Mount Crawford via Davis Path

The weather finally cooperated this weekend and it was a great day for hiking! When we found out my youngest had outgrown his hiking boots we had to adjust our plans. So instead of hitting the trail early this morning we traveled to Eastern Mountain Sports in North Conway to remedy that problem. Our initial plans had us conquering another 4,000 footer but we decided to break in new boots on a less formidable hike.

The hike we decided on was Mount Crawford via the Davis Path. After departing EMS it was onward to Crawford Notch. We reached the trailhead parking lot and were soon on our way to the trail. The time was 10:30 and the temperature was 75 degrees. Soon after stepping off the parking lot a hawk swooped down in front of us and landed in a tree. I was able to get some good photos of this beautiful bird perched on a branch. 

We crossed a suspension bridge and made our way to the Davis Path. The trail started fairly flat and developed into a moderate grade that remained consistent to the junction that turned left to the summit. There was a series of ledges the rest of the way to the summit that had great views. On the first set of ledges there was a hawk flying above us, no way of knowing if it was the same one we had seen earlier. This would be a very tricky trek in wet weather or icy conditions.

We reached the summit and the views were fantastic in every direction! There were several people also enjoying the mountain scenery. We spent some time resting, cooling off, eating a snack and of course taking numerous photos. There were great views of Mount Washington, Stairs Mountain (it's easy to see where it gets this name), Attitash ski area, everything up and down Crawford Notch as well as many mountains in the distance.

It was time to make our descent. We met several people making their way up the trail as we were going down. As we got to the bottom we saw our first dog of the day. Normally I see several dogs with their hikers while hiking.

One last noteworthy event today was seeing a bear as we drove home. I stopped the car and backed up when I saw it and he stood up on hind legs, bared his teeth and started toward the vehicle before darting into the woods. There was no time for a photo and we never saw the bear again. It's always exciting to see a bear in the wild!

After a sunny day the clouds moved in and the sun became obscured as I pulled into the driveway. Today was a nice reprieve after the past several weekends of hot, humid and wet weather.

Having fun in the great outdoors!