maybe it was the humidity or maybe it was just the end of a very long week but Simone and I were dragging our buts up the steep sections of this trail. The plan was for Simone and I just to hike up to North Tripyramid and Shawn and Gabe were to bag Middle and then backtrack to meet us on the north peak. As it turned out Shawn and Gabe bagged both Middle and South peaks before they doubled back. Simone and I just enjoyed a long (but viewless) rest on North Tripyrmad. The clouds never left the peaks while we were up there but the sun did have its appearance’s throughout the day. The hike started out with a bit of an unexpected hitch the parking lot and trailhead was under construction and closed until farther notice. Our other rout to the peak would have been to hike the Pine Bend trail just a ½ mile up the Kanc but a much harder hike with far less water. I wasn’t interested in dealing with the extra effort so we parked the car in an overflow lot for Sabaday Falls and hiked the Sabaday trail as planned. The Parks department was in the process of outfitting the falls area was with all new railings.

This hike seemed to want to take its toll in injures. Shawn hit the deck and bruised the base of his hand just below the palm and Simone slipped crossing one of the many riverbeds and dislocated her pinky at the second joint. Her finger was bent at a 90-degree angle at the joint. As quickly as we understood what was wrong, I popped her pinky back into it’s joint. We immediately wrapped her hand in a cold water soaked bandanna and Simone took 800 milligrams of Motrin. We took a few moments to soak the hand at every river crossing and the Motrin cut the pain to within a tolerable level. We had homemade apple pie waiting for us in the car, just one more reason we wanted to get off the trail. (One last interesting event). Only in the Whites can you find people snorkeling in the gorge beneath a 20Ft. water fall. (Like I said,,, Sabaday Falls was closed to the general public while construction was going on.)

Matthew 6:26 – Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?…. (God sends Simone and I to the tops of 4K’s just to feed the Grey Jay’s for Him.)

Mt. Pierce (4310)

Trail: Crawford Path
Date: March 8’th 2014

Attending: Carrie, Simone, & John Chicoine

Miles: 6-mile Round trip Time: 2hrs up, 4hrs. total

AMC huts, / shelters / camping site:

Weather: Mid 20’s at base, 10’ish on summit, 20-40Mph. wind, bright and sunny

Our old standard winter hike never fails to delight and Mt. Pierce did it again; In Spades! What a wonderful day on this spectacular Southern Presidential summit. I know way to well to make light of any 4K hike and I don’t recommend anyone else does either; all that said, this is without a doubt the most pleasant stress free 4K hike in the whites and my top pick as a first winter hike. But! The summit is always icy and I would never hike it without traction devices.

Yea Carrie! (the one with the E-mail address “I-Want-warm-weather”) On your first winter 4K! We never thought we’d ever see you on a 4K, let alone a winter 4K. We’re really glad you did this one with us. Especially because we couldn’t have bought a better day. Just the right temps for a real winter hike, perfect snow conditions for traction devices, and Grey Jay’s!) If ever there was a great day to hook someone on fare weather winter mountain hiking.

We weren’t the only ones with the idea to take advantage of the great day; There had to be at least 40 cars in the lot when we got there at 10:am. (We took the last spot to squeeze a car into.) On the summit we ran into an AMC group of 17 people, (Mostly “OLD people”, like they were all 60’ish.)

 

 

 

 

 

Speaking of old people,
there’s one now!

To the left!

 

 

Matthew 6:26 – Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

 

Always remember… To wade about in the cold water of a swift running snow melt brook in the White Mountains is an experience worth taking advantage of at every opportunity that presents itself. It washes away more than the sweat.

Links to all the pierce hikes:

1. Pierce 1 – (2014, Carrie, Winter)
2. Pierce 2 – (2013, Ben, Winter)
3. Pierce 3 – (2010, Tyler, Winter)
4. Pierce 4 – (2000, Gabe, Winter)
5. Pierce 5 – (2002, Shawn, Gabe, Winter)
6. Pierce 6 – (2004, Gary, Shawn, Gabe, Winter)
7. Pierce 7 – (2004, Dale, Chris, Fletcher, Gabe, Spring)
8. Pierce 8 – (2005, Shawn, Gabe, Winter)
9. Pierce 9 – (First summit, 1999, Winter)

“No synonym for God is so perfect as Beauty. Whether as seen carving the lines of the mountains with glaciers, or gathering matter into the stars, or planning the movement of the rivers.– still all is Beauty! ” . . . John Muir

Mt. Pierce (4310)

Trail:
Date: April 21 2013

Attending: Ben Leveillee, Simone, & John Chicoine

Miles: 6-mile Round trip Time: 2.75hrs up, 4.5hrs. total

AMC huts, / shelters / camping site:

Weather: Mid 20’s at base, 10’ish on summit, 20-40Mph. wind, bright and sunny

Simone and I have this unspoken rule that any of the boys we work with to help get their Gold Medal, should climb at least one 4000 footer before they climb the podium, and this is Ben’s. And!!! If the mountain just happens to have snow on it when we do it, that’s even better!

Congratulations Ben (On your first 4K and the GMA!!!)

What can I say about this hike… Just enough challenge on the trail to make it worth doing and just enough ferocity in the wind and the cold to make it memorable. The views are always just spectacular enough to renew our spirit and remind us to make more plans to do it again. For those that have never experienced such beauty,,, the understanding of why someone would drive 7 hours, hike up a relentless trail for 2.5 hours, and again down for 2 more hours, escapes them. For those that have experienced such beauty,,, the understanding of why someone wouldn’t drive 7 hours, hike up a relentless trail for 2.5 hours, and again down for 2 more hours, escapes us.

I can’t help but mention,,, This was Simones birthday wish… To stand again on the top of this summit on her birthday, and breath the cold fresh air that can only be found on a winter summit in the White Mountains. (I’m smart enough not to mention which birthday she was try into assure herself,,, that she’s still got it.)

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The wind will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.”
……. John Muir

Ben, I don’t know if you’ll ever find this page on our web site,,, But if you do, It was great having you along on this hike. Just like the GMA, Just like it is with everything worth doing, it’s not the event that is of the greatest importance; It’s how that experience changes you. It’s who you become from the experience that is of the greatest value. And when we seek after experiences of such great challenge, such great goodness, and such unspoiled work of the hand of God,,, We become more like Him.

This was just one of so many great hikes in the Whites, and so many great challenges you can find regardless of what season you get up here. Hopefully we’ll have many more great hikes. Even more so,,, Hopefully this is just the first of a lifetime of great hikes you’ll experience.

“Men go back to the mountains, because in the mountains they must face up to the challenge of nature. Modern man lives in a highly synthetic kind of existence; rarely does he test all his powers or find himself whole. But in the mountains, the character of man comes out.”
……. Abram T. Collier

One thing Simone and I learned that totally took us by surprise; As we drove by the old lookout spot for the Old Man in The Mountain, we could no-longer have the great pleasure of introducing our old friend to this new White Mountains hiker. It really was an emotional moment. We used to get so excited every time we drove by, twisting our necks to grab a quick glimpse; “There He Is” someone would always shout… Like it was the first time we ever saw him. And what was worse, Ben had never even heard of him. How useless were our words to try to impress upon Ben just how truly majestic that old man was.

Always remember… To wade about in the cold water of a swift running snow melt brook in the White Mountains is an experience worth taking advantage of at every opportunity that presents itself. It washes away more than the sweat.

Links to all the pierce hikes:

1. Pierce 1 – (2014, Carrie, Winter)
2. Pierce 2 – (2013, Ben, Winter)
3. Pierce 3 – (2010, Tyler, Winter)
4. Pierce 4 – (2000, Gabe, Winter)
5. Pierce 5 – (2002, Shawn, Gabe, Winter)
6. Pierce 6 – (2004, Gary, Shawn, Gabe, Winter)
7. Pierce 7 – (2004, Dale, Chris, Fletcher, Gabe, Spring)
8. Pierce 8 – (2005, Shawn, Gabe, Winter)
9. Pierce 9 – (First summit, 1999, Winter)

“Now I see the secret of making the best persons. It is to grow in the open air, and to eat and sleep with the earth.” . . . Walt Whitman

Mt. Pierce (4310)

Trail: Crawford Path

Date: March 20 2010

Attending: Tyler Seidenberg, Simone, & John Chicoine

Miles: 5-mile Round trip Time: 2.75hrs up, 4.5hrs. total

AMC huts, / shelters / camping site:

Weather: Mid 30’s at base, 30’ish on summit, 40~50Mph. wind, bright and sunny

Simone and I wanted to do something special to celebrate Tyler’s Gold Medal Achievement. Not being all that into ceremony, rituals, pomp and circumstance, and standing around all day eating cookies and listening to commanders telling tails of what they used to do,,,, We figured we’d do what Gold Medalists from Royal Rangers are supposed to be doing. “Getting high!!!”, on the mountain tops that is.

Congratulations my friend!!!

This was the second time in two weeks that Simone and I had visited the Whites. I had intended to do this hike with Shawn two weekends ago but the weather forecast was calling for 50+mph winds 0~10 degree wind chill temps. Even though we were prepared for it, in a last minute panicked; I backed out and we hiked my favorite backup mountain, Bald Peak. (I should have stuck with the original plans.) Anyway!!! This was a spectacular hike! This was Tyler’s second 4K, and his first winter 4K. We couldn’t have picked a better peak, or a better day for this trip. The hike was comfortably warm for a winter hike; so much so that after the first 30 minutes we all needed to shed the layers down to the t-shirts for the hike up to the Mizpah cutoff. We stopped there just long enough to add a few layers and re-hydrate. I love the section of the hike from the cutoff up to the summit of Pierce. First and foremost!!! 90% of the elevation is done and the hike is much easier for this second mile. Second, it’s way less traveled and has a more, “wilderness” feel to it in the winter. (I have no idea if this is so in the summer because I’ve never seen this trail in the summer. :~) Finally,,, there are lots of nice views through and over the tree tops for much of this section, but the trees are thick enough to cut the wind.

The snow conditions for bare booting it were just borderline (only occasional post-holing) for the lower section of the trail, but by the time we got 1/2 way up the second section of the trail we all agreed that the snow shoes were more than justified. (On the way back down we did run into a few hikers that were bare booting it, but the evidence from the many post-holes tells me that we made the right choice in using our snow shoes.) The Mt. Washington forecast had called for 40 ~ 50 mph winds today, but with steady sun, and temps in the high 20’s I knew we would be fine. They were definitely spot on with this forecast. We could hear the steady strong wind the whole time we were on the upper section of the trail and I knew we were in for a treat as soon as we broke out of the trees. Wicked cool! I’m glad we weren’t disappointed. As soon as we got into the exposed section of the trail things got a bit more serious. But not too much; Just enough to make this 4k hike exciting! AS IT SHOULD BE! After all, it is a 4K and I’d have hated to have this hike be no more exciting than it is to hike Mt. Watatic. I wanted Tyler to have the kind of hike that he would remember for a lifetime!

By rights it should have felt much colder on the summit especially considering that degree of wind, but the wind itself wasn’t very cold, and when the clouds weren’t blocking the sun, we were more than comfortable enough. At this point all of us had layered up with everything we had brought, (and were glad for it.) but we had no problems staying on the summit enjoying the views for at least 1/2 hour. As always we hated to leave, but the Park Rangers don’t let anybody live there so we reluctantly began out long trek home.

God must have known just how special this hike was to all of us and pulled out all the stops! He even blessed us with one of our, (and now Tyler’s) most coveted experiences of hiking in the Whites. A friendly visitation from some hungry Grey Jays! What a treat it was to watch another 4k hiker experience his first encounter with feeding a wild bird right out of his hand. (Simone took at least 20 pictures of Tyler with the birds!)

Dude! We’ll have to do this a lot more! You’ve just got to do Moosilauke, and Laffayette, and camp out in October on Bald Peak, and hike up Mt. Blue via Beaver Brook, and Mt. Garfield, and …….. It’s a good thing you’ll be living in Plymouth N.H. for 4 years.

Links to all the pierce hikes:

1. Pierce 1 – (2014, Carrie, Winter)
2. Pierce 2 – (2013, Ben, Winter)
3. Pierce 3 – (2010, Tyler, Winter)
4. Pierce 4 – (2000, Gabe, Winter)
5. Pierce 5 – (2002, Shawn, Gabe, Winter)
6. Pierce 6 – (2004, Gary, Shawn, Gabe, Winter)
7. Pierce 7 – (2004, Dale, Chris, Fletcher, Gabe, Spring)
8. Pierce 8 – (2005, Shawn, Gabe, Winter)
9. Pierce 9 – (First summit, 1999, Winter)

Mt. Pierce (4310)

Trail: Crawford Path

Date: March 7 2000

Attending: Gabe, Simone, & John Chicoine

Miles: 5-mile Round trip Time: 2.75hrs up, 5hrs. total

AMC huts, / shelters / camping site:

Weather: Mid 40’s at base, 30’ish on summit 40-50Mph wind, mostly cloudy,

What a beautiful day again, again! Again, our first 4K of 2000! We started at 10:00AM at the 1’ST parking lot on Mt Clinton Road. We took the Crawford Path to the top of Mt Pierce. The Crawford path to Pierce was a very easy path, well traveled in recent days. The section of the Crawford path that bears left at the Mizpah cutoff was less traveled but still a solid footpath. The Summit of Mt. Pierce was crusted over with rime-ice. The trees had it a foot thick but the trail had blown clear with only a 1/4-inch rime-ice crust. It helped our footing a lot over what we could see was an icy path that would have required crampons or at least some tricky rock hopping until just a few days ago. From the summit, we could see a couple of hikers on the side of Eisenhower. Simone thought they were on a rope because one of the hikers would go ahead a short distance and then the other would hike up and meet him, then the process would repeat until they traversed the whole side of the Eisenhower dome. It certainly was windy enough to merit that type of hiking. Even on Pierce it was very windy and Eisenhower is much higher, and the Crawford path is totally exposed for miles.

We had lunch for about 20 minutes on the summit; it was wicked windy but if we stayed low it wasn’t that bad. Coming off the dome, facing into the full brunt of the wind was a different situation. We got brain freeze from the wind chill in just a couple of minutes; even with the Wind-block balaclavas cinched down tight. I had to rush to remove my gloves to take a picture and get the gloves back on quickly. My fingers froze to the bone in the time it took to snap a picture. Fortunately it was only for a few hundred feet of open exposure before we would tuck behind the tree cover out of the direct wind. As soon as we got into the trees the sun made it nice enough to take the wind-blocks off. We met another couple on the trail right as we were getting into the trees, (before we had a chance to unbundled, so we must have looked real strange all bundled up while they still were still in head bands and vests. They asked Gabe to snap a picture of them so I stepped 2 feet off the trail to get out of the picture and sunk almost hip deep into the snow.

We brought our snowshoes, but we never needed them. Simone used hers on the descent, just for the fun of it. As we were dealing with the harsh conditions on the summit, I though about a conversation I had had with a friend of mine discussing the cost of his scuba diving gear, and comparing his expense to mine, and how he needed to spend as much as he did, because his life depended on his gear, but I was just hiking. He obviously has no clue how much trust my family and I put into the hands of the gear we use. But I do accept how instantaneously an equipment failure on his gear could be catastrophic.

 

We’ve still never seen this trail in the summer and although I suspect it must be very nice I think we plan to save this trail as one of our regular winter hikes. Although,,, if I had to bring a complete new-be up a 4K, (a sneakers and T-shirt kind of guy) this would be one of my top 5 picks.

Links to all the pierce hikes:

1. Pierce 1 – (2014, Carrie, Winter)
2. Pierce 2 – (2013, Ben, Winter)
3. Pierce 3 – (2010, Tyler, Winter)
4. Pierce 4 – (2000, Gabe, Winter)
5. Pierce 5 – (2002, Shawn, Gabe, Winter)
6. Pierce 6 – (2004, Gary, Shawn, Gabe, Winter)
7. Pierce 7 – (2004, Dale, Chris, Fletcher, Gabe, Spring)
8. Pierce 8 – (2005, Shawn, Gabe, Winter)
9. Pierce 9 – (First summit, 1999, Winter)

 

 

Mt. Pierce (4310)

Trail: Crawford Path
Date: April 7 2002

Attending: Shawn White, Gabe, Simone, & John Chicoine

Miles: 5-mile Round trip Time: 2.75hrs up, 4.5hrs. total

AMC huts, / shelters / camping site:

Weather: Mid 30’s at base, 20’ish on summit 30-40Mph wind, mostly cloudy,

This was another new peak for Shawn, and we had a beautiful day for it! Again, our first 4K of 2002! Note! Try not to schedule a hike on Daylight savings morning. We started at 9:30AM from the 1’ST parking lot on Mt. Clinton Road. There was a foot of snow at the trailhead. We took the Crawford Path to the top of Mt Pierce. The Crawford path to Pierce is a very easy path, usually well traveled as it had been in recent days prior to this hike. Fortunately there had been recent snows to give us acceptable footing on a hard packed snow trail. Crampons would have been very useful for the hike especially for the descent. The section of the Crawford path that bears left at the Mizpah cutoff was less traveled but still a solid footpath. The Summit of Pierce was crusted over with rime-ice. The trail had been blown clear with only a 2-inch ice crust.

We had PopTarts for lunch while we enjoyed the summit for about 20 minutes. It was windy, but if we stayed low, it wasn’t that bad. Coming off the dome, facing into the full brunt of the wind was a different situation. In just a few minutes we experienced cold noses, and fingers. The short stay on the summit chilled our drinks into slushies’. As soon as we got into the trees it was nice enough to take the wind-blocks off. From a few random postholes on the trail, (other peoples, not ours) we could see that the snow was at least 3 feet deep in places. We brought our snowshoes, but we never needed them. Simone used hers on the descent off the summit for extra footing on the hard crust, but the trail was such a hard formed foot path that the snow shoes weren’t functional.

Well, we’ve still never seen this trail in the summer, and although I suspect it must be very nice, I think we plan to save this trail as one of our regular winter hikes. Although,,, if I had bring a complete new-be up a 4K, (a sneakers and T-shirt kind of person) this would be one of my top 5 picks.

Links to all the pierce hikes:

1. Pierce 1 – (2014, Carrie, Winter)
2. Pierce 2 – (2013, Ben, Winter)
3. Pierce 3 – (2010, Tyler, Winter)
4. Pierce 4 – (2000, Gabe, Winter)
5. Pierce 5 – (2002, Shawn, Gabe, Winter)
6. Pierce 6 – (2004, Gary, Shawn, Gabe, Winter)
7. Pierce 7 – (2004, Dale, Chris, Fletcher, Gabe, Spring)
8. Pierce 8 – (2005, Shawn, Gabe, Winter)
9. Pierce 9 – (First summit, 1999, Winter)

 

Mt. Pierce (4310)

Trail: Crawford Path

Date: March 14 2004
Attending: Gary Gilchrest, Shawn White, Gabe, Simone, & John Chicoine

Miles: 5-mile Round trip Time: 2.75hrs up, 4.5hrs. total

AMC huts, / shelters / camping site:

Weather: Mid 30’s at base, 30’ish on summit with 20Mph wind, bright and sunny

The day started out very much the same as most of these hikes do (dragging our sleepy buts onto the road before sunrise). We made the pickup at Shawn’s by 6AM. In our original preparations over the phone we all agreed that this could be a “snowshoe” hike so we had lots of extra gear strapped to the fanny packs. As we pulled into Gary’s driveway, Gary hoisted a fully loaded backpack onto his shoulders and ambled towards the car; Shawn glanced half surprised at Gary’s pack and said “it looks heavy”, then continued with “he always manages to pack some totally useless item that he digs out of his pack during the trip.” We laughed. He does! All packed and on the road the trip has become a mindless trek of habit as if the car does the trip on it’s own. Lord knows the miles drone by. The trip never varies; not even the routine stop at Tilton’s McDonalds for breakfast and a bathroom break. We’ve done this a hundred times over the last 5 years. A necessary passage; the dues we pay to satisfy an unexplainable thirst for the trail that brings this merry band of adventurers together. 3+ hours up and 3+ hours back. Just enough time to catch up on what’s been on our minds lately. Sometimes we spend more time in the car than on the trail. The miles have nit us together.

We hit the trailhead by 9:30. At the trailhead we all opted to leave the snowshoes behind. Not that there was anything about the deapth of the snow at the parking lot, or how the snow looked on the mountains we passed by on the way to the trailhead. (I guess we just didn’t feel like taking the things for anoter walk as we so often do.) I can’t help but laugh; as our group was prepping ourselves in the parking lot for the hike we were un-packing the snowshoes, strapping on fanny packs over home-made polar fleece vests, (well worn gear), and tattered hiking shorts. Another group was prepping itself with the latest gear, plastic mountaineering boots and crampons, gaiters, and wind-pants with Gore-Tex shells over several layers of EMS’s latest goods, topped with perfectly packed day packs.

“The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship.” RALPH WALDO EMERSON

This was the first 4K of the year for all of us; the steps weighed a bit heavy, the miles seemed like MILES. It felt good to be putting one foot before the other on the trail of a 4K again. The trail had a nice covering of a few inches of fresh fallen snow to make the footing soft and secure. After the section of the trail that splits off up to the Mizpah hut the Crawford trail towards the summit of Pierce was almost unbroken. I love this section of the trail where most people have branched off to Mizpah. Up until now Gary hasn’t been a big “4K winter peak bagger” but he’s rapidly becoming a winter hiking convert. No heat! No bugs! Soft snow covered trails! No boulder bounding! It’s all cool. We reached the summit in good time. The stretch from the Crawford path sign (where the group pictures were taken) up to the summit (only a few hundred feet) was as it usuely is, wind-blown and mostly clear with ice covering most of the trail. This is the trickiest section of the hike. We’ve often found the summit hard crusted over making it very slippery. Even though it was cold up there, once we made our way to the summit cairn, if we stayed low we were warm enough to settle in for a long lunch and a big heaping helping of the spectacular views. We took our time. We took lots of pictures. We took only what fed our spirits.

Then, in the midst of our “joy unspeakable” as we were sharing a few snacks and basking in presence of God’s finest handiwork, (what a wonderful place to be.) Gary rummages through his insulated lunch pack and offers up, “Anyone need an ice pack to keep your food cold?” There it was. The useless item. Unanimous Spontaneous Laughter broke out has he held up a frozen blue plastic ice block. “It’s a habit, I chuck it in my lunch box every day when I pack my lunch.”

As always, parting was such great sorrow, but we had to leave the summit sometime. Our hike down was a lot of fun sliding “glissading” down the softening afternoon snow. The hike over, the thirst quenched (for a while) and this fellowship of hikers successfully completed another hike. Nothing left to finish but the long drive home.

Links to all the pierce hikes:

1. Pierce 1 – (2014, Carrie, Winter)
2. Pierce 2 – (2013, Ben, Winter)
3. Pierce 3 – (2010, Tyler, Winter)
4. Pierce 4 – (2000, Gabe, Winter)
5. Pierce 5 – (2002, Shawn, Gabe, Winter)
6. Pierce 6 – (2004, Gary, Shawn, Gabe, Winter)
7. Pierce 7 – (2004, Dale, Chris, Fletcher, Gabe, Spring)
8. Pierce 8 – (2005, Shawn, Gabe, Winter)
9. Pierce 9 – (First summit, 1999, Winter)

“Now I see the secret of making the best persons. It is to grow in the open air, and to eat and sleep with the earth.” . . . Walt Whitman

Mt. Pierce (4310)

Trail: Crawford Path

Date: April 25 2004

Attending: Dale & Chris Larocque, Fletcher Ferneau, Gabe, Simone, & John Chicoine

Miles: 5-mile Round trip Time: 2.75hrs up, 4.5hrs. total

AMC huts, / shelters / camping site:

Weather: Mid 20’s at base, 30’ish on summit, bright and sunny

The second time for us on this peak in just over a month. This was a very special hike for us today; today we introduced three hikers to the White Mountains 4K experience. Dale and Chris were beginning the adventure of the father and son wilderness hiking and camping brotherhood. Fletcher is a seasoned Boy Scout familiar with hiking but never in the Whites and never on high peaks. This was very cool. We picked this peak because of its relative ease and safety as a late winter hike. This was perfect hiking conditions; a snow packed trail well packed by heavy use and an almost record cold night, (no post-holing). The sky was clear and blue, the air crisp, and the views were as nice as the high peaks ever afford.

Without a doubt the experience for Chris was eye opening in many ways. Miles, even 2.5 miles are a very long way to walk. Hiking mountains require a lot of “going UP”. And, when you break out of the crumholtz onto a summit the views are awesome. Another interesting revelation to Chris and Dale was that even though Mount Washington looked just a short hike away; it was over twice the miles we had just hiked to get to the summit we were on.

I do believe I can say without reservation, Dale thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience but I don’t expect he is likely to contract 4K fever. I do however suspect we could see him on a few more high-peaks every now and then. I need to focus on a few over-nighters with him that don’t include a 4k, which suits me just fine. I can definitely see Dale and Chris into Gray Knob shelter or Ethan Pond. Fletcher took the hike in stride, (at 6 Feet) about 1/3 the strides as the rest of us.

The summit was pleasantly cool, refreshing and inviting us to spend almost an hour renewing our spirit. Iinvited Dale and Chris to add a stone to the Cairn so they would remember for life that they were there. I wasn’t able to convince any of our newbies to join me in the ritual foot washing but I can tell you for sure that if that had they would have surely remembered that part of the experience!

Note to remember: Regardless of the excitement of beginning a hike, DON’T Forget to buy the parking pass! I didn’t remember that I forgot to buy the pass until we were 1/2 way down the hill. It made for a few anxious moments wondering if I would finish our hike with a $50.00 fine on the windshield. Thank God we didn’t.

I rather doubt we’ve added any members to our regular crew but I hope that we will be bringing anyone of these guys up north every now and then.

Links to all the pierce hikes:

1. Pierce 1 – (2014, Carrie, Winter)
2. Pierce 2 – (2013, Ben, Winter)
3. Pierce 3 – (2010, Tyler, Winter)
4. Pierce 4 – (2000, Gabe, Winter)
5. Pierce 5 – (2002, Shawn, Gabe, Winter)
6. Pierce 6 – (2004, Gary, Shawn, Gabe, Winter)
7. Pierce 7 – (2004, Dale, Chris, Fletcher, Gabe, Spring)
8. Pierce 8 – (2005, Shawn, Gabe, Winter)
9. Pierce 9 – (First summit, 1999, Winter)