New Hampshire 4,000 footer mountains are made up of 48 mountains that are all over 4,000 feet in elevation. There is a popular challenge to complete all 48 of these summits. I have lived in New Hampshire for over 20 years and even though I have admired these mountains from afar, I have never hiked any of them. A friend was talking about wanting to hike her first one and I agreed to join her.
After a lot of research and talking with others who have hiked the 4,000 footers we decided Mount Pierce would be our first hike with the option of doing Eisenhower as our second 4,000 footer if we were up for it. Since the trailhead was over three hours from our houses my friend booked us a room at Hampton Inn, in Littleton. The hotel was perfect for an overnight and only about 30 minutes from the trailhead.
We were up early the next morning to be at the trailhead for Mount Pierce at 6am. The trailhead is located across from the AMC Highland Center on Route 302. You can park at the center for a $10 fee. Since we were at the trailhead at 6am we found plenty of parking along the road for no fee.
To hike up Mount Pierce we took the Crawford Path, which is the oldest, continuously maintained, hiking path in America.
The trail starts out following Gibbs Brook. There is a small bridge with a waterfall near the beginning of the trail. A little further up is a very short side trail to Gibbs falls. Since it was dark, we checked out the waterfalls on the way back.
The trail was very rocky and with a steady incline up. My friend and I both felt that between mile one and two was the most difficult of this trail. The majority of the trail is in the trees, with not much views. A little over three miles up we come to a stunning view overlooking the White Mountains. There was a bench to sit and enjoy the view.
There is a trail behind the bench that goes to the summit of Mt. Pierce, which is less than a half mile up, but there was not much of a view due to the trees.
After a snack of some jerky we decided to make the trek to Mount Eisenhower. We had mixed information on how far it was to the summit from Mt. Pierce and by looking at the mountains were were not sure which one we were heading to, but we decided to try it anyway. The trail started out fairly flat for about a mile meandering in and out of the tree line with some amazing views.
The last half mile of the hike was straight up and not easy. I felt like it took us forever.
Once at the top of Mt. Eisenhower we had 365 degree views of the White Mountains with Mt. Washington being the next mountain over. It took us about three and half hours and 4.8 miles to get to the summit of Mt Eisenhower.
We were shocked that we did not see anyone until we got to the second summit. Supposedly Mt. Pierce is one of the most climbed 4,000 footers. After enjoying some snacks, water and views we headed back down the mountains. The hike down Mt Eisenhower was slow due to how steep it was. In between the two mountains was not bad. We started seeing more people as we were headed back down. Heading down Pierce was not easy as you had to watch your footing with all the small rocks on the trail. Due to my short legs, sometimes getting down the rocks was not easy. We made it back to the car around 1:30pm after a total of a little over 9 and a half miles.
After the hike we reflected on what we brought with us. I had two Yeti Bottles of water and could have used one more. I had a little too much food. We also packed winter items. Decathlon had sent me an amazing Hooded Puffer Jacket which was perfect for the wind on the top of Mt. Eisenhower.
They also sent me a long sleeve Merino Wool Shirt that was perfect for the hike. It wicked the sweat away from my skin and kept me warm during the hike. I did not feel wet from sweat at all.
We were glad we did not wear our fleece lined leggings. We also had a first aid kit, Bivvy Blanket, fire starting tools and a portable phone charger.
Overall it was such an amazing day. We could not have asked for a more perfect day with views for miles to hike our first two 4,000 footer mountains. We were lucky that we did not see a lot of people. We planned accordingly thanks to friends and research. We are already talking about what our next one will be.
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