7/2 Webster/Jackson/Pierce, 7/4 Nelson Crag/Alpine Garden

[arghman]

a twofer Presi trip report on this Jul 4 weekend!

Part I: Webster/Jackson/Pierce
Plan was to take the Webster Cliff trail from Rt 302 up to Mt Pierce, and then down via the Crawford Path (approx 10.4mi, 3500 ft), or an early exit via the Mizpah Cutoff if energy levels waned.

This requires a car spot & as a result of advertising for victims, er I mean interested hikers, to come along w/ a 2nd car, I was lucky enough to have not one but two Lovely Companions. (I am *not* being sexist, just trying to protect identities as they are not VFTT-oids. Obscure allusion is to David Foster Wallace's essay on the Illinois State Fair.) LC#1 had not hiked much in the Whites, but had thru-hiked the AT from Georgia to somewhere in Virginia, and she set off on a brisk pace that LC#2 kept up without trouble, but gave me quite a workout. LC#2 had hiked the Webster-Jackson loop before, but was interested in the Webster Cliff Trail for roughly the same reason I wanted to hike that way, despite the extra mile or so and another 600' elevation gain -- because it was there! (I am vaguely attempting to section-hike the NH AT, and this hike completed the stretch from Rt 302 to Mt Washington.) The hike was a repeat for me except for the portion up to Mt Webster. Neither LC#1 or LC#2 had been to Mt Pierce.

To keep this short I will cover the highlights:

1) Webster Cliff & Mt Webster -- the trail up to the cliffs through the woods is rather steep but once you get up to about 2800' it flattens out and meanders in and out of the conifer trees to allow good views of Crawford Notch from up on the Webster Cliff ridge. When we were there, the cold front was just starting to leave -- gray clouds blanketed overhead and a chilly wind (low 50s F?) whipped up from the Notch at probably 20-30mph with occasional stronger gusts. Three-toothed cinquefoil (Sibbaldiopsis tridentata) was in bloom, and the exposed cliffs host a nice mix of heaths: blueberry or bilberry (one of the Vacciniums at any rate) and black crowberry (Empetrum nigrum):



The trail has intermittent steep parts up ledgy areas but these are generally sheltered; overall it ascends the ridge to Mt Webster at a shallow average grade. Although you could make your way over to a cliff edge, the trail did not come close enough to the edge to be dangerous, IMHO.

We met up with a dozen or so other people of various groups congregating at the summit of Mt Webster; the Webster-Jackson Trail is the usual way of ascending it. Once you get to Mt Webster, the rest of the ridge over to Mizpah hut has gradual ups and downs, and is poorly drained ledge with lots of bog bridges.

2) Mt Jackson -- I like Mt. Jackson better than Mt Webster, both for the better views and the more variety in the botany. Mountain sandwort and mountain cranberry and diapensia are additions to the plants from the Webster Cliff ridge.

I took a few pictures, which I try not to do without attracting attention, but by this time LC#1 and LC#2 were making me identify plant names, trying to remember them for future reference. At first it was easy, creeping snowberry and mountain sandwort, but after a while there were eight or nine plants and I think the human brain only holds seven new things at a time. I was impressed, I can only remember one or two new plant names at a time. The clouds were dispersing about the time we got there.

No gray jays! The one time I remember to bring extra food for those thieves which frequent Crawford Notch, and they don't show up.

3) Jackson Bog --



One of my favorite places in the Whites. Come here and see for yourself why. Enough said.

4) Mizpah Hut -- although almost cosmopolitan with all the people milling around, it's nice to be able to stuff one's face with cheap leftover baked goods.

The Webster Cliff trail from Mizpah Hut up to Pierce is steep, a bit rough, and ledgy, but short enough not to be too discouraging.

5) Mt Pierce -- the sight of the ridge leading northwards over to Eisenhower made LC#1 want to continue on the Crawford Path, and I don't blame her: I made up my mind to do that section and was not disappointed when I hiked it in August 2004. Lots of scrub heath, views, blueberries, diapensia, etc.

Crawford Path down from Mt Pierce is a steady, somewhat boring incline, but makes you grateful for the well-maintained trailwork.

Notable plants observed (you'll have to bring out your botanical name secret decoder ring as I'm feeling a bit puckish), "+" = in bloom, "*" = on the NH tracking list

+Clintonia borealis
+Cornus canadensis
*Diapensia lapponica
Drosera sp. (rotundifolia or intermedia)
Empetrum nigrum
+Eriophorum vaginatum
Gaultheria hispidula
+Minuartia groenlandica
*Rubus chamaemorus
+Sibbaldiopsis tridentata
Vaccinium angustifolium
+Vaccinium oxycoccos
Vaccinium uliginosum
+Vaccinium vitis-idaea

Part II to come shortly...

 

[dr_wu002]

Arghman! Great Trip Report... I really gotta pull out my guidebook on flowers and plants for the North East and brush up on this stuff as I find it interesting. It's much better to know and be aware of what you're looking at, much like knowing the different peaks in the area really makes things clear. When I look out and can identify almost all the mountains around me (not just the 4000'ers either) I feel like I have a better understanding of the area and of my hikes and my perspective and whatnot. I need to do that with fauna now too.

Great TR. Let's see part II!

-Dr. Wu

 

[smitty77]

3) Jackson Bog --



One of my favorite places in the Whites. Come here and see for yourself why. Enough said.

I'll second that! My only trip through there was over 20 years ago, I think I was 6 at the time, and I still fondly remember that stretch of trail.

Great trip report.
Smitty

 

[carole]

Jackson Bog - yes! A true beauty at the right time.

 

[arghman]

Part II: Nelson Crag/Alpine Garden, 7/4/05

This was a solo hike; planned route was a loop from AMC's Pinkham Notch facility -> Old Jackson Road -> Nelson Crag Trail over Nelson Crag to the Cow Pasture -> Huntington Ravine Tr -> Alpine Garden Tr -> descending either by Lion Head Tr or Tuckerman Ravine Tr.

First a look at the overall geography:

Nelson Crag and Ball Crag are parts of the massive, terraced Chandler Ridge that juts out to the northeast from Mt. Washington. Those terraces, and their contrast with steep sections of trail between, are what made this trip enjoyable for me. (with negative points for the Auto Road which Nelson Trag Trail flirts with several times.)

I got to the Pinkham parking lot at about 9am, which I knew was late already as it was going to be a long day. Beautiful weather though -- sunny w/ few clounds, and the temperature as I hiked must have stayed in the low 60's the whole day (the cooling effect of going to higher altitudes counteracting the morning warming trend, and the opposite effect as I descended).

Old Jackson Road is fairly easy and somewhat boring (though lots of rocks to step on/over/around). There was a lot of wood sorrel (Oxalis montana) in bloom on the west edge of the trail.

Nelson Crag Trail -- The lower portion of the trail takes you up through hardwood forest and then conifer woods. The trail becomes steeper and then the transition from below treeline to above treeline comes abruptly. This seems to be a rare thing when compared with other trails in the White Mountain National Forest; usually that transition comes more gradually, with partial views through the trees increasingly common. Howker Ridge was a good example: it opens up and then goes back down into the woods, repeating several times before you get to stay above treeline... whereas the Baldface Circle Trail up to South Baldface is an abrupt transition just about where you get to the shelter.

But anyway, the Nelson Crag trail ascends steeply with great views east towards the Wildcat Ski Area and the Carter Range. (I don't mind looking at the ski area, but I kind of wish they didn't have that one set of parallel cuts for the lifts as it makes me think of dollar signs $$$$ when I look at it.) The plant community type quickly changes to very exposed scrub heath on steep ledgy terrain, with alpine azalea showing up frequently among a number of other plants. The variety of plant species along the trail is rather high, almost forming a carpet around the rock where enough soil has accumulated, and my pace slowed down accordingly.

Here are two photos (taken in different spots, but not too far from each other) as examples:

(a) (b)

If you look closely you can see alpine azalea (on (a), background mat plant), mountain cranberry (leaves like green Quaker oats), Labrador tea (large narrow leaves), three-toothed cinquefoil (in bloom), alpine bilberry (almost circular leaves), black crowberry (on (b), background mat plant), Lapland rosebay (bottom left on (b) next to the leftmost three-toothed cinquefoil flower), one of the rattlesnake-roots (bottom center on (b), w/ the funky branched leaves), one of the goldenrods (on (b), with the long spatulate leaves to the right of the rattlesnake-root), a birch sapling, and some pesky grass or sedge.

After this enjoyable steep ascent, the trail passes over a shallow exposed terrace with lots of diapensia and alpine azalea and other scrub heaths. Then it becomes ledgy again, approaching the Auto Road at about 4800ft. Bearberry willow (Salix uva-ursi) is common here and was ready for seed dispersal with masses of white cotton.

On the picture on the left, it is competing against diapensia for available space, with bilberry growing rapidly from the left -- though winter cold and winds will probably work to undo the summer expansion.

Above the Auto Road is a final steep ascent through krummholz, mostly fir and birch (including mats of dwarf birch on the more flatter, open areas), and then a short stretch of felsenmeer (bleah!) before reaching Nelson Crag, a small peak on the eastern edge of a felsenmeer terrace. (This would be a really bad place to be in a thunderstorm!) The Nelson Crag Trail continues, ascending a second, smaller terrace from which I took this picture looking eastward at Nelson Crag:

The terrace looks like the deck of some kind of battleship. If you look closely you can see the "soil stripes" (running left-to-right in the photo) which are some kind of freeze-thaw phenomenon where the thin soil (& the grasses that grow on it) form geometric patterns.

I took the trail over to the Cow Pasture (where it crosses the Huntington Ravine trail near the Auto Road parking area for the Alpine Garden) and then down the top part of the Huntington Ravine Trail to the Alpine Garden. What a difference a month makes! I was here on June 5, and the alpine azalea / diapensia / Lapland rosebay were just starting to bloom. Now they're all done and the star of the show is mountain avens (Geum peckii):

Every one of those yellow specks is G. peckii; the Alpine Garden is probably its largest occurrence in the world. Alpine bluets were also in bloom in certain areas.

The next things to bloom will be the goldenrods (Solidago spp.) and rattlesnake-roots (Prenanthes spp.) which were in bud and are both confusing to identify; I picked a bad time of year to come here (except for the mountain avens spectacle).

By the time I reached the Lion Head Trail it was getting a little late and I took that trail down rather than Tuckerman Ravine. Lion Head Trail was uneventful, with nice views into Tuckerman Ravine but not many plants (especially compared to Nelson Crag Tr.), just a few scrub heaths (e.g. mountain cranberry, Labrador tea). The lower part of Tuckerman Ravine trail from Hermit Lake to Pinkham Notch was rather monotonous except for the good view of Crystal Cascades towards the end.

Find of the day: Hornemann's willow-herb (Epilobium hornemanni), somewhere on or near one of the trails.


Total stats: approx. 9.0 mi & 3700ft elevation gain. Time for the 6 miles below treeline: about 3 1/2 hours. Time for the 3 miles above treeline: about 6 hours. I will have to do this again next year, a little earlier, maybe en route to Lakes Hut and throw in some nearby areas I missed.

 

[MtnMagic]

re: Part II: Nelson Crag/Alpine Garden, 7/4/05

Four of went up to the Gardens two weeks ago only to flee down Lions Head when t-storms exploded. Sky, Ghostdog and I did the exact hike Saturday, the 2nd, and fully completed it this day. Your trip report is superbly written with perfectly accurate flora discriptions and pix. I believe this is the finest trip report I've ever had the pleasure to read. Thank you very much for sharing!