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After hiking up the Crawford Path for a
while, we reached the little clearing where the path meets the
Mizpah Cutoff. This is the spot where we camped back in December
2000 when deep snow and failing light put a stop to our plans to
camp at the Naumann Tentsite and then go on the next morning to Mt
Jackson. Things sure looked a lot different in the summer. It was
hard to tell how I even fit our tent in there.
From there, we turned right onto the
Mizpah Cutoff and continued the rest of the way up to Mizpah Spring
Hut. This was the first time I saw the hut without snow piled up to
edge of its sloping roof. After tying Muffin up outside, I went in
to check out the hut and buy a tee-shirt. It turned out that one of
the
croo members was the same guy who had been the caretaker at
Zealand Falls Hut when Muffin and I stopped there in May on our way
to Mt Zealand. We talked
for a while, and then I went off to explore the rest of the hut.
The hut itself is spacious, airy, and
well lit. I wouldn't mind staying in it one day, although I rarely
stay in huts because they don't allow dogs. Downstairs, just inside
the front doorway, is the kitchen and dining area. There
was a nice breeze coming in the large sunny windows. To the left, a
set of stairs rises half a floor to several 4- and 8-person
bunkrooms are clustered around a hallway on the middle floor of the
hut's split-level design. Another half-level up, the small second
floor houses the croo room and a library with an old pump organ in
it.
Finally, I put my pack back on, and went
out to collect Muffin. Before leaving, we strolled over to the
nearby Naumann Tentsite for a quick look. Mizpah is the only hut
with an adjacent AMC-run campsite. |
Mizpah
Cutoff trail sign. Last December, I had planned on climbing Mt Jackson via
the Mizpah Cutoff and Webster Cliff Trails, but never made it past this
point due to deep snow and the failing light of dusk. |
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One
of the hut's bunk rooms. Several 4 and 8-person bunkrooms are clustered
around a hallway on the middle floor of Mizpah Hut's split-level design.
The second floor, which is directly above the dining room, houses the croo
room and a library with an old pump organ in it. |
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