Mt. Pierce - 9/23/23
4310 feet - 6.6 mi
I'd barely found time to climb a mountain at all this year, much less a 4k-er. I'd hiked Blue Job with my dad and brother-in-law to pick wild blueberries, and I'd hiked Mt. Major on a random day off from work. But both of those are substantially smaller and easier than even the simplest of 4000-footers, and I was desperate to fit in at least 1 real mountain this year. I'd been discussing hiking with my dad, and I convinced him that Mt Pierce was within his abilities. For some reason he's always concerned about his physical fitness and whether or not he can complete a hike, but he's never really had any issues besides old man knee pains. Anyway, I was able to convince him when I told him it was a shorter hike than Waumbek, which he had no problem with. So he was on board, and my brother-in-law came along as well, and this one was suitable for the dog so Lana came too. As usual she was all jacked up the night before while I was packing my bag.
The usual early start, and a 2 hour drive got us to the trailhead for the Crawford Connector around 8am. We planned to hike up the Crawford Path from there, to the Mizpah Cutoff and check out the Mizpah Springs hut, since none of us had ever been to an AMC hut. Then we'd hike up to the summit from the hut, and then take the Crawford Path all the way back down. The hike from the hut to the summit was supposed to be much steeper and rockier than the rest of the hike but I was confident that Lana could handle it.
The Crawford Connector is a short trail that leads from a parking lot on Mt Clinton Rd and cuts across to the Crawford Path a little ways above the AMC Highland Center. This section of the hike is pretty uninteresting, but it crosses Gibbs Brook just before it connects to the Crawford path, and there is a cool bridge and a nice little waterfall. A bit further up the trail there is a small side trail down to the foot of Gibbs Falls, and there are other interesting stream features visible from the trail as you ascend.
There's also this plaque describing some of the history of the Crawford Path, which is the oldest continually-used hiking trail in the country.
From here the Mizpah Spring Hut is a mere 2.7 miles, as indicated by this sign.
The trail was suprisingly muddy though it had been a few days since the last rain, and fairly rocky, though nothing out of the ordinary for The Whites. But on the whole it was fairly smooth sailing. No steep parts, mostly good footing. Several small stream crossings but nothing a good pair of shoes couldn't handle. Lana was very muddy, very quickly, however. All up her legs and onto her belly. Oh well.
We climbed steadily and easily. The trail was pretty crowded and there were many other people and a few other dogs as well. Eventually we reached the split in the trail where we turned towards the AMC hut.
A short, relatively flat walk later and we found ourselves at the hut. I was suprised by how big it was. I knew it wasn't going to be some shack and that it had lots of bunk space for overnighters, but it still was larger than I imagined. We took a longer break here, refilled our waterbottles, and used a real bathroom. Dogs aren't allowed inside so I waited with Lana until my dad was done inside. Then we all had a snack before moving on.
After our break at the hut, we headed up the steep and narrow trail to the summit. This was by far the most strenuus part of the hike, although the steepest part doesn't actually last for very long. The first bit right after the hut is the worst. Some rock scrambling, a wooden ladder of sorts, and then some more rock scrambling, and then the worst was over.
Above this steepest part the trail got extremely muddy. There were lots of small plank bridges to help keep hiker feet dry and also protect the fragile alpine ecosystem. Lana doesn't really like to walk on them, as much as I try to get her to. But she stepped off the side of one and sank into mud up to her belly and clambered right back on. After that she was very careful to stay on the boards.
It's less than a mile from the hut to the summit, and with the exception of the first steep stretch it's mostly a very mild grade. We quickly reached the summit, which is marked by a small plate embedded into the rock near a cairn. The view from the actual highest point isn't great because it's surrounded by scrubby trees. But if you walk 50 yards or so towards the prominent summit of nearby Mt. Eisenhower, you get a sweeping view of surrounding area to the north and east. Eisenhower looms ahead, and Washington is visible beyond it. It really gives you a clear picture of just how much smaller Mt. Pierce is.
We took another long break at the summit (where my brother in law dried out his shoes and socks after also stepping in deep mud) before heading back down. Rather than descend towards the hut, we picked up the Crawford Path which required us towards Eisenhower before the path loops back around the north side of the mountain and back below the tree line. The trail was still pretty wet and rocky here, but kept the same steady moderate grade basically the whole way down. If you have no interest in the AMC hut, taking the Crawford Path all the way to the summit is a very easy hike as 4000-footers go. There's not a lot interesting to see along this trail between Gibbs Falls at the bottom and the summit, but it's nice enough at the top to make it worthwhile.
We made it to the bottom without incident. Lana's paws were muddy but she had no injuries, which I'm always watchful for after the mishap on Mt. Osceola. No human injuries either, in fact we all felt pretty ggood afterwards. Definitely an easy hike, but I'm glad to have knocked at least one summit off the list this year.