Jay mt 5/16

[shadowcat]

I haven't posted here in years but I just did a hike I have never seen posted & couldn't find any info on it when I did. I've always wanted to check out the hikes in the Jay range & Sunday my partner & I finally decided it was time to try something new. There wasn't much info to be found on trailhead locations & nothing on trail conditions. We stopped by the Mountaineer & thanks to their helpful & knowledgeable staff, got pretty good directions to the "trailhead" (a entrance off the road you will miss if you don't know where it is!). We were actually surprised at the nos of cars but had been told that although it's not a maintained trail it's better then some that are! The hike was fantastic, quite easy to follow and in great condition. One small area that was muddy but easily skirted. It also has some decent climbing to get the heart rate up there (at least for those of us who aren't marathon runners!) and lots of diversity. Beautiful wild flowers all over the place didn't hurt either. The guy at the Mountaineer was a little off on his timing as he said the 1st views were an hour in and it was also a false summit. Granted we aren't the fastest hikers and stopped for photo ops but it took us like 2 hrs to reach this spot. Because it took us this long we weren't completely sure if this was the actual summit or not until some other hikers came over from the summits off in the distance and told us we weren't quite there yet! However, we didn't start our hike until 2pm so we opted to chill, take a nap and read where we were. By the time we got up we decided we'd come back to finish the hike later on. It's about another 40 min to an hour to the true summit depending on who we asked. It's a great hike and I highly recommend it. There's also some awesome peaks in the distance that would be great to get to albeit challenging and I believe require some good bushwacking skills. Give it a go sometime you won't be disappointed!
Trailhead info: take State Hwy 9n out of Keene towards upper Jay. Right before you hit Upper Jay, turn right (BEFORE the bridge) onto Trumbull road (some call it Upper Jay road but Trumbull actually turns into Jay). Go past the intersection of Glen road - at this point the road is signed as Jay Mt road. You don't have to go down too far, the trailhead is on your left - right before a road that turns R. I don't know the name of it but I think it's the 1st intersecting road. Park on the side of the road and you'll see the pathway up the embankment.