Hiked by: Tim and Valerie on April 5, 2009 - Crawford Connector to Crawford Path.
We always end up on Mt Pierce in April. I think it's the relatively short hike (relatively!) with the lack of nasty water crossings, mixed with a serious hope for a view. Anyways, today, we left our sunny home where we could have gardened in 50-degree happiness to take on Old Man Winter again.
At the parking lot, the new snow was evident all around us. The views were beautiful and the clouds were LOW. We were the only ones there when we pulled in at 10AM. Temps were right around freezing. By the time we got our gear organized and on, it was 10:15AM.
The trails were snowy but solid. We didn't posthole at all on the way up. We didn't even need traction control until we got above treeline.
At the intersection with the Mizpah Cut-off, we stopped for a snack and were immediately assaulted by this fella, a Gray Jay.
The summit was raw and windy. Many times, we just needed to stop walking and hold our ground until the wind gust passed. There was a lot of open ice. We put on our new microspikes to walk across the ice. This was our first trial for them, and at this point, they were doing very well. Visibility was not to be had today. We were really inside the cloud. We had some trouble finding the trail when we started to descend. This summit is tricky for that. The wind blows away your footprints in minutes, and we were left looking around (uphill, then downhill, then farther uphill) for the trail. We found it within a few minutes and headed on our way.
The trip down was very quick. We had a lot of issues with snow balling up in the microspikes. I know this wasn't perfect conditions for them, but we were a little disappointed. We stopped at Gibbs Falls for some pictures, but otherwise, it was a bee-line to the car.
This picture was taken at the junction of Crawford Connector and Crawford Path. The bridge was in much better shape than when we did the same hike last year.
This hike really reminded us what a great trail the Crawford Path is. We were back at the car by 2:30PM! Incredible time for a 4K for us.