Crawford Notch to Mizpah Spring Hut (0.0 AT Miles)

We hiked this section on July, 16, 2009.

Theme song for today is “Take it easy” by The Eagles.

Total hike time: 2 hours 33 minutes

The clock alarm went off this morning at 4:30 AM but we went back to sleep until 5:30 AM.

Python still didn’t feel very good this morning but she hoped that getting some food in her stomach would help her feel better. Dirigo only ate half of her pumpkin muffin for breakfast.

We loaded all our stuff into the car at the Highland center and then went to check out. The weather forecast posted near the front desk said “Severe thunderstorms with possible lightning” (written in red).

We were both dreading the idea of hitch hiking this morning and when we read the weather forecast our spirits sank even lower. We walked out of the Highland center to route 302 to start hitchhiking. Neither one of us really wanted to hike in severe thunderstorms but we did not want to let each other know this so we tried not to make eye contact on the way out to route 302. We probably looked absolutely miserable standing on the side of route 302. Would you have picked us up?

We both looked at each other and simultaneously said “do you really want to do this today?” We both replied “NO!” So, we decided to go to breakfast and discuss other options for today. We were both so relieved that we would not have to hike on the ridge of the Webster Cliff trail during a thunderstorm.

Over breakfast at Monroe’s we looked at the map Dirigo got from Sarah (we had lost the map from the ATC during our drive up to NH). We decided to take the Crawford Path trail to Mizpah Spring hut instead of the AT. So, we would only have to hike 2.3 miles instead of 6.4 miles.

Blasphemous? We are not blue blazers! We plan on making up this section at a later date. Anyone want to join us? Anyone? Anyone?

We had been following the trail journals of several thru-hikers this year so we know how dangerous it can be on the ridges during bad weather. The Crawford path did not involve any ridge walking and it is also the severe weather route to Mizpah Spring hut.

We drove to the Mt. Clinton parking lot and paid the fee to park on national park land. We signed the trail register and started hiking.

The Crawford Path is the oldest continuously used mountain trail in America, joins the Appalachian Trail before Mizpah Spring hut, and leads to the summit of Mt. Washington. We both felt honored to step foot on this trail.

It was a gradual ascent that lead past a beautiful waterfall, named Gibbs Falls.

The trail was maintained very well, but had a few small boulder scrambles but nothing like we had already done in the last section. This is the route taken by most people that just want a nice hike in the out of doors, you know city slickers. For a day that we had decided to pack it all in, it was a pretty nice hike, a little drizzly but a nice hike.

We got to the hut and the cook had just finished making gingersnap cookies with chocolate on top. She offered to heat some soup as it was very damp and cold. The soup was leftover from the night before and they offer it to thru-hikers and day hikers for a fee. We paid $2.00 a bowl for pumpkin curry soup, which is something that Dirigo would never try at home, but she must have been starving because she ate it and actually liked it.

After lunch we went to our bunk room and had a nap. It was very cold and we both could not get warm. It rained very hard while we napped and in about an hour most of the other guests started to arrive and the place started to warm up with all the body heat.

There were two large groups staying at the hut. One group was comprised of 4 families with children and the other group consisted of 20 adults who were part of the AMC’s annual “Hike the Presidentials”.

The AMC group divided up into 4 or 5 smaller group that hiked at different paces. The smaller groups arrived at different times at the hut.

Once all the AMC hikers got settled at the hut, they assembled outside in a circle to review the day’s events. It reminded us of what we think Warren Doyle’s “circle of life” would be like. Apparently, there were a couple of members who were not happy with their leader and they were very vocal about it inside the hut.

We met a nice young thru-hiker outside the hut who was doing work-for-stay. Python was again trying to lighten her load so she asked him if he wanted any snacks. He replied yes so Python gave him a giant chocolate chip cookie from the Highland center and a Hersheys chocolate bar.

At 5:30 PM we attended the “Green” lecture about the hut. There are solar panels on the roof but this hut did not have a wind turbine. The hut treats it well water with chlorine and the croo pointed to the well house. The croo has to rake the compost from the privy every day and since it gets so cold up at this hut, the compost is removed from the mountain using a helicopter. A helicopter is also used to bring in the large propane tanks and large bulk items at the beginning of each season.

Dinner tonight was curry bean soup, rice, peas, salad, bread, and a delicious beef dish. The secret dessert was toffee cookies.

Dirigo and I played 2 rounds of White Mountain bingo with some very loud and humorous kids. Here are some of kids’ answers to the questions.

Question: Who was one of the creators of the Crawford Path? Answer: Apple Crawford (correct answer is ABEL Crawford).

Question: What type of cloud has noticeable vertical development and clearly defined edges? Answer: Columbus Clouds (correct answer is CUMULUS clouds)

Tonight we shared a bunk room with 7 men. Fortunately all the guys were very nice and quiet. Python used her sleeping bag liner instead of a sleeping bag and was very warm (she also used the 3 wool blankets provided by the hut). At one point it got so hot inside of the room, both of us were lying on top of all our covers.

Python’s hike stats: 1,426 calories burned. Min HR 91, max HR 155, avg HR 135. # Vitamin I = 3.

Dirigo’s hike stats: 2,629 calories burned. 15,241 steps.