Mt. Jackson (4,052 ft) 9-13-25

Distance: 8.05 mi.
Elevation: 2,136 ft (overall) 2,592 ft (total)
Time: (with an 11 year old setting the pace) 2:36 (Mizpah Hut) 3:56 (Summit) 6:28 (Total)
Trails: Crawford Path, Mizpah Cut-Off, Webster Cliff Trail, Webster-Jackson Trail

This year for Flags on the 48 our group picked Mt. Jackson, largely so that a couple of the people that planned on hiking with us could have a shorter hike to participate with. In the end, their plans changed last minute, but we still went along as planned and had an enjoyable day. My youngest daughter and wife were going to join my oldest daughter and I this year as well, but my youngest changed her mind a couple days before the event (as a 7 year old will do). Because my oldest daughter has already done Mt. Jackson on her 4000 footer list (it was her first), this would be her first repeat hike of a 4K. Today we would be doing a different loop than the first time, so that was good to make the hike a little different.

Most of our group parked in the lot on Mt. Clinton Road, with a few team members parking along route 302 so they could come up the shorter way and meet us at the summit. Most of our group was going up the Crawford Path, then using the Mizpah Cut-Off so that we could make a quite side treck to the Mizpah Hut. From there we would take the Webster Cliff Trail to the summit. this allowed for a less steep route and better footing. On the way down, we all went the shortest way and headed down the Webster-Jackson Trail down to route 302. We then either walked back to our cars or got rides from other members in our group.

My daughter Liliana and I got on the trail a little bit ahead of the rest of our group. At 11 years old, she is still a bit of a slower hiker, and we wanted to make sure she could help setup the pole and raise the flag at the summit. I took the flagpole early on and hiked with it on my shoulder for a good distance up the mountain. After a while though, another hiker offered to carry the pole for us for a while. This hiker was actually part of the team going up Mt. Pierce, and his effort was greatly appreciated. We caught back up with him and his team at the junction with the Mixpah Cut-Off, where we asked him to leave the pole anyways if he still had it at that point. By the time Liliana and I had gotten to the junction, some of our group had caught up to us, and we all took a break and talked with the other groups at the junction as well.

Taking a break after carrying the pole for a while

More of our group and another group at the junction

On our way up the Mizpah Cut-Off to the Webster Cliff Trail, more of our group caught up to us and we had a good number of people by the time we got to the hut for a short break and a little rest. When we left the hut, Liliana wanted to try taking the flag pole for a little while. She picked it up and put it on her shoulder, but decided it was a little heavy and a lot awkward for her. The pole does take some getting use to and you need to get it in the right position for it to be comfortable. So with Liliana saying it wasn't for her, our group leader Jim took the pole and was able to carry it the rest of the way to the summit. Liliana and I did well to stay right behind Jim until just before the summit, where Liliana started to slow down a bit.

Mizpah Hut for a short break

Liliana testing out if she can carry the pole

On the bog bridges shortly before the summit

We were all at the summit with plenty of time to spare before we needed to setup. And once the rest of the group came up from the Webster-Jackson Trail, we started putting everything up. We enlisted the help of any of the younger hikers to hold the flag or help raise it up the pole. The only problem we had today was getting the rocks we put around the base of the pole to stay where we put them and keep the pole from tipping over.

A young group member holding the flag

Liliana helping to raise the flag

After the flag was up, we did our normal moment of silence, pledge of allegiance, and other short speeches about the day and thanking everyone for coming/helping. Unfortunately there wasn't a lot of wind today, so the flag wasn't blowing around that much. The weather was nice though and there were lots of friendly hikers on the mountain today. My daughter was also thrilled with how many dogs were out as well.

Kevin leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance

Partial group photo

Larger group photo, with most of our core group members

The view north from the summit

The view south from the summit

Liliana next to the flag

After our normal 2 hours of flying the flag, we took down the setup and returned the rocks back to where we found them. For the descent, all of our group headed down the Webster-Jackson Trail down to route 302. It is steep and slow going at the start, especially while carrying the flag pole, we everyone was able to get through the hard parts without and real issues. With everyone hiking their own pace, most of us got a little spread out along the trail, periodically running into each other depending out who was taking a break. The hike down went smoothly for everyone, and after a ride back to our truck from Brian, Liliana and I joined some of our team for dinner at the Woodstock Inn before we headed home. This was my daughter's 3rd year participaing in Flags on the 48, and she is already looking forward to next year's event. Hopefully we can find a way to get my other daughter to want to come so that her and my wife can participate as well.

Folding the flag up

Descending the steep upper sections of the trail

Google Earth representation of the hike

For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE

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Mt. Moosilauke (4,802 ft) 9-14-24

Distance: 8.72 mi.
Elevation: 2,351 ft (overall) 2,613 ft (total)
Time: (with an 10 year old setting the pace) 3:44 (Summit) 6:59 (Total)
Trails: Gorge Brook Trail

This year for Flags on the 48 our group picked Mt. Moosilauke to hike. We had a number of less experienced hikers and people that were new to the event so we chose a hike that is a little bit easier than many other 4000 footers in the state. Our route would be to go up the Gorge Brook Trail and then descend back down the same way. With so many hikers in our group and at so many different abilities, we were going to start at multiple different times so that everyone could be at the summit by the time we were going to raise the flag. Since my 10 year old daughter was with me, we started off hiking with the early group so that we would have plenty of time to get to the summit so that she could help with raising the flag. The last time she participated in this hike we didn't make it to the summit in time to help raise the flag and she wanted to be part of it this year. This plan worked well as by the time we got to the summit, most of the groups had caught up with each other and we all got there around the same time.

We got the mountain early enough that we were able to park along the side of the road close to the ravine lodge. So after a little talking with group members and friends, we were geared up and ready to start our hike. This mountain is popular enough and this trail sees enough hikers that it ends up being a bit rocky for most of the time with wear and tear on the soil making the rocks stick up more on the trail. This makes hiking a bit slower, but the rocks aren't so big that they make it too bad. This route also has a few water crossings along the lower half, and each of these are easy to get over with the bigger ones having nice bridges over them.

My daughter and I kept a steady pace on our climb up the mountain. We didn't take many big breaks, but instead multiple much smaller ones. We spent a little bit of time at the view point along the trail while climbing up, but after that only took a couple more short breaks as we were now hiking with more members of our group. Once we got close to the summit and the terrain leveled out more, we started picking the pace back up since my daughter was getting a new boost of energy to get to the summit.

We were at the summit well before the time we needed to be, so my daughter and I had some good time to rest before we started to help the group with setting up the flag. My daughter was able to participate some and was happy to help. We got the flag up before noon and were able to easily have it on display for the two hours of the event. While we relaxed and enjoyed the views around the summit, we got to meet a lot of nice people and hear lots of stories from other people and their experiences around 9/11.

When it came time to pickup the flag and get ready to go back down the mountain, my daughter wanted to help again. This time she asked to be the person that got to lower the flag and we were more than happy to let her do so. We have had the same flag setup for a few years now, so cleanup went pretty quickly as we know what we are doing really well with it now. We hiked back down the same route that we came up while a few others went down the Carriage Road and Snapper Trail and a couple others came down using Asquam Ridge Trail.

At the bottom, we met back up with the rest of our team. Some had already gotten down and headed home, but a few were still hanging around and talking with each other. Once we knew everyone was down the mountain safely, we packed up and headed down the road so that we could gather again at a local restaurant to hang out a little bit more and see some of the other hikers that particpated in the event today. Weather was great and everyone had a good time in our group, some good food and more stories made for a great end of the day.

Early rocky section of trail

My daughter and I with smaller flags on display

Liliana with the summit behind her

View of the South Peak from the summit

The flag is up

Group shot at the summit with my daughter and I on the right

Liliana at the summit, her 6th 4K

View to the north from the summit

View to the east from the summit

A couple group members at the summit

Trail viewpoint on the descent

Liliana at on the bridge at the end of the hike

Google Earth representation of the hike

This is an actual piece of one of the towers that a group member has

For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE

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Cannon Mtn (4,100 ft) 9-14-19

Distance: 5.26 mi.
Elevation: 2,149 ft (overall) 2,644 ft (total)
Time: 2:07 (Summit) 3:44 (Total)
Trails: Kinsman Ridge Trail

This year for Flags on the 48 our group had picked to hike Cannon Mountain. Our group leader's father has helped out with our flag pole setup, but isn't much for hiking big peaks. The idea was he could come see it in action using the tram. Of course the weather ended up being cool, windy, cloudy, and a bit rainy. So not many of the non-hiking crowd ended up coming along as it wasn't going to be as enjoyable with the weather and lack of views.

We met in the dirt parking lot near the tramway parking lot. Shortly after I got there, everyone was there and ready to go. So we gathered together and headed up the Kinsman Ridge Trail. It was cloudy and a little breezy, but wasn't raining so a wind breaker was good enough to keep me warm until we got further up the mountain and my body warmed up. The trail today would be a mix of a big eroded ditch, some wet potentially slippery rock slabs, and rocky sections following ski glades.

Very eroded lower section of the Kinsman Ridge Trail

Wet rock slab section of trail

The trail following the ski glades

It's been 12 years I think since I have been on this trail, but it was rockier than I remembered it being. It wasn't bad with big rocks, just more rocks than I remembered. As we were getting to the spur that goes to the lookout above the old profile we started to run into a little bit of mud as well. The wind was also picking up by this point, so I decided it was time to put my rain jacket on to stay dry and warmer. As we came out of the trees more above this it was certainly windier.

Coming up towards the top

We made such good time hiking up that we were at the top of the tram with plenty of time before noon and we needed the flag up. So we all went into the building to stay out of the wind and warm up a bit before taking the short walk to the summit tower. Given the summit conditions, we got our flag up pretty quick. With the wind we needed to tie and clamp the pole a bit more to the railing at the top of the tower. With all of the wind, we also had a brief failure where our flag counter weight blew off and fell to the ground below the tower. Luckily no one was down there and got hurt. We had to adjust how it was attached after so that it wouldn't come off again. We flew our flag most of the two hour time frame we ask flags to fly, but with our crew getting cold and at least one dog in our group shivering, we packed up a bit early. Some of our gear was brought down by a helper on the tramway, but almost all of us hiked back down afterwards.

The flag flying in the clouds

The flag flying in the clouds

No views today

Visibility was about 200 feet

The tram was running, and people were taking it

Wires from the tram going off into nothingness

The trek back down went smoothly for everyone. It didn't rain any more and as we got further down the wind got lighter. We never did have any views, but we always find things to talk about instead. Everyone made it down safely even with damp rock slabs to come down on sections of the trail. We all went at our own pace and everything worked out fine. After the hike and more talking in the parking lot, we decided on a place to eat supper and went and told more stories while checking online to see how many other peaks we could confirm.

Google Earth representation of the hike

For all the pictures from the hike, just go to my gallery on SmugMug

Mt. Garfield (4,500 ft) 9-8-18

Distance: 10.4 mi.
Elevation: 2,988 ft (overall) 3,169 ft (total)
Time: 2:58 (Garfield) 5:43 (Total)
Trails: Garfield Trail, Garfield Ridge Trail

• Another year with the same core group for Flags on the 48, plus a few more joining us. This years memorial hike started off with a great weather forecast except for being a bit cooler temps. But compared to some of the weather we have experienced in the past few years, we'll take anything good we can get
• The trail stays pretty gradual and free of large rocks almost all the way to the summit, so we made good time all the way to that point. We took turns carrying the flagpole and even had lots of other hikers on the trail offer to carry it for a distance as well. This was very helpful and we appreciated the effort of all those other hikers. The attitude of everyone that learns about this hike is always positive
• As always, our group got a little spread out as we hiked, but we always seemed to bunch back up when we took a break or needed someone else to carry the flagpole for a while
• Once we reached the junction with the Garfield Ridge Trail, we found the group from Henniker Brewing Company taking a break there waiting for us out of the breeze. We knew they would be on the mountain and we would run into them eventually
• After staying at the intersection for a bit, we made the final push to the summit so we could set down our gear and start getting the flag ready
• After everyone was at the summit, we gathered a few rocks so that we could help hold the base of the flagpole in one corner of the old fire tower foundation. We got out the flag gear and rigged up the pole shortly after. We had the flag flying by 11:30
• There was a nice breeze most of the time while on the summit that helped keep the flag moving. That was good as the summit was quite busy today and lots of people were taking pictures
• After 12 o'clock passed, the group from Henniker Brewing Company started passing out some of the 36 cans of 48 Flags beer they brewed and brought for the event. They had about 460 gallons of the beer made and part of the proceeds go to the The FealGood Foundation
• While on the summit, we were able to make out 13 other flags flying from nearby peaks, thanks to Jim's spotting scope
• About the time we were ready to take down the flag, the crowd had mostly continued on with their hikes. After packing up the flag and gear, we headed back down the mountain
• It was a fun casual hike down with lots of stories being told. After getting back to the trail head, we continued the stories over some pizza before checking online to start getting a list of confirmed peaks
• All in all it was another great hike with a great group of people for a great tribute

For all the pictures from the hike, just go to my Mt. Garfield gallery on SmugMug

The full group at the start

Our group at the summit

One of the brook crossings

Near one of the switchbacks

Preparing to raise the flag

Final anchoring of the ropes for the pole

A group from Henniker Brewing Co. brought up some of the 48 Flags beer they brewed in honor of the event

The flag flying proudly

The flag flying proudly

The summit was busy today

South Twin, one of many flags we could make out today

Great views today

Google Earth representation of the hike