Jonni
Member
Date Hiked: 7/24/2007
Trail(s) Hiked: Edmands Path, Mt. Eisenhower Loop Trail, Crawford Path, & Mt. Monroe Loop Trail
Total Distance Hiked: About 10 Miles RT
Total Hike Time: 6 Hours 10 minutes
Special Equipment Required: Some extra water would have been nice
Report: After finally getting a day off where it really was a day off (no additional jobs to go to in the afternoon), I decided that I wanted to get a longer hike out of the way. I had never done a 10 mile hike before, as well as never hiked above treeline before so this was going to be a bit of a treat for me. Arriving at the Edmands Path trailhead a little later than I really wanted to at around 10:30 or so, I found myself on my way about 10 mins later. Talk about a very well built trail! Easy to follow, as well as highly predictable in which way it would attack a grade. I found the first 0.5 miles or so to be flat with the rest being moderate with a few sketchy spots within the last 0.5 miles. It was interesting seeing the extensive cribbing in spots supporting the trail and the last 200 feet of the trail on carefully placed rocks going over what appeared to be a rock slide.
Said spots required some planning to get over without sliding or loosing footing, but were a fun addition to the trail nonetheless. Arriving at Ike's relatively flat summit in about 2 hours 20 mins I was there with two other hikers who both had stayed at the Mizpah hut and were either heading down or continuing on to Lakes of the Clouds. After spending about 10 minutes there I continued on my way backtracking to Edmands Path to continue on to the Crawford Path to head for my first 5000' summits. The Crawford Path wasn't too busy, but there was still a fair amount of traffic on it despite being a Tuesday. This was the highlight of the hike for me as I had never really walked or hiked above treeline before. After walking for probably 45 minutes or so I had realized that I just walked by the side path to get to Franklin's summit. As many have said in the past it is very easy to not notice this barely visible summit, with or without it's fairly significant drop into Oakes Gulf.
Spending only enough time to take some pictures and to say that I actually was there, I continued on for my last summit: Mt. Monroe. This was a bit tricky for me as well as the group of campers that I followed up the Mt. Monroe Summit Loop as to where the actual summit was. I originally thought that Little Monroe was actually Monroe's real summit, and that the real summit had to have been something else. After looking again and seeing other people continuing on to the real summit I quickly made my way up to the 5300' peak. Eating my very late lunch and taking in the views in all directions I looked at my watch and decided that it was time to head back. On the way down I detoured onto a little side connector path that went between the Monroe Loop trail and the Crawford path, as I did not want to have to deal with descending over Little Monroe. At a little under a jog pace, I made my way back to my car by around 5:15 or so.
It was a great day overall and the weather couldn't have been better, although Washington was shrouded in it's usual set of clouds. I had considered going all the way to Lakes of the Clouds to refill my water, but I figured that I should be able to make it back on one Nalgene. My first 10 mile hike was exhausting, but I'm happy that I did it. Not sure what my next hike will be, but it may possibly be something a little closer to home (perhaps Tecumseh or another closer 4000') to bag at some point next week.
Pictures to follow at some point.
Trail(s) Hiked: Edmands Path, Mt. Eisenhower Loop Trail, Crawford Path, & Mt. Monroe Loop Trail
Total Distance Hiked: About 10 Miles RT
Total Hike Time: 6 Hours 10 minutes
Special Equipment Required: Some extra water would have been nice
Report: After finally getting a day off where it really was a day off (no additional jobs to go to in the afternoon), I decided that I wanted to get a longer hike out of the way. I had never done a 10 mile hike before, as well as never hiked above treeline before so this was going to be a bit of a treat for me. Arriving at the Edmands Path trailhead a little later than I really wanted to at around 10:30 or so, I found myself on my way about 10 mins later. Talk about a very well built trail! Easy to follow, as well as highly predictable in which way it would attack a grade. I found the first 0.5 miles or so to be flat with the rest being moderate with a few sketchy spots within the last 0.5 miles. It was interesting seeing the extensive cribbing in spots supporting the trail and the last 200 feet of the trail on carefully placed rocks going over what appeared to be a rock slide.
Said spots required some planning to get over without sliding or loosing footing, but were a fun addition to the trail nonetheless. Arriving at Ike's relatively flat summit in about 2 hours 20 mins I was there with two other hikers who both had stayed at the Mizpah hut and were either heading down or continuing on to Lakes of the Clouds. After spending about 10 minutes there I continued on my way backtracking to Edmands Path to continue on to the Crawford Path to head for my first 5000' summits. The Crawford Path wasn't too busy, but there was still a fair amount of traffic on it despite being a Tuesday. This was the highlight of the hike for me as I had never really walked or hiked above treeline before. After walking for probably 45 minutes or so I had realized that I just walked by the side path to get to Franklin's summit. As many have said in the past it is very easy to not notice this barely visible summit, with or without it's fairly significant drop into Oakes Gulf.
Spending only enough time to take some pictures and to say that I actually was there, I continued on for my last summit: Mt. Monroe. This was a bit tricky for me as well as the group of campers that I followed up the Mt. Monroe Summit Loop as to where the actual summit was. I originally thought that Little Monroe was actually Monroe's real summit, and that the real summit had to have been something else. After looking again and seeing other people continuing on to the real summit I quickly made my way up to the 5300' peak. Eating my very late lunch and taking in the views in all directions I looked at my watch and decided that it was time to head back. On the way down I detoured onto a little side connector path that went between the Monroe Loop trail and the Crawford path, as I did not want to have to deal with descending over Little Monroe. At a little under a jog pace, I made my way back to my car by around 5:15 or so.
It was a great day overall and the weather couldn't have been better, although Washington was shrouded in it's usual set of clouds. I had considered going all the way to Lakes of the Clouds to refill my water, but I figured that I should be able to make it back on one Nalgene. My first 10 mile hike was exhausting, but I'm happy that I did it. Not sure what my next hike will be, but it may possibly be something a little closer to home (perhaps Tecumseh or another closer 4000') to bag at some point next week.
Pictures to follow at some point.
