I don’t care much for NYE and given the pandemic there really wasn’t anything exciting going on anyways. Didn’t want to waste a night celebrating just to celebrate. I looked at the weather forecast for the next 3 days and it appeared that the next day January 1st was going to be the best out of the long weekend. In fact it was forecasted to be in the 20s with up to 10 mph winds at the summits. Decided to make progress on my ambitious goal of bagging NH 4000 footers. Here is where I stood before that day:
- Mt Lincoln
- Mt Lafayette
- Mt Washington
- N Kinsman
- S Kinsman
- Mt Tecumseh
- Mt Pierce
- Mt Jackson
As the title suggests decided upon bagging Mt Eisenhower. Suddenly I was excited about something on NYE so sleep early to get up next morning to make the trip.
The trail I sought out to traverse was the Edmands path trail pictured below:
Now there is another way to get to Mt Eisenhower via the Crawford path through a continuation after Mt Pierce. Readers may be aware that I already traversed most of that way in an earlier story. I decided that I wanted a novel experience so considered the Edmands Path trailhead
Before we dive into the hike, a little backstory first.
The trail name is after a legendary surveyor J. Rayner Edmands. He devoted more than two decades of summer vacations to trail work. He abhorred the typical Northeast rock-and-root clamber, favoring broad paths with few obstacles, modeled after the miners’ burro paths he’d seen in the Rocky Mountains. He believed a trail should be navigable without stumbles, even in the dark. Other than the name of this trail, there is a low point between Jefferson and Adams named after him.
Mt Eisenhower’s name is obviously after US’s 34th president. Thought it wasn’t always named that, the rename took place after the president’s death in 1969. Prior to it, it was Mt Pleasant perhaps attributed to the bald dome of the summit. Just like other vestiges of past namings there still remains a Mt Pleasant brook that flows parallel to the Edmands trail. There also used to be a hotel owned by the same man that started the Mt Washington hotel, it was called the Mt Pleasant house. Its been demolished but they say a motel stands now on the property.
Ok now on to the hike. One thing I didn’t consider was the fact that Mt Clinton Rd leading to the trailhead is not a well-maintained road. It is barely plowed and gated off in the winters. Luckily this day it was open but it was rough 1.9 mile drive to get to the trailhead. Once I got there, there was only 5 cars aside from me, good to know there are other crazies doing this too today.
So I begin and its blue blazes pretty straightforward.
In the first 3/4 miles its slight incline and encounter small streams and brooks and only this major one Abenaki brook named after a Native American tribe.
Then the trail starts getting steeper, rockier and more rooty. At some point I start wearing spikes as I start consistently encountering patches of frozen ice.
Trail starts getting narrower and start getting partially blocked views of the presidentials. Below you could make the 3 closest: Mt Franklin, Mt Monroe, Mt Washington:
At some point reach the terminus of the Edmands trail and I am supposed to take the Eisenhower Loop trail to get to the summit. There is no blazes to follow, just footsteps and small cairns. I somehow I get lost when I stumble upon a frozen pond.
It doesn’t seem like a trail since the snow is thick and unstepped on. I backtrack and follow something in the semblance of a trail but it ends up being the Crawford path in reverse so I end up doing more mileage until it connects to the other end of the Eisenhower Loop trail.
Looking behind me, I think I could see Mt Pierce!!
Alas the giant cairn and the summit of Mt Eisenhower, I did it!!
It wasn’t windy atop 4,780 ft. I had it all to myself and celebrated victory by eating one of my sandwiches. Afterwards I make my way back and do not get lost. All in all, I wind up hiking for 7.24 miles in 3 hours, 35 minutes. I suppose 1.1 miles additional to the original trail due to the longer loop I did.
Speaking of people, I did cross path with all the hikers of the 5 cars making their way back. I also did see people on my way back that started later than me, basically 2 extra cars back at the parking lot. In total, it was 20 people I saw that day. There was a badass guy that didn’t park at the trailhead and was opting to jog the 1.9 mile on Mt Clinton rd back to Crawford Notch, I did offer to give him a lift, he declined.
One additional thing I could see at the summit was the Mt Washington Omni hotel. Decided to get a closer look post-hike before my long drive back.
It has existed since 1902 and was a summer getaway for wealthy city dwellers to take a train up and then be escorted by horse drawn carriages to the property. Interestingly they still offer horse rides even more than 100 years later!! The most notable event that took place inside the hotel was the International Monetary Conference in 1944 including diplomats from 44 countries . It was there that the gold standard was set and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank were established.
