BIGEarl
Well-known member
July 29, 2012: Jay Peak and Big Jay
Trails: Long Trail, herd path to Big Jay
Summits: Jay Peak and Big Jay
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
The weather forecast for much of New England wasn’t good but it looked like further north was predicted to be less difficult. We decided to go for this pair of remaining NEHH peaks in Northern Vermont. We also decided on an early start to try and beat the afternoon thunderstorms that were in the forecast. Since it is a short hike we didn’t need to get too crazy with the meet time. Sue pulled into the driveway a little after 4:00am, moved her things into the truck, and we took off.
We pulled into the trailhead lot on Route 242, took care of our final hike prep, and were quickly on-trail. We had a comfortable temperature, partly sunny with broken clouds, and soon we learned high humidity. I was a little concerned there might be humid conditions and brought more water than should have been needed, just in case. That was a good decision. I was going through it much faster than usual but had plenty in my pack.
The trail leading to Jay was clear and dry. Even though trail descriptions I read indicated this was a strenuous hike, it seemed pretty mild all the way up to the summit. Even the scrambles on the ledge near the summit were very straight forward. I’m sure the dry conditions and great footing made a difference. A short distance below the summit we met a hiker named Bill. We had met him a few weeks ago on Owl’s Head when he was finishing his NH48. Bill had some trouble locating the herd path leading to Big Jay and was heading back down without reaching this objective. When he learned we were headed there he asked if he could hike along with us. Of course, we welcomed his company. Bill again turned around and started back up to the summit of Jay with us.
At the summit we found a pretty good crowd that had arrived via the tram. We didn’t hang around and continued to find the herd path leading across to Big Jay. There is quite a bit of new growth but with a pretty good sense of where it is located we were watching for a left exit from the trail. Soon after leaving the area of the fence on the ski trail there it was. It’s a small entrance and easy to miss if you are not watching for it carefully, just ask Bill – he walked past twice (once in each direction).
After leaving the trail, the herd path starts off fairly open but soon enters an area of blowdowns. There are a number of trees to climb over but the path is still fairly obvious. After the blowdown patch the herd path opens up much like any narrow trail. Even in the places where the trailside growth has closed in on the path it’s easy to follow. Eventually we found our first of many mud pits. I had read about the mud but you really need to see it to appreciate it. I used my poles in many places to check for soft places and found some with no apparent bottom. We were careful and managed to make it through all of them, in both directions, relatively clean. There are bypasses we used to navigate around a couple of the pits.
After the early pits we came to a place where there is a blowdown on the right and the herd path appears to go straight ahead down a small ledge dropping ~6 feet. Actually, the herd path is underneath the blowdown and it goes right at that point. The apparent path that goes straight ahead goes nowhere and ends in ~30 yards. Returning to the ledge shows a tracked area that leads back on the herd path to Big Jay. In fact, a short distance before the blowdown that’s hiding the herd path there is a bypass starting to get established that will lead around the blowdown without passing over the small ledge.
After getting past the confusion at the blowdown, all we had left were numerous mud pits to clear. Carefully, we made our way past each one to the final climb to Big Jay and away from the pits. We reached an open area that seemed like it could have been the summit but there was no canister or sign of one and the herd path continued. We kept going a little further and the herd path led to another open area where there is the mounting bracket for a canister, but no canister. There is also an emergency toboggan hanging from a tree. I knew this was it. We got our usual summit pictures, made the u-turn, and headed back out the way we hiked in. As is always the case, the return trip went faster and before we knew it we were standing on the Long Trail commenting to each other – that wasn’t so bad.
In the rush to leave the crowds earlier, Sue and I never stopped to get summit pictures on Jay. We headed back to the summit ledges and took care of that detail. Somewhere along the way Bill got ahead of us and kept moving. He was changing campgrounds after the hike and had plenty to do. Sue and I stopped for a while on the summit ledges to enjoy a couple cookies. Soon it was time to go and we started our walk back to the trailhead. Along the way we met quite a few people on their way up. Busy place!
As it turned out, the afternoon storms never arrived. There wasn’t even any distant thunder. We packed and headed south. Along the way we stopped to change into dry clothes. There were many dark clouds along the way but we never hit rain until south of Franconia Notch. As planned, we were back much earlier than usual.
Pictures will follow.
Trails: Long Trail, herd path to Big Jay
Summits: Jay Peak and Big Jay
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
The weather forecast for much of New England wasn’t good but it looked like further north was predicted to be less difficult. We decided to go for this pair of remaining NEHH peaks in Northern Vermont. We also decided on an early start to try and beat the afternoon thunderstorms that were in the forecast. Since it is a short hike we didn’t need to get too crazy with the meet time. Sue pulled into the driveway a little after 4:00am, moved her things into the truck, and we took off.
We pulled into the trailhead lot on Route 242, took care of our final hike prep, and were quickly on-trail. We had a comfortable temperature, partly sunny with broken clouds, and soon we learned high humidity. I was a little concerned there might be humid conditions and brought more water than should have been needed, just in case. That was a good decision. I was going through it much faster than usual but had plenty in my pack.
The trail leading to Jay was clear and dry. Even though trail descriptions I read indicated this was a strenuous hike, it seemed pretty mild all the way up to the summit. Even the scrambles on the ledge near the summit were very straight forward. I’m sure the dry conditions and great footing made a difference. A short distance below the summit we met a hiker named Bill. We had met him a few weeks ago on Owl’s Head when he was finishing his NH48. Bill had some trouble locating the herd path leading to Big Jay and was heading back down without reaching this objective. When he learned we were headed there he asked if he could hike along with us. Of course, we welcomed his company. Bill again turned around and started back up to the summit of Jay with us.
At the summit we found a pretty good crowd that had arrived via the tram. We didn’t hang around and continued to find the herd path leading across to Big Jay. There is quite a bit of new growth but with a pretty good sense of where it is located we were watching for a left exit from the trail. Soon after leaving the area of the fence on the ski trail there it was. It’s a small entrance and easy to miss if you are not watching for it carefully, just ask Bill – he walked past twice (once in each direction).
After leaving the trail, the herd path starts off fairly open but soon enters an area of blowdowns. There are a number of trees to climb over but the path is still fairly obvious. After the blowdown patch the herd path opens up much like any narrow trail. Even in the places where the trailside growth has closed in on the path it’s easy to follow. Eventually we found our first of many mud pits. I had read about the mud but you really need to see it to appreciate it. I used my poles in many places to check for soft places and found some with no apparent bottom. We were careful and managed to make it through all of them, in both directions, relatively clean. There are bypasses we used to navigate around a couple of the pits.
After the early pits we came to a place where there is a blowdown on the right and the herd path appears to go straight ahead down a small ledge dropping ~6 feet. Actually, the herd path is underneath the blowdown and it goes right at that point. The apparent path that goes straight ahead goes nowhere and ends in ~30 yards. Returning to the ledge shows a tracked area that leads back on the herd path to Big Jay. In fact, a short distance before the blowdown that’s hiding the herd path there is a bypass starting to get established that will lead around the blowdown without passing over the small ledge.
After getting past the confusion at the blowdown, all we had left were numerous mud pits to clear. Carefully, we made our way past each one to the final climb to Big Jay and away from the pits. We reached an open area that seemed like it could have been the summit but there was no canister or sign of one and the herd path continued. We kept going a little further and the herd path led to another open area where there is the mounting bracket for a canister, but no canister. There is also an emergency toboggan hanging from a tree. I knew this was it. We got our usual summit pictures, made the u-turn, and headed back out the way we hiked in. As is always the case, the return trip went faster and before we knew it we were standing on the Long Trail commenting to each other – that wasn’t so bad.
In the rush to leave the crowds earlier, Sue and I never stopped to get summit pictures on Jay. We headed back to the summit ledges and took care of that detail. Somewhere along the way Bill got ahead of us and kept moving. He was changing campgrounds after the hike and had plenty to do. Sue and I stopped for a while on the summit ledges to enjoy a couple cookies. Soon it was time to go and we started our walk back to the trailhead. Along the way we met quite a few people on their way up. Busy place!
As it turned out, the afternoon storms never arrived. There wasn’t even any distant thunder. We packed and headed south. Along the way we stopped to change into dry clothes. There were many dark clouds along the way but we never hit rain until south of Franconia Notch. As planned, we were back much earlier than usual.
Pictures will follow.
