Cohos Trail: Mt. Eisenhower to Bretton Woods

Eisenhower Trail is lovely

Well, you just never know. As they say, hope for the best and prepare for the worst. I was resigned to a day of heavy rain after two gloriously perfect weather days, but the heavy rains held off. A few scattered showers, but those moody days can be pretty neat. 

The trail up Mt Eisenhower was wonderful. I didn't see a soul on it. Not steep or difficult. I'd pondered taking the longer Cohos option (Dry River Trail up to Mt. Monroe), but I'm glad I took the Eisenhower Trail up. It's one of those trails that gets just enough foot traffic to keep it clear, but not so much that it gets eroded. Most trails that go up a mountain in this area are so terribly eroded that you are typically going boulder to boulder to boulder all the way up. Not so with this trail. Just walk up the trail and breath in the air. 

Mt. Eisenhower on the right from the Mt. Eisenhower Trail

The forest was drippy, but it didn't rain at all until I broke the treeline.  It was warm enough for shorts going up, but as soon as I hit the treeline I was blasted with a cold wind and some light rain, long enough to don some new layers. New rain pants, yay. Amazing how much colder it can be up there. But the spigot turned off pretty quickly and left some moody low clouds skipping about. It was another world. WOW. Just wow. Everything was amazing. 

Mt. Eisenhower ahead, Bretton Woods down below

After slowly wandering up the trail gawking at the views and alpine plants and stuff, the trail broke over the ridge and the mountains off to the north were suddenly in view. More WOW.  And then there were people. I hadn't seen anyone all day, and the day before only saw one set of hikers all day. But there were people all over the Crawford Path, which is also the Appalachian Trail. It was a nice reminder about what makes the Cohos Trail special, following the lesser-used paths. But all the same, I didn't mind chatting with some hikers after a few days alone. 

Stashed my heavy pack near this little pond 
before going up Eisenhower

The Cohos follows the Crawford Path a short ways before turning down the Edmand's Path. At this point you have the option of detouring up the top of Mt. Eisenhower. Which I did after stashing my heavy pack near a little pond up on the ridge. Clouds had rolled in and it was all moody. Super cool. 

Clouds take over Mt. Eisenhower

Groups of  hikers wearing brightly colored hiking attire came down the hill. A pair of young women were up ahead of me and I chatted with them later on at the summit. They were doing the hut-to-hut thing and had forgotten their rain gear. A solo hiker popped up from some other trail and joined the group chat. Everyone had their own hike going on, but we all had the Mt. Eisenhower summit on our agenda. 

Strike a pose! Hut-to-hut hikers at the top of Eisenhower

The descent back down to the pond where my pack was also super cool. The trail is heavily used and the tread not too slick. I passed more groups of brightly colored hikers. Everyone was super nice. Hikers usually are. 

Last season blueberries were still tasty

The alpine zone is so interesting and I regret that I didn't know what I was looking at. I knew I was above treeline and that there were plants there I don't normally see at lower elevations. Many other plants are the same as down below, just stunted and growing low to the ground. Either way, it gives the ridge an other-worldly feel, especially in the fog. 

Descending back down the top of Mt. Eisenhower
(see the little pond?) 

After claiming my pack down by the pond, it was time to find the Edmands Path and head down the mountain. This turned out to be the hardest part of the day. My Connecticut legs were feeling pretty good at this point, my first trip of the season in the mountains. By the time I got to the bottom, my thighs were pretty sore. 

Edmands Path 

I only passed one pair of hikers all the way down the Edmands Path, which was quite a contrast to the Crawford Path. The Edmands Path was obviously a major project back in the day. The amount of rock work done was amazing. It was still tricky to walk on, though, especially when wet. At the higher elevations, it was similar to walking on a talus slope. The rock surface isn't like pavement. The rocks are a tightly packed jumble. Except where they've washed out. 

Heading back into the treeline 
(looking back)

It did start raining lightly about the time I hit the treeline, and continued much of the way down. Just enough to get everything wet and slick. It was a warm rain. Even going downhill, the rain gear was too hot, so I had it draped over my head and gear instead of wearing it properly. 

A break in the rain (Edmand's Path)

The Edmands Path was 837 miles long. It took days to descend in the rain. There were only a few really tricky spots, nothing very dramatic, but there was an endless series of step-downs that required some quick assessment in the rain (left? right?), and some thought about how to make that next step without slipping. I started to feel it in my thighs, the repeated slow and deliberate dropping down to the next level. One-legged slow-motion squats. Slow, so that I wouldn't slip on the wet, slick boulders.  At one point I thought I might be near the bottom. I checked my phone and discovered I wasn't even half way down. Then it started raining again.  

Finally down off the mountain  (Edmand's Path)

But after a few weeks I finally arrived at the bottom of the Edmands Path at Mt. Clinton Road and the scattered showers were history. Things were looking up. Now it was time to check some maps. Remember that the Cohos trail isn't marked while passing through White Mountain National Forest. The guidebook made a big point about taking the second left off of Mt. Clinton Road onto an old railroad bed. I had highlighted that warning as was prepared.  Yup. The first left looked correct. But there was another left soon afterwards, and this was the correct turn. Purchase and read the guidebook! 

Bear Poo on the B&M Trail

It was all super easy walking after this. The first part of the B&M Trail was little used and quite rustic. And I only saw a few people the entire way. I had originally planned to do this section southbound, and was hoping to find a place to tent just before going up Mt. Eisenhower. If you have a traditional ground tent, it will be very hard to find a spot on the Edmands Path clear enough for a tent. It's all hobblebush at the bottom and spruce/fir going up. So this part of the B&M Trail (near Mt Clinton Road) may be the best bet for tenting. 

B&M Trail

Online maps are helpful from Mt. Clinton Road to Rt 302. I did have some mapping issues. I should have downloaded the Avenza map, but didn't realize that was an option at the time. Guthook ended with the Edmand's Path. Gaia froze repeatedly on my phone but was still useful. I mostly ended up using Google MyMaps (I had loaded someone else's Cohos gps track, so at least I could tell if I was on the correct trail). 

"Middle Falls" on the Ammonoosuc River

One theme of this hike my repeated failure to find waterfalls. I missed the Dry River Falls the day before, and had hoped to make up for it by seeing all three of the Ammonoosuc Falls on this day, starting with the Upper Falls. But the road apparently leading to the Upper Falls was signed "NO WALKING ON TRAIL." That's a new one. Did they mean just in the winter? I don't know. I followed the rules and skipped it.  I did get to Middle Falls, although I'm not sure I saw any actual falls. But there were some neat rock formations. 

Ammonoosuc River

For several miles, the  Ammonoosuc River was never far from the trail. And then the trail finally turned to the left and came out onto the golf course on the backside of the landmark Mount Washington Hotel. It was quite dramatic for a hiking trail.

The backside of the Mt. Washington Hotel at Bretton Woods

A scattering of people were golfing or walking their dogs. The online map helped guide me through the facilities. Just before coming out on Rt 302, the driveway crosses the river and looking back there was a spectacular view of the motel and the Presidential Range behind it. Wow again. Mt. Eisenhower emerged from the low clouds right on cue. What a walk! I still needed to finish up the Cohos with a walk down the highway to Cherry Mountain Road, where I'd been a few years back. My legs hurt and I was really tired at that point, but I did it and my husband was thankfully waiting for me. My plan had been for us to walk to the Lower Ammonoosuc Falls, which I had enjoyed back in 2019, but I was just too exhausted to walk any further. I did take note that the parking area there does not allow overnight parking. My original plan was to park there and go southbound, so I lucked out by going nobo. 

Presidential Range - Mt Eisenhower on the right

We had a nice few days relaxing in Lincoln, doing some shopping and eating out (baffled by all the new protocols in the age of Covid, since we don't usually go out to eat, like needing to pull up the menu on our phones). Masks? In Connecticut, most people wore masks when shopping. There wasn't very much drama about it. In New Hampshire, almost no one was wearing masks while shopping. Another odd bit: In the Before Times (2019), Connecticut banned plastic shopping bags and we were all so traumatized by it at the time because it was like the end of the world to have to remember to bring bags into the store with us. Relative to all the Covid changes that were to come, it was laughable. At any rate, we got used to not getting bags at the store. Then we got to New Hampshire and bought a few novelties and were startled by the big production underway to wrap and bag said novelties. It seemed ridiculous. "No, no, no, we'll just put those in our pocket." It was then the  cashier's turn to be startled. "Are you SURE?" We got a good laugh.