bintrepidhiker
New member
What a fun experience )more or less) I had this past weekend! Me and my friend Corey drove up friday night to the trailhead for Caps Ridge Trail and spent the night in the car. Was more comfortable than i thought it would be. Got up the next morning around 6 and were on the trail by 6:30. Was kinda cloudy to start but nothing too bad until we hit the first viewpoint half an hour later and felt the wind we'd be in the rest of the day above treeline. Where we were it wasn't bad but once we got above treeline it was a stiff 30-40 mph wind with higher gusts. I hadn't been in wind that strong before so it was exciting for me. Didn't really cool anything down either that much, was quite comfortable in my nylon pants and poly shirt. Anyhow we reached the top of Jefferson around 8:30 and debated a jaunt to Adams. The skies didn't look too menacing so rather than turn around having a way too short of a day we pressed on taking the Jefferson Loop trail down to Gulfside Trail.
We followed this all the way until we were .2 miles away on hopped on Isreal Ridge Trail to the summit. The whole time we saw Adams get more and more covered in clouds but that wasn't stopping us. Once we reached the summit at 10:15, it was pure cloud blowing around us and nothing could be seen beyond 5-10 feet away. Having a small area to tuck into the rocks we snacked then headed back toward Jefferson. Right about when we got to thunderstorm Junction it started to rain. Not a lot at first but then it poured as we got further down. Probably lasted half an hour but it felt like forever getting rain sucked into my boots and soaked from the waist down. By this time i was sick of the wind and wanted it to stop. Got my wish as we climbed Jefferson again but once we were over the summit it was constant wind until we got below treeline and took another deserved break. Compared to above treeline it was a gentle walk out to the car, ending our day around 1:45.
Like i said it was a cool experience but you won't see me running out to above treeline everytime the weather is bad
. In the end we covered 10 miles. didn't cover all the mountains we had planned to do (missing Madison) but its a warmup for whats to come this weekend when i do the Pemi Loop
We followed this all the way until we were .2 miles away on hopped on Isreal Ridge Trail to the summit. The whole time we saw Adams get more and more covered in clouds but that wasn't stopping us. Once we reached the summit at 10:15, it was pure cloud blowing around us and nothing could be seen beyond 5-10 feet away. Having a small area to tuck into the rocks we snacked then headed back toward Jefferson. Right about when we got to thunderstorm Junction it started to rain. Not a lot at first but then it poured as we got further down. Probably lasted half an hour but it felt like forever getting rain sucked into my boots and soaked from the waist down. By this time i was sick of the wind and wanted it to stop. Got my wish as we climbed Jefferson again but once we were over the summit it was constant wind until we got below treeline and took another deserved break. Compared to above treeline it was a gentle walk out to the car, ending our day around 1:45.
Like i said it was a cool experience but you won't see me running out to above treeline everytime the weather is bad
. In the end we covered 10 miles. didn't cover all the mountains we had planned to do (missing Madison) but its a warmup for whats to come this weekend when i do the Pemi Loop 
