Crawford Path, White Mountains – Crawford Path, located in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, is the oldest continuously-used mountain trail in America. And for a period of time, it was used as a horse trail to Mt Washington. This eight and half mile historic path came to be in 1819 when Abel Crawford and his son, Ethan Allen, began building a trail to the summit of Mt Pierce, formerly Mt Clinton. Once north of Mt Pierce, the Crawford Path follows the famed Appalachian Trail corridor to the summit of Mt Washington.

The entire eight and a half miles of Crawford Path is a photographer's delight. Landscape photographers will love the bold mountain scenes, while macro photographers will enjoy the variety of alpine flowers along the trail. If a photographer plans accordingly, he or she can spend a full day shooting along this historic path.

Gibbs Brook, named for J.L Gibbs, an earlier proprietor of the Crawford House, travels on the side of Crawford Path. This brook supplied water to the Crawford House. And just above where the Crawford Connector crosses Gibbs Brook, at its junction with Crawford Path, the abandoned dam (above) can still be seen in the brook. The Crawford House was a grand resort that burned down in November 1977. Today, the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Highland Center occupies the site of the Crawford House.

For photographers, Gibbs Falls, located just off Crawford Path, will be of interest. During the dry months, this waterfall is not very picturesque, but after heavy rains and during spring snow-melt it looks excellent. Gibbs Falls is only about .5 mile up Crawford Path from the Crawford Connector parking lot on Mt. Clinton Road so you can reach them rather quickly if this is your only destination.

History books suggest Crawford Path has been rerouted to some degree since the 1800s. Regardless of reroutes, after years of continuous use, you would think that the portion of Crawford Path in the alpine zone would be nothing more than a five-foot deep trench. It’s not a five-foot deep trench yet. But in the 21st-century, heavy hiker traffic is creating serious erosion issues along this historic path.

Between Mount Monroe and Mount Washington are two tarns, Lakes of the Clouds. In the early years, Lakes of the Clouds was called “Washington’s Punch Bowl”.  And the larger tarn was called “Blue Pond” at one time. As you can see in the above photo, the view is incredible from this spot.

While some trails in the White Mountains see little foot traffic during the winter season, Crawford Path sees use year around. And during the winter season, the landscape of the Presidential Range is transformed into a winter wonderland.

One of the best views (above) of this scenic path is from the summit of Mt Washington. From this view point. you can see Lakes of the Clouds and the outline of Crawford Path twisting through the alpine landscape. I look at the above image and am fascinated by the fact that Crawford Path has been in use since the 1800s.

All of the above images can be licensed for publications by clicking on the image you are interested in. And you can see more images of this historic path here.

Happy image making..

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Erin Paul Donovan

Owner of ScenicNH Photography LLC

Erin Paul is a professional photographer, writer, and author who specializes in environmental conservation and historic preservation photography mainly in the New Hampshire White Mountains. His work is published worldwide, and publication credits include: Appalachian Mountain Club, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Backpacker Magazine, and The Wilderness Society.