Gianni and I spent the weekend up on Mt. Pierce in the White Mountains, which began by hiking up to Mizpah Hut Friday eve. It was a beautiful father-son hike. Gianni set a quick pace. We hiked in shorts and tee shirts, even as we climbed the last 600' vertical in deep snow (2'-3'). Luckily the snow was very hard packed, so it was relatively easy walking. We arrived at the hut in less than 2 hours and discovered that we were the only ones there for the night, pretty neat. Gianni didn't feel so hot the next morning and it was 35 degrees and raining hard, so I left him warm in the hut and hiked down to the car to meet up with our friends from the NH AMC Family Group.
I loaded up my pack with group food and warmed up from the cold rain in the car for a bit. The teen group headed up first and I hiked up with the younger kids' group. After a nice casual hike back up to the hut, I found Gianni in better spirits and warm. He was already in "helping mode." We had a relaxing evening with the group. Gianni helped in the kitchen as usual for both dinner and breakfast. Due to all of the snow and blow-downs, leadership decided it best not to try to summit Jackson or Pierce, given the unknowns of the trail conditions as well as some reports from scouts. So, we packed up and had a pleasant hike out, with the sun breaking through.