Crawford Dome, Giant Stairs, Mount Resolution

April 20th: Crawford Dome, Giant Stairs, Mount Resolution

Miles: ~14

Well, having finished off the New Hampshire 4000 footer list two years ago, I was in search of some new climbing goals. Some of the obvious lists are the New England 4000 footer list, the New England 100 highest list and the Adirondack 46er list. I will complete the New England 4000 footer list at some point this year. However all of the 46ers and the most of the remaining peaks on the 100 highest list require lots of driving.

Since one of the things that I am looking for now is a little solitude, I turned to the idea of trail-bagging. Basically, I look on a map for a place that I have been before, but for a new route to get there. Typically, these are less-popular routes and most times I see very few people on the way to my destination. A few months ago, however, while talking with winter hiking partner Garry G, I learned that he had put together a list of 3000 footers in New Hampshire. Most of these peaks are trail-less, and many of there are remote, but a good portion of the list is within a 2 hour drive.

And so, this hike was born. Actually, this was supposed to be the Flat Mountain trip report, but the day was so nice that I convinced Garry to head a bit further north where I knew we would get at lest a few views. I had no idea just how great the day would be, however.

We drove up through Crawford Notch and I parked, rather poorly, in the Davis Path parking lot. We followed the Davis Path north past the side trail for Mt. Crawford and then up again to the height of land. At just over 3 miles, the trail comes close to the summit of Crawford Dome, and from there we headed into the brush. At a point that is almost the summit, the mountain opens up for a great view back at Mt Crawford. Garry and I hunted around the area a bit to find the true summit, but the open area was clearly the highlight of this mountain.

After a short break, we headed back through the brush and back to the Davis Path. Heading north one again, we headed for our second 3000 footer of the day, Giant Stairs. This mountain has two large granite ledges that look a bit like two enormous stairs, hence the name. There is a side trail that leads to the top of the top "step" and provides a view outlook. The top of this step, however, is not the actual summit of the mountain. After some poking around, we found the true summit just off the side trail.

After hitting the Giant Stairs, it was a short backtrack on the Davis Path as we headed down the Parker Mountain Trail to our final peak for the day, Mt Resolution. Looking at the trail signs or guidebook, it appears as if the summit of this mountain is right on the trail. However, the true summit is close to a half mile through dense brush. After reaching what we thought was the high point of the trail, Garry and I dropped our packs and headed off into the woods. Finding a trail-less summit is tricky business, especially when the mountain has a broad, flat summit such as this one. After poking around for a while, we found a nice outlook to the Presidentials, but still no summit.

This was cause for some serious map consultation. Garry figured out that we actually entered the woods a bit sooner than we should have, thus our direction was off. He made the correction and I started hunting for a peak. After a few minutes of plodding through flat terrain, we started to go up. And up a little more. And then, BAM, we were standing on the summit of Mt Resolution with a great view of the Presidentials as well as half the White Mountains. It was a great spring day and we were very happy to be here. I sat down and enjoyed the view with Bear amazed that such a great place was so well hidden. Garry and I lingered here for a while, enjoying the fine weather, the great view and the total solitude. We had only seen one other person all day and we were virtually assured that no one else was stopping by this spot.

Unfortunately, we couldn't stay up there all day, so we headed back into the bush and started searching for the trail once again. The trail itself has some nice ledges as well, and provided a fine view of Giant Stairs and back at Mt Crawford and Crawford Dome. From there, it was a pleasant walk back down the Davis Path and back to my poorly parked car. While it was not the hike we had intended to do (as I was reminded over the course of the day) it was certainly an excellent day.

-Chomp