Mt. Eisenhower, and Mt. Monroe - I Join the Hiking Pole People

For many years I’ve literally cursed the clickitty clackitty of hiking poles and those people who use them. The number of times I’ve been out enjoying the pristine quiet of the woods, or the desert only to be disturbed by the clicking of hiking poles striking against rock. And for what? I questioned. Really how much can two sticks really add to the hiker’s abilities?

Today I got some learning and some converting. It all began back there on Mount Hancock a few months ago. It was only fitting that the end would be the next 4000fters – Mt. Eisenhower, and Mt. Monroe. We left the trailhead at 8:00, and began the gentle climb up the first 1000 ft. When the climb got a little more serious I decided, “what the heck, I’m carrying the darn poles, why not use them?”

“But wait” you ask, “where did you, curser of hiking poles get hiking poles? And not just any poles – Contour Elliptic Shock Trekking Poles by Black Diamond”

“Ah” I reply. “Good question. Back when I was climbing – or rather descending – Mt. Hancock. S. lent me his – just in time to save my knees. And so it came to pass that for my birthday S. bought me a pair, and not just any pair but Black Diamond Contour Elliptical Shock poles.

But back to Mt. Eisenhower which we climbed expecting the fog to lift after we cleared the tree line. It didn’t. At the peak, marked by a very nice, very large cairn, it still hadn’t. Walking the Crawford Trail north along the ridge to Mt. Monroe was nice, the trail nice. We assumed the view would have been fantastic – but honestly there were times when it was hard to see the next cairn. Still, it was our first 4000 fters since July.

And the question is raised – can you count a peak if you can’t see it, or anything from it?
(We’ll leave that for you – our valued reader and perhaps peak bagger, or another day – to decide)