Sunshine Chris
New member
I had planned on hiking either Mt. Garfield or the Tri-Pyramids this past Saturday Oct 26th, that is until I ran into my son Matt Friday night. He asked what I had planned this weekend and I said I was going hiking Saturday and would he like to join me. He hasn't been on the trails since my NH 48 finish in Sept 2009. I was amazed when he said yes! We discussed possible summits that met his criteria for elevation gain, mileage, views, grade and ones he had not completed yet. Mt Jackson won out. The pics link is at the bottom of the page.
I met him at his place in the morning at 6:15 am. He already had the bacon and hash brown cooking and then we were off. Got into Lincoln and stopped at Subway for lunch and soon were at the Webster Jackson Trail-head at 9:30am. We hit the trail at 9:50am and soon found ourselves among plenty of company. We warmed up quickly and dropped a layer. Matt took the lead and kept it most of the day, keeping a steady pace that the both of us could live with. I was feeling a little run down from the Osceola's last weekend, it being only my 5th week exercising so appreciated the pace he selected.
We stopped for a moment at the Flume Cascade Brook and Matt got rid of the thin long john layer he had on while I took photos of some cool growths on a nearby tree. We then continued our steady climb over rocks and roots. When we got sick of that we then did roots and rocks. You probably have the picture by now. I checked my altimeter now and again to view our progress. It was warming up quite a bit and we were hoping it wouldn't get much warmer. We made steady progress and after 1.5 miles approached the intersection where the trail forked right for Mt. Webster or left for Mt. Jackson. We headed left with 900 foot gain behind up and 1250 feet to go. We stopped for a snack and shortly after headed back up the trail. We enjoyed alot of conversation along the way and I am afraid Matt had to listen to some of my old hiking stories as well as talking about hikes we had shared together in the past. It was a great distraction to the task at hand we had of stumbling over rocks and roots. We went through some nice old growth forest with mossy footing everywhere except on the trail which was still rocks and roots. I kept searching for soil to walk on but it was few and far between and times. There was fair amount of elevation gain to be completed so we kept on marching along. We crossed 3 branches of the Silver Cascade Brook (all easy) and were soon arrived at Tisdale Spring. When we approached the steep summit ledges we realized we had about 350 feet of gain to go and we would be on the summit! I knew I would struggle with this section because my right shoulder was injured and I had already abused it with the use of my hiking poles on the way up. I knew I could not count on it to hold or support my weight. It was a little bit challenging for me and I started dragging behind Matt. He waited and gave me hand in a couple of spots and we soon were on the summit cone. Matt said it looked like a parking lot but only about 12 folks on the summit. Side note- It had taken us about 2150 feet of gain and 5 miles round trip to complete the entire hike.
Matt and I decided to have lunch first and take summit photos afterwards. We pulled out our Subway grinders and chocolate bars to celebrate out summit success. Matt was pleased with the results of his efforts and I think I may have him back out on the trail. Time will tell. We discussed visiting Tecumseh next weekend from the Tripoli Road. It will be a dryer approach after the hurricane. I just hope the road will be open. Anyways, after lunch we took some summit photos including one of Pinkie Pie (who just completed her first NH 48 summit). We layered down and began our decent. It was tedious and slow for us but we took our time. We stopped on the way down at Bugle Cliff to enjoy the views of Crawford Notch, the Highland Center and the Mt. Washington Hotel. When we arrived back at the trail-head we asked a woman walking by to take our post hike photo.
I let Matt know about the Flume and Silver Cascade nearby and we both decided to go take a look. When we arrived home I cooked up some 2 inch thick steaks which we had no problem devouring.
Thanks Matt for keeping me company today and I hope you've caught the hiking bug and will be back out next weekend. Hey, by the way Matt, we need to start working on a trail name soon!
Sunshine Chris
Pics link here. http://s1343.photobucket.com/albums/o793/CrystalCreek7760/Mt Jackson with Matt on October 26 2012/
I met him at his place in the morning at 6:15 am. He already had the bacon and hash brown cooking and then we were off. Got into Lincoln and stopped at Subway for lunch and soon were at the Webster Jackson Trail-head at 9:30am. We hit the trail at 9:50am and soon found ourselves among plenty of company. We warmed up quickly and dropped a layer. Matt took the lead and kept it most of the day, keeping a steady pace that the both of us could live with. I was feeling a little run down from the Osceola's last weekend, it being only my 5th week exercising so appreciated the pace he selected.
We stopped for a moment at the Flume Cascade Brook and Matt got rid of the thin long john layer he had on while I took photos of some cool growths on a nearby tree. We then continued our steady climb over rocks and roots. When we got sick of that we then did roots and rocks. You probably have the picture by now. I checked my altimeter now and again to view our progress. It was warming up quite a bit and we were hoping it wouldn't get much warmer. We made steady progress and after 1.5 miles approached the intersection where the trail forked right for Mt. Webster or left for Mt. Jackson. We headed left with 900 foot gain behind up and 1250 feet to go. We stopped for a snack and shortly after headed back up the trail. We enjoyed alot of conversation along the way and I am afraid Matt had to listen to some of my old hiking stories as well as talking about hikes we had shared together in the past. It was a great distraction to the task at hand we had of stumbling over rocks and roots. We went through some nice old growth forest with mossy footing everywhere except on the trail which was still rocks and roots. I kept searching for soil to walk on but it was few and far between and times. There was fair amount of elevation gain to be completed so we kept on marching along. We crossed 3 branches of the Silver Cascade Brook (all easy) and were soon arrived at Tisdale Spring. When we approached the steep summit ledges we realized we had about 350 feet of gain to go and we would be on the summit! I knew I would struggle with this section because my right shoulder was injured and I had already abused it with the use of my hiking poles on the way up. I knew I could not count on it to hold or support my weight. It was a little bit challenging for me and I started dragging behind Matt. He waited and gave me hand in a couple of spots and we soon were on the summit cone. Matt said it looked like a parking lot but only about 12 folks on the summit. Side note- It had taken us about 2150 feet of gain and 5 miles round trip to complete the entire hike.
Matt and I decided to have lunch first and take summit photos afterwards. We pulled out our Subway grinders and chocolate bars to celebrate out summit success. Matt was pleased with the results of his efforts and I think I may have him back out on the trail. Time will tell. We discussed visiting Tecumseh next weekend from the Tripoli Road. It will be a dryer approach after the hurricane. I just hope the road will be open. Anyways, after lunch we took some summit photos including one of Pinkie Pie (who just completed her first NH 48 summit). We layered down and began our decent. It was tedious and slow for us but we took our time. We stopped on the way down at Bugle Cliff to enjoy the views of Crawford Notch, the Highland Center and the Mt. Washington Hotel. When we arrived back at the trail-head we asked a woman walking by to take our post hike photo.
I let Matt know about the Flume and Silver Cascade nearby and we both decided to go take a look. When we arrived home I cooked up some 2 inch thick steaks which we had no problem devouring.
Thanks Matt for keeping me company today and I hope you've caught the hiking bug and will be back out next weekend. Hey, by the way Matt, we need to start working on a trail name soon!
Sunshine Chris
Pics link here. http://s1343.photobucket.com/albums/o793/CrystalCreek7760/Mt Jackson with Matt on October 26 2012/
