🧵1/9
September 8, 1983: It was mostly cloudy in Crawford Notch at 12:30 when I set out on the Appalachian Trail. A nice, stiff breeze was blowing, the air was fresh and dry, and the day was much cooler than the last few had been. As usual, that 12:30 start was considerably later than I wanted it to be.

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2/9
Climbing the Webster Cliffs was not the ordeal I remembered from earlier hikes. The ascent was notably steep, but a great deal of excellent trail construction work had made it a much easier climb than the Liberty Springs Trail had been. I did not take one break until I arrived at the top of the first set of cliffs, with their excellent view of the notch below. I really did not need to stop there, either, I wanted to enjoy the spot. I took a two-minute standing break and had a snack.

3/9
The sky had been gradually clearing as I went along, but the clouds moved back in and then some as I climbed Mount Jackson. From the 4052-foot summit, I could see the entire length of the trail ahead to Mount Washington. Mount Eisenhower’s rounded dome was slipping in and out of the clouds, and the top several hundred feet of Washington was completely socked-in.

4/9
From Jackson’s summit, I descended back below the trees and continued along the ridge crest to Mitzpah Spring Hut, located in a wooded col below the summit of Mount Pierce.

I stopped on the front porch of the hut just long enough for another snack. I considered topping off my water bottle for the trail ahead, but a quart of water still remained. A stiff climb up Mount Pierce was on tap, so I decided not to carry the extra weight.

5/9
It was quite cool on the ridge after the heat of the past few days, and a powerful breeze was blowing. The weather sheet at Mitzpah called for fifty-mile-per-hour winds at the summits today, and I could find no reason to argue with that prediction.

Like most winds, these would die down a bit and then gust again at unpredictable intervals. I was concentrating on making up some lost time and often distracted by the ever-changing landscape and views.

6/9
My legs were soon torn and bleeding from the impact of my body being buffeted by the gale into sharp rocks and bushes adjacent to the trail.

The sun began to reemerge as I came out onto the south summit of Pierce. By the time I topped the main summit, the entire mountain basked in sunshine and the clouds had lifted from the top of Mount Eisenhower, although they hovered dramatically just above the summit.

7/9
I have always been slightly (and childishly) amused by the alpine summit of Mount Eisenhower's resemblance to a round bald dome.

From Pierce, the Appalachian Trail remained above tree line for the rest of the day’s hike. In the Presidentials, the alpine area is not confined to a narrow strip along the ridgeline. The zone of bare rock, alpine tundra and dwarf spruce often extends well down the mountainsides. Major side ridges slope down to the distant valleys west and east of the range.