It was going to be a tight window. I only had 5 days to work with and it had to be planned in advance on a wing and a prayer that the weather would cooperate. With 2 days flying back and forth to Boston and 2 days driving back and forth to New Hampshire, if the weather was bad on Saturday, there would be no hike. All week the forecast for the weekend was just awful. After flying to Boston on Thursday, I drove up to NH on Friday in a driving rainstorm. I found the trailhead for my warm-up hike on the Welch-Dickey loop but the heavy rain made it a fool's endeavor so I just continued on to Streeter Pond in Franconia and waited for KMan.
Saturday dawned clear with partly cloudy skies and only a slight chance of a thunderstorm. The rain had passed through and the hiking gods had smiled upon us. We were good to go for the high peaks and the main hike I had planned, up the Caps Ridge Trail to Mt Jefferson, 5716. The trailhead is the highest in the White Mts at 3008 feet but it still climbs 2700 feet in just 2.5 miles to the summit which is steep as far I'm concerned. The trail is also a combination of hiking and bouldering with challenging climbs up the 3 eponymous Caps and then just a mass of boulders to the rocky summit of Jefferson. The Caps were a good challenge but were certainly within our skill set and (slightly diminished) physical ability. I've now done all the western approaches to the Presidentials; Crawford Path, Edmands Path, Ammo, Jewell, and Caps Ridge. Not redlining, just noting.
There was a gathering of like minded trampers at the summit, coming and going the whole time we settled in for lunch next to the large cairn. Perhaps as many as 30 people including one couple with a 5 year old and an 8 year old! Amazing they could do this difficult hike although I think they came up the Israel Ridge Trail. One group stopped for lunch and was about to head over to Washington when someone remembered "Hey! We forgot to tag the summit!" After lunch we proceeded down the Gulfside Trail toward Mt Washington, crossing the Monticello Lawn, a grassy, fairly level rock strewn plain at over 5000 feet. With the fog rolling in and out, it looked like the moors of Dartmoor in The Hound of the Baskervilles.*
Instead of taking the easier level route along the Gulfside, we opted to also climb Mt Clay, 5533 feet and home to 2 distinct summits and a middle bump. This added another 500 feet of elevation to the hike and three separate ups and downs. I had climbed Clay once before in 2004 but it was a foggy day and I later realized that I had only been to the slightly lower southern summit. This time we got them all. Just past that southern peak of Clay, we cut the corner of the Clay Loop Trail and clambered down over the rocks to the Gulfside then backtracked to the Jewell Trail. Finally, a 4 mile descent on the Jewell which parallels the Mt Washington Cog Railway. Its kind of neat that you can see your destination 4 miles below as you start the descent. A very long but rewarding day ended at the car we had placed at the trailhead in the Am. I love loop hikes. All in all, a very successful hike, well planned, well executed, 8 miles and 3200 feet of elevation gain, and two 5000 foot peaks. We had last climbed Jefferson in August of 1986.
Saturday dawned clear with partly cloudy skies and only a slight chance of a thunderstorm. The rain had passed through and the hiking gods had smiled upon us. We were good to go for the high peaks and the main hike I had planned, up the Caps Ridge Trail to Mt Jefferson, 5716. The trailhead is the highest in the White Mts at 3008 feet but it still climbs 2700 feet in just 2.5 miles to the summit which is steep as far I'm concerned. The trail is also a combination of hiking and bouldering with challenging climbs up the 3 eponymous Caps and then just a mass of boulders to the rocky summit of Jefferson. The Caps were a good challenge but were certainly within our skill set and (slightly diminished) physical ability. I've now done all the western approaches to the Presidentials; Crawford Path, Edmands Path, Ammo, Jewell, and Caps Ridge. Not redlining, just noting.
There was a gathering of like minded trampers at the summit, coming and going the whole time we settled in for lunch next to the large cairn. Perhaps as many as 30 people including one couple with a 5 year old and an 8 year old! Amazing they could do this difficult hike although I think they came up the Israel Ridge Trail. One group stopped for lunch and was about to head over to Washington when someone remembered "Hey! We forgot to tag the summit!" After lunch we proceeded down the Gulfside Trail toward Mt Washington, crossing the Monticello Lawn, a grassy, fairly level rock strewn plain at over 5000 feet. With the fog rolling in and out, it looked like the moors of Dartmoor in The Hound of the Baskervilles.*
Instead of taking the easier level route along the Gulfside, we opted to also climb Mt Clay, 5533 feet and home to 2 distinct summits and a middle bump. This added another 500 feet of elevation to the hike and three separate ups and downs. I had climbed Clay once before in 2004 but it was a foggy day and I later realized that I had only been to the slightly lower southern summit. This time we got them all. Just past that southern peak of Clay, we cut the corner of the Clay Loop Trail and clambered down over the rocks to the Gulfside then backtracked to the Jewell Trail. Finally, a 4 mile descent on the Jewell which parallels the Mt Washington Cog Railway. Its kind of neat that you can see your destination 4 miles below as you start the descent. A very long but rewarding day ended at the car we had placed at the trailhead in the Am. I love loop hikes. All in all, a very successful hike, well planned, well executed, 8 miles and 3200 feet of elevation gain, and two 5000 foot peaks. We had last climbed Jefferson in August of 1986.
