Mount Eisenhower and Edmunds “Purposeful” Path

Mount Eisenhower and Edmunds “Purposeful” Path


J. Rayner Edmunds brought his love for trail making to this path in 1909 and much of that hard work has lasted and endured the tests of time. Thousands have taken this path and enjoyed the sweat that was put into this trail over the years. Edmunds chose the layout and direction of the path with care and certain thoughtfulness. His purpose was to provide a great way to get up into the beauty of the Alpine zone. This trail will challenge you but is never steep enough to break you. It asks of you but then it also rewards you. In the end the trail brings you to the Alpine zone and some simply awesome views. If you choose to summit Eisenhower then you get some great 360 degree views. Other paths lead to views similar to this but the challenges of those paths are often more demanding. Edmund’s love and purposefulness in this path helps more people reach the summit of Eisenhower or the middle portion of the Crawford Path.

For me coming back to Edmunds Path and Eisenhower was about facing my demons that lingered from my previous journey to this very path. That journey ended with me sick with food poisoning and turning back some two miles into the hike. That day there were simply no paths easy enough for me to make it anywhere. I retreated down the mountain feeling defeated. It was no doubt an unjust punishment I was awarding myself for this situation. I struggled to make it home that day and then the struggles turned to a confidence that was broken and shredded. I no longer even trusted myself to make the drive to the mountains. Old fears and old ways became today’s way and today’s fears. Month or even years of trying to go forward had suddenly evaporated around me from just one day of an unruly stomach that would have done the same to any mortal. I just could not let it go and I could not get around it. My mind matters and mind of matter does not work for me. I could reason that what had happened made sense and it was unlikely to happen again to me anytime soon. That really sounded great but it did not work. If it happened once then it can happen again and with my perceived lack of luck it would happen again. The next time it would be worse and I could be in deep trouble alone on a trail. Scenarios played on the big screen in my brain day and night. And each viewing poking more holes into the shaken confidence that was quickly evaporating from my very soul. I had to take some sort of action.

Days would come and go with chances to hike and redeem myself. I would find one excuse or another with my own versions of rationalization taking the lead on many occasions. I finally went on a drive and despite a grumbling of the tummy and anxiousness in the mind I was able to drive for a long ways. Some 335 miles helped head me on the proper path. I t was not hiking though and the true challenge was out there in the White Mountains on Edmund’s Path. No other trail would answer the questions being tossed around within my over analyzing brain. Only Edmund’s and the summit of Eisenhower would help me get back on some sort of track. Excuses fostered other excuses until today.

Today I was awake at 6:30 am and yet did not move. I closed my eyes and prayed for the sandman to enter again. I did not want to be done sleeping and soon enough I was not done sleeping. The sandman answered my call and before I was aware of it 9:00 am was here and then I tried to find the motivation but I found more potential excuses to keep me far away from any mountain. I told myself that I was going to take a drive and search for moose which is something I enjoy and the White Mountains are a perfect place to see some of them. Off I went before 9:30 am and as the road twists and turns so did my mind on what I was actually going to do when I got up there in a couple of hours. I wanted to hike and yet I didn’t want to hike. I could beat that trail but maybe I could not beat that trail. I battled the entire drive and felt worn before I even got out of Maine and into New Hampshire. Anxiety is so very tough and takes so much out of me that often I just having nothing left after the battles. I kept driving and driving just hoping the next turn or twist in the road would open a new door to better thoughts for me. No such luck and soon enough I was in New Hampshire then in Crawford Notch and then in the parking lot for Edmund’s Path. I sat there for a moment and suddenly I began to shake from anxiousness. My head lowered and tears of frustration, fear, and everything else lingered just below the surface. I pounded my fists on the steering wheel and got out of the car and onto the trail. I was going and going but I was already tired from the battle. In time the anxiety would return with a different bag of tricks to employ on the battlefield of my life. I didn’t, I couldn’t, and everything ended in ‘nt for quite some time but I tried to counter back with better thoughts. I was sweating like a human waterfall and yet pushed forward and upward. I was making progress and soon I had reached my turn around point from my last attempt. I thought it was far enough and I could turn back. I could go home now and know I could hike without getting sick but those thoughts left me feeling empty. If I turned now then I would not have finished anything and the questions of doubt would still reside because I didn’t finish. I had to think and think but I was losing the battle till a group passed me going up. I had never been passed going up a trail and I did not like it. My competitive instinct kicked in and soon I was after them on the trail. My new goal was to keep them in sight or at the very least to keep them in ear shot. It proved to be something that kept me going and kept my anxiety at bay.

Soon I came across a woman heading down the trail. We chit chatted and she had said her husband had dropped her off on top of Mount Washington and she was going hike back to the start of the Crawford Path but had bit of more than she could chew and was heading down Edmund’s Path instead. She asked if I saw her on the road later if I would pick her up and drive her to where her husband would be waiting. I of course said I would but truly never expected to see her again. I still had about an hour to the top. I went my way and she went hers. I had to catch the group in front of me. The alpine zone came quickly and then I bumped into another older couple and chatted with them. A rest for me before chasing my goal that was moving ahead of me. I then came across some AT thru hikers and chatted with them for a bit before picking up the chase. I never want to pass the group but just there with them. I did that and soon enough all of us were on the summit of Eisenhower. I did it!!!

I lingered on the summit for about forty minutes before heading down. They had left about ten minutes before me and I wanted to see if I could make up that time and eventually I did just that but this time no staying behind them. I passed and headed on my new journey to the parking lot. I was beat and not interested in chasing but leading. About halfway or maybe just a little past halfway I came across the woman who was looking for a ride. She asked if I would stay with her and walk out with her then give a ride to where her husband was waiting. I told her that I would do that for her. We would walk about 30-50 yards and she would have to stop. She had done the 48 4,000 foot mountain list but had not hiked yet this year. This was ambitious for a first hike but her husband had never driven up the auto road and she was sure she could walk downhill to the end of Crawford Path. She was a determined lady but this was a big challenge for any person and especially an older person who had not hiked yet this year. She expressed concern for her husband worrying and waiting. I knew there were people behind me so I told her I would hike out and go get her husband. I would lead him back to the parking lot and then come back after her. I got the information on where he would be and what he looked like and off I went down the trail. I was going at a fast rate to make good time and soon was out of the woods. I was spent in everyway possible but quickly got in my Explorer and went to find her husband. I returned with him to the lot and then headed up the trail. About a half mile in I found her and out we came. She offered me money but I told her it was never about anything like that for me. It was about doing the right thing and what I would want of someone else if I was in a little trouble on the mountains. This hike had a purpose for me and helped me realize it is the tough situations where I always have been able to shine. The mind and anxiety that drives me crazy and sometimes gets the best of me is the same mind that is prepared should something go wrong. I never panic in those situations but always am calm and focused. I have played it out in every way possible in my mind and thus I am ready. I am prepared and I am purposeful.