Mt. Jackson and Mizpah Hut, White Mountains

Waiting for a hike.

Crawford Notch, from the Highland Center.

Tristan and I continue to explore the White Mountains. A quick 90-minute drive typically gets us over there; good car-camping abounds at many of the state campgrounds, such as Dry River, to provide "base-camp" access; and there is so much terrain to explore - just peruse any map of the presidential range and be dazzled by the sheer number of trails! Your options for hiking in the White Mountains are plentiful.This past week, we had the privilege of exploring not only some new hiking trails, but also the AMC's Highland Center in Bretton Woods, NH.

The Center is steeped in mountain culture, from the lodge-style accommodations, to the sweeping views of Crawford Notch, to the many framed photographs of White Mountain vistas, summits and trails. The lodge staff, like everyone you meet in the mountains, are knowledgeable and friendly. The Center itself can serve as basecamp for any number of White Mountain adventures, with a fully-stocked retail area, including all the hiking essentials, an LL Bean gear room for guests, family-style meals, comfortable sleeping rooms and many nooks to tuck away with a good book or trail map, as you plan your next adventure.There is also a very nice meeting and conference center, which I would recommend to anyone planning a multi-day meeting, special event, retreat, or similar.

A stream crossing on the Webster-Jackson Trail.

The Center served as home-base for this adventure, though we camped at Dry River Campground (the Center does not allow dogs, and Odin will not allow us to hike without him). I will tell you there was nothing dry about this campground, except for the inside of our tent, thankfully, as it absolutely poured and stormed the whole night. The plan was to summit Mt. Washington the next day; both thunder and worry about an exposed hike in stormy weather kept me awake most of the night. 

This loop over Mt. Washington would have been only our second time at the top of this beautiful and majestic beast. However, the continual roll of thunder from 9pm the night before well  into the morning, plus a forecast including significant threat of thunderstorms throughout the day, suggested to us we seek an alternate destination. I don't mess around with lightning and exposure - there just aren't many places to seek safe cover on the exposed ridgelines of the Presidentials. Always play it safe, and live to hike another day is my feeling!

Summit, looking north.

Summit of Mt. Jackson.

Plan B was a new-to-us loop starting from and ending at the Center. We headed out on the Webster-Jackson trail to the beautiful summit of Mt. Jackson. At just over 4,000 feet, this summit is exposed, but not in the same way that the extended ridgelines are, which are characteristic of the Presidential Range. This hike truthfully felt more like a walk in the Green Mountains, and the summit more like a Vermont peak, save for the granite everywhere. Another distinct difference is the duration of the climb. The White Mountains seem to me to be more steep and rugged than the Greens, even when the elevation gain is similar. Overall, this was a great hike though, with steep sections punctuated with rolling walks to rest the legs. I am sure that the summit views would have been spectacular, too! 

We then headed over to Mizpah Hut for lunch. The hike north from the summit included some scrambles down wet rock, but overall I found the granite to be easier to grip my shoes to. Once we had gained the summit of Jackson, and then descended just a few hundred feet, the trail rolled along the same contour, give or take a few hundred feet, for a few miles over to and past the hut.This section of the walk included many beautiful bog bridges.

Mizpah Hut in the fog.

Mizpah Hut was a short distance from our trajectory, so we headed 200 feet down to the Hut to sit and have some lunch. Tristan and I have not experienced many of the huts (this was my third and his second) and we continue to be impressed and surprised. Personally, we prefer a more rustic campsite, but these huts make for nice places to stop, relax and eat. And it is certainly impressive to see what the AMC accomplishes in terms of service and culture. 

Alpine nature, with the Hut in the background.

After lunch, we completed our loop with a walk down the Mizpah Cutoff and then the Crawford Path - the oldest continually-used hiking trail in the continental US! This descent is fairly mellow. While rocky, there are not scrambles like what we saw coming up the Webster-Jackson trail, and the grade was mild. This would be a good trail to gain elevation for hikers that wanted to avoid steep climbs and strenuous rock scrambles. It is also a good hike for wet weather, since there are not slabs or rock to climb up or down, but rather rock steps and sandy soil.

Overall, this was an excellent hike - one of my favorites, and a loop I will do again for sure, hopefully with better vistas next time! In total, the hike was about 8 miles and included a significant climb up to Jackson, but the descent down on the Crawford path was mellow, and probably the easiest and best option for my knees! We're looking forward to an opportunity (read: a few days off from work in a row, together) to link more of these summits and huts with some of those White Mountain ridgelines!

A sign at Crawford Path's intersection with US-302 explains the history of this old trail.

If you're in the Crawford Notch/Bretton Woods/White Mountains area, this is a great hike to check out. Happy Trails!

One heck of a week! Happy 4th Everybody!

An overnight jaunt at Battell shelter below Mt Abe on the Longtrail, an epic day hike up to Jefferson in the the White mountains, the Montpelier parade, fireworks on top Mt. Madonna on the fourth then to cap it of Chrissy's birthday flotilla on the winooski river and dinner at the Alchemist! What a week it was! I don't think Sarah and I have ever had so much variety in one week and spent such quality time with good friends. It had been such a long time since we kayaked or paddled in a canoe. It was especially tough and interesting to have Odin in a kayak for the first time.
Thanks so much to everyone who accompanied us or invited us out. We are so fortunate to be in such a beautiful place with so many beautiful people.

Here's to you all and living the good life.

On Top of the World!

It took us way too long to accomplish, but T and I have now hiked to the top of Mt. Washington! We hiked it from the western side, which I think was very appropriate since this is the side we gaze at from Vermont on a clear day. It was a magnificent hike! Though the summit left something to be desired, since we both appreciate more of a back-country experience than is provided by the developed and highly-accessible summit of Washington.
We parked on the Base Road at the bottom of the cog railway and took the Ammonoosuc Trail up the ravine and to Lakes of the Clouds Hut. T and I have often felt this hut system does not align with our thoughts on how the backcountry should be used, be we were immediately greeted by friendly people and a beautiful place to come in from the fog and relax. Though I can't see us doing any hut-to-hut traverses in the near future, we were both surprised to not dislike the hut as much as we thought we would. And I will stand by my argument that making the wilderness somewhat accessible means that a greater portion of the population can visit the wilderness and hopefully will become stewards of what they find there.

On the topic of accessibility, the summit of Mt. Washington may take this all too far. In watching the crowds envelop the summit as they got off of trains and out of cars, I wondered how many of these people, if any, really appreciated what they were seeing and experiencing. For the most part, they just took a picture of themselves next to the sign and then went inside to buy souvenirs and eat food. Not really a mountain experience, in my opinion. I don't think I saw a single group that arrived via train or car go out and do a little hike around - and there are plenty of options to do so.

At any rate, T and I ate lunch at the top and noticed a few other hikers. You could pick them out easily because they had gaiters, or hiking poles, or some other backcountry gear and a look about them that was part removed and part condescending towards the gawkers getting off the train. As we ate and checked out the various parts of the summit, the clouds lifted. We were granted with a beautiful day on top and beautiful views in all directions. The most moving view for me was immediately to the northeast, looking at Mts. Clay, Jefferson, Adams, and Madison. Our next foray into the Whites will definitely take us to these undeveloped high peaks.
From the summit, we took the Gulfside Trail over to Mt. Clay, from where the Jewell Trail descends back to the base of the cog railway. We stopped many times to take in the beautiful views, and got to spend another mile or so gazing upon Mts. Jefferson and Adams.

The Jewell Trail was beautiful hiking as well, some of it still above tree line, but most of it in the trees. The grade was very gentle and the trail was smooth and had good footing. It was a very nice way to descend, as it was easy on the knees, and would be a good way to approach Mt. Washington for people that want to avoid rocky ledges, steep ascents, and gushing stream crossings.

In all, T and I enjoyed a classic hiking trip that will stay in our memories forever. It was wonderful time spent together in the mountains and left us feeling uplifted and inspired; for us, this is what life is all about.

Happy trails!

New Routes

Taking a new route or doing something differently from the way you usually go about it can be a lot of fun. I think I even heard on NPR that it increases happiness hormones when you do something out of the ordinary. We put all of this to practice yesterday by taking a new route up and over Mt. Mansfield. First we had to drive all the way up and around to Underhill, which seemed so far, but was one of the more beautiful, scenic drives I've experienced in Vermont. We parked our car on Stevensville Road and hiked the Frost Trail -> Maple Ridge Trail -> Forehead - > Chin -> Sunset Ridge Trail -> CCC Road -> Maple Ridge -> Frost Trail. What a loop! It was the best way to see all of Mansfield, I think in only 8 miles, and is now my top favorite hike in Vermont. The Sunset Ridge Trail is amazing! And Underhill is well worth the drive; that side of the mountain is much more interesting to hike than the Stowe side. All of this hiking was after a beautiful night spent in Wind Gap on Camel's Hump. It lived up to its name with wind rushing through the low trees well into the night. But I remember the distinct moment when the wind stopped and all was quiet, except for the brook in the valley down below. It was a great way to start the day.

Early spring hike up the Camel

A last minute decision to hike the Camel on a beautiful spring day left us with only inspiration and smiles. We only had to share the mountain with a family from Williston celebrating a birthday. This is a rarity as in summer time or peak foliage season one can expect delays, traffic jams and parking issues at the trail head. Winter and early spring make this the ideal time to get to know this mountain without the crowds. Oh, and the views....

First time on top of Vermont...

Summit of Mt. Mansfield, 4,393 ft.
Veterans Day 2007