Mt. Lafayette (5,260 ft) 9-12-15

Distance: 8.12 mi.
Elevation: 3,440 ft (overall) 3,663 ft (total)
Time: 2:25 (Hut) 3:39 (Summit) 4:20 (Hut) 5:52 (Total)
Trails: Old Bridle Path, Greenleaf Trail

For Flags on the 48 2015, I signed up to hike with the same group of people that I have the last couple of years. It's a good group of people that all enjoy the day and making fun of each other. We would actually be one of two groups hiking today to fly a flag on Mt. Lafayette. Our group leader had been in contact with the other group leader, so we choose to hike up the Old Bridle Path based on their plans and some of their hikers spending the night at the Greenleaf Hut.

We all met at the trail head parking lot at 7:30 am. We would be minus a couple hikers due to unexpected events and not feeling well. Before long, we were headed up the trail with Jim carrying his potato cannon flag pole. This trail is a very popular route, but it was early enough there weren't many hikers out yet. We were making good time over the worn down and sometimes rocky trail.

Brian holding the flag pole on the way over the Agonies

We took our first break before a ways before the Agonies. Jim was getting more winded than normal, so Brian took the flagpole from here to the hut. After a nice break and some snacks/drinks, we headed out again keeping a good pace until the view points on the Agonies. We took a couple short breaks here, but mostly continued on at a good pace. We made good time to the hut and met up with most of the other group there.

We took a nice break here and chatted with our fellow hikers. The weather was nice so far, so now heading up above tree line wouldn't be an issue. From the hut, the trail stays in the trees for a short distance before going and out of some shorter trees. It's then all above tree line for a good distance all the way to the summit. Shortly before the summit though, I needed to take a break while the rest of the group headed on. I don't think I had been drinking enough fluids and my left leg was starting to cramp up. I found a great spot to sit on a flat rock in a small shady area. I made sure to drink more while resting before heading up the last push to the summit.

A short steep section of trail

Nearing the summit

I was bummed I had to drop back from the group, but I was at the summit with them again before we started setting up the flag. We got the flag up quickly and easily. Once we had it secured, we helped the other group with their flag. We had both flags up well before noon. We then started looking around at the other summits to see which flags we could make out in the distance. It was nice to finally have a year with good weather after the last 3 years have had limited to no views.

Attaching the flag

Our flag is flying

The other groups flags are up too

Eventually we could spot around a dozen other flags on nearby summits, including a couple without open areas at the high point. The weather stayed nice for the entire time at the summit with just higher level clouds coming in later on. While we didn't get any flybys from the military this year (they were busy with other tasks), we did have a couple of gliders that came very close to our summit and others around Franconia Notch.

One of the gliders flying today

The flag on Mt. Lincoln

West Bond flag

Great weather for the event

After packing up, we headed down the trail and into the parade of hikers that were on this route today. A number of others were still heading up, and plenty were also heading down. It was hard to get into the pace we normally would have with so much traffic. Everything went fine for us on the decent though and soon enough we were sitting down at a local restaurant for supper.

the parade of hikers as we head down the mountain

For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE

Middle Tripyramid (4,140 ft) & North Tripyramid (4,180 ft) 8-29-15

Distance: 11.9 mi.
Elevation: 2,863 ft (overall) 3,368 ft (total)
Time: 4:10 (Middle Tripyramid) 4:50 (North Tripyramid) 7:09 (Road) 7:29 (Total)
Trails: Sabbaday Brook Trail, Mt. Tripyramid Trail, Pine Bend Brook Trail, Road

The plan for today was to head up the Sabbaday Brook Trail to the Tripyramids, then over to the Sleepers and down the Downes Brook Trail. This plan changed part way through the day though. The only time I have been on the Sabbaday Brook Trail before (other than to the falls) was on an early winter hike last year where I descended this way trying to avoid some icy sections of Pine Bend Brook Trail. That decision didn't work out as well as I would have liked with a foolish bushwhack for a while and poor snow conditions down low. So knowing the brook crossings would be low today, I wanted to head back under better conditions and hike the entire trail properly.

At the first crossing

Following the old railroad bed

The hike to the falls was very easy with a wide smooth trail for the crowds that visit just the falls. Immediately after that, the trail gets narrower and rougher. It's still easy to follow though. As expected, the first river crossing was low and easy to navigate. Soon after I made the next two crossings with ease as well and was able to catch a quick glimpse of a Pine Marten near one of them.

After the first 3 crossings, the trail mostly follows and old railroad grade. This made for a gradual climb with a trail that was pretty wide. There were a couple wet spots, but not as bad as when I was here last winter. After a couple miles of walking, the trail drops down to the right and comes to the fourth crossing. Another easy one with low water levels today. Just above this area the brook splits and becomes a few smaller brooks that all feed back into this one. This would make each of the others brooks I would enjoy even smaller from here out.

Following the brook

The trail after this crossing starts to get a bit steeper, but not much. And while the brook it follows is now smaller, it follows closely and it looks like the trail could be very wet after heavy rains or during spring melt. It follows and crosses multiple stream beds that were dry today, but appear to flow well at times. The trail does cross the actual brook it is following twice during the climb before it reaches the last crossing which was just barely a trickle today.

Small last brook crossing

From here, the trail angles back left and follows the side hill for a while before turning right and heading steeply up to the saddle between the peaks. The steep sections starts out over a slab of bare rock that had good traction today. It then climbs over roots, rocks, and other obstacles more in the trees. There are a couple places where you need to watch your footing as there are spots you could step into and twist and ankle or knee. The trail levels back out briefly as it comes to the upper end at the junction with the Mt. Tripyramid Trail.

Steep section of rock

Originally I had planned to hit North Tripyramid then head south over Middle Tripyramids and then the Sleepers. But with the warmer than normal temps and almost complete lack of wind, I wasn't feeling like I was going to enjoy the extra distance. So instead I changed my plans here to just do the Tripyramids and then do a loop back to the car going down the Pine Bend Brook Trail.

The climb to Middle Tripyramid was quick with this trail being a bit rocky, but less steep than the top of the Sabbaday Brook Trail. At the summit there was already a group of people, but they left soon and I had the place to myself. After enjoying the summit a while, I headed back towards North Tripyramid. This section was easy as the elevation gain is about the same from the saddle, but over almost twice the distance. There was more people on North Tripyramid and I met a hiker who was doing consecutive loops up the North Slide. He was on his third trip up for the day and was hoping to get 2 or 3 more done before dark.

View from Middle Tripyramid

View from Middle Tripyramid

Blow down next to the trail between the peaks

View from North Tripyramid

The descent of Pine Pend Brook Trail is steep and rocky to start with some briefs sections that give relief. There is a nice nearly level section of trail that I have always enjoyed near the Scaur Ridge Trail junction. After this though, it gets steep again for quite a while. Footing was mostly good with a few places requiring care. Eventually the trail comes down into a ravine and becomes a bit easier. The brook in the ravine was completely dry today this high up. I was hoping to splash some cold water on my head, but was still happy the rocks would be dry and not slippery.

Rocky section of trail

Soon the trail becomes less steep and doesn't have as many rocks in it. It gets pretty easy from here back to the road with only a few muddy sections to navigate. The brook crossings in this section aren't too big and were easy to do today. Eventually there was water in the brooks and I enjoyed splashing myself with cool water at each good crossing. Getting to the end of the trail, I had to walk up the side of the road back to where I started. I knew either loop I would do today would include this. Unfortunately my feet got pretty sore in this section, but I did get to see an Ariel Atom driving down the road. I didn't even know you could get one of those in the US.

Small brook crossing

Had the temperature been just a bit lower today or had there actually been some wind, I think I would have stuck to my initial plan and climbed the Sleepers as well. But I'll just have to come back again to get East Sleeper checked off my New England Hundred Highest list. I started paying attention today, and I think I only felt the wind or saw the trees moving due to the wind a total of six times. That isn't much during a more than 8 hour period. And you can really start to tell this when you are already climbing hard and working up a sweat.

For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE

Southern Presidential Range 5-5-15 thru 5-6-15

Since I was having computer problems around the time of this hike, I seem to have forgotten to put together anything about it. So a little bit late, here it is.

DAY 1

Distance: 5.11 mi.
Elevation: 2,368 ft (overall) 2,602 ft (total)
Time: 3:20 (Mizpah) 4:24 (Pierce) 5:11 (Mizpah)
Trails: Crawford Path, Mizpah Cutoff, Webster Cliff Trail

A friend of mine from college was coming to NH for a week this spring and was hoping to do some hiking while here before visiting family. Since she was bringing another friend, she wanted to give him a partial hut experience by staying at Mizpah Hut during self service season. This was fine with me since it would be a much cheaper way to stay at the hut. Being as the hut is so close to the trail head, I don't foresee myself paying full price to stay here at least until my daughter is old enough to hike and do an overnight here.

Even though it was already May, I knew there was still going to be snow higher up. I didn't expect it to be as deep as it was though. Leaving from the Highland Center where the others spent the night, the ground was still bare and there wasn't much mud. It didn't take long however to start coming across patches of ice in the trail. The last remains of the winter mono-rail. Gradually the ice become a constant fixture of the trail. there was just enough grit on the ice that you could still get good traction with careful foot placement.

Starting to see ice

The ice eventually turned into snow and a well established and solid mono-rail. The hard path wasn't overly wide, but it was stable and easy to distinguish. This meant not much sinking in. Up to the Mizpah Cutoff, conditions had been good. Being a regular hiker year round and knowing the conditions so far this spring, I had my snowshoes with me and should have put them on here. Being the largest hiker of the group and the most familiar with these trails, I was in the lead. With the lower use of this trail, the firm mono-rail wasn't as firm and became hard to find in some places. I especially started to sink in more and more. Many steps were seeing me sink in about knee deep into the snow.

Mizpah Cutoff

Finally I had had enough and put on my snowshoes (enough being stubborn). This made it easy going for me from here to the hut. But my friends didn't have any snowshoes, so they still had to go slowly. They were trying to find the hard spots before sinking in and even going as far as using large sticks to test conditions before taking their next step. Eventually we all made it to the hut and dropped off our overnight gear and extra supplies.

Leaving Mizpah for Pierce

From here we planned to summit Mt. Pierce and maybe venture a bit further depending on conditions. Without the others having snowshoes, we didn't want to get over ambitious with our plans. The hike up from the hut was a bit slow. I was still in the lead and using snowshoes, but my friends were finding lots of places where they were postholing. The snow was getting deeper as we went on and in places it was hard to push through the branches blocking the trail. Most of the branches were bent over into the trail due to the snow load on them. They then got stuck there, which meant they were across the trail even at a height that would normally be easy to pass through.

View from bare section of trail

In some places higher up the snow wasn't overly deep. This was mainly the few places were there is exposed rock in the summer that gets lots of sun. Just before the summit, I stuck my trekking pole into the snow just off trail. Trying to put it in handle first, I never did hit solid ground. Based on the length of my trekking pole, this meant the snow was still about 4 feet deep. The cairn at the summit of Mt. Pierce was just barely poking out of the snow. I know from being here before that this cairn is a little over 4 feet tall.

We spent some time above treeline in the sun and taking in the views. It was a gorgeous day out and it was nice to be wearing shorts and a t-shirt... even if I was still wearing snowshoes on my feet. The hike back down to the hut went a bit quicker being downhill. We also weren't quite as worried about getting wet from the melting snow since we had dry gear back in our bunks. It was amazing to see how much softer the snow had gotten though in the short time since we had come up through here.

Summit of Mt. Pierce

Coming back down to the hut

Back at the hut for the evening and in dry clothes again, we all made up our own meals and talked with the caretaker. She informed us we were to be the only guests for the night, so it should be very quiet. We enjoyed talking with her enough, we all spent the next few hours together in the kitchen just telling stories. The caretaker has hiked the AT before, and my college friend is hoping to hike it next year. So we went over lots of stories from her hike.

DAY 2

Distance: 5.12 mi.
Elevation: 248 ft (overall) 803 ft (total)
Time: 1:52 (Jackson) 4:14 (Parking Lot)
Trails: Webster Cliff Trail, Webster-Jackson Trail, Saco Lake Trail

After a small breakfast and a bit of time for things to warm up, we started our hike over towards Mt. Jackson. It's easy to tell this section of trail doesn't see much traffic in the winter. There was very little sign of tracks or anything firm snow underneath from past hikers. I was smart today and started off on my snowshoes, but my friends were going to have to hope for the best still. A little ways down the trail we did find some recent moose tracks. It had hiked down the trail briefly before venturing back into the trees.

The trail along the ridge was mostly easy to follow. It's a well established trail that is nice and wide by normal standards. In a couple places today though, the branches and trees were bent down across the trail. There were also a couple places were it wasn't clear which opening in the trees was the correct one. I believe the blazes might have been partially buried, but we were able to stay on course well. My friends were still constantly sinking into the show, but it had gotten to the point where we were all laughing about it. We even took a couple pictures of me standing on top of the snow with them sunk into the snow appearing much shorter than I am.

Webster Cliff Trail

Small bog near Mt. Jackson

The summit of Mt. Jackson was bare rock from the sun and it was another great day. Again, it was nice to be snowshoeing in shorts and a t-shirt with temps near 50. We finally starting seeing other hikers now too. Coming down the mountain, I stayed in my snowshoes as long as I could. With this trail much more traveled than the ridge, it was easier for all of us to stay on top of the snow. But things were softening up quickly. Once the snow became patchy, I took of my snowshoes and tied them to my pack. We had a nice smooth hike after this. there was a bit of mud in places, but he ground was mostly dry and quite firm (a relief to my friends). The hike down from here went smoothly with some others still headed up. We even went around the back side of Saco Lake so the others could see that short trail too.

Mt. Jackson summit

Mt. Jackson summit

Ice and snow coming down

View from Bugle Cliff

TOTALS
Distance: 10.23 mi.
Elevation Gain: 3,405 ft (total)
Time: 9:25

All in all this was a fun hike. It was nice to hang out with a college friend and meet one of her friends. I was certainly glad I brought my snowshoes just in case. It was interesting to see just how deep the snow could still be up high where down low you couldn't find much anywhere. It also dawned on me after this hike that from my first hike of the winter season where I saw snow until now had been 7 months. So for more than half a year now, I had been hiking in at least some snow for parts of my hikes. Over half the year with snow on the ground and still more to melt.

For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE

Jay Peak (3,858 ft) & Big Jay (3,786 ft) 8-16-15

Distance: 6.92 mi.
Elevation: 1,595 ft (overall) 2,520 ft (total)
Time: 1:47 (Jay Peak) 2:49 (Big Jay) 3:58 (Jay Peak) 5:04 (Jay Camp) 5:15 (Total)
Trails: Long Trail, Bushwhack, Ski Trail, Jay Loop Trail

Starting up the trail from VT Route 242, you immediately go past a lean to shelter that is within sight of the road. Continuing on, the trail stays relatively gentle in the beginning and isn't too rocky. You'll get steeper inclines, but then short easy sections too. Footing is good and the trail is very easy to follow. After a while, the trail becomes a more steady climb. There are no real difficult obstacles until you start to get near the ski trails at around 3,100 feet. Once you get here, the trail gets a bit more rocky and you will start to encounter some short mostly easy scrambles. A few of these will require long legs or some planning with your footing, but they aren't bad.

Start of rocky sections

Where you come out onto the ski trail, there is a nice wooden set of stairs to get you over the ski area's pipes for snow making. The Long Trail actually crosses the ski trail and a painted blaze can be seen on the rocks at the other side of the ski trail. If you don't want to stay on the trail, you can just walk up the ski trail as well. Once back into the trees (or bushes even), the Long Trail turns left and heads straight for the summit never getting more than about 50 feet from the ski trail you just crossed. This is a fun section of above treeline like conditions over more interesting terrain. It's short lived though as you are already close to the summit.

Stairs over ski area equipment

Jay Peak summit in sight

With tourists milling around the summit area after coming up the tram, I didn't spend too much time on the summit. There are nice views, but it was hazy today due to the humidity and it was already hot in the sun. I headed down the stairs and took the ski trail heading away to the right. This is a short steep trail over grassy terrain. At the bottom of it is the snow fence the Long Trail crosses through. There are some blazes to your left, but the opening is on the right. After heading back into the trees, there is a narrow section of a rock slab that could be a bit slippery when wet. Just after this though, is the start of the herd path on your left. It's pretty easy to spot and I wouldn't be surprised if from time to time people hiking the Long Trail start down it on accident.

View from Jay Peak

Just after starting the bushwhack, you need to climb over the bottom of a blow down and head a bit to the left. Once over this though, the path was pretty easy to follow. Early on there were a couple places where you might have an option on routes, but just pick the more well traveled one and you will be all set. On the way back, I didn't even notice these options to be honest. The path goes gradually downhill for a while with just some minor mud. Eventually I started wondering what all the trip reports were talking about with them mentioning deep mud. On the second half of the route you will come to find these mud holes. On the way up to Big Jay I tried to stay on the main path the entire time. Finding hard spots in the mud or debris in it to step on that would hold me up better. On the way back, I took many of the herd paths that are developing around the mud. Eventually I found an unassuming mud hole that ended up being at least 10-12 inches deep (based on how far my poles went in) that didn't have anything to stand on. I got lucky and the mud only covered my boots without actually going into them.

Easy to follow herd path

The majority of the mud pits end shortly before the summit, just as the path gets steeper. There were a couple rock scrambles through here that could be tricky, but I managed them well by just planning my route up before starting over them. Once up the steeper section, it seems like you should be at the summit, but the path kept going on slowly gaining elevation. This bit seemed longer than I expected it to. Soon you get to the summit area where there is a sign and a red ski sled hanging in a tree. With a quick look, I found the summit jar (no canister) just behind and to the left of the sled.

Rock ledge to climb over

Red sled at the summit of Big Jay

The hike back out the herd path was straight forward. The route really is easy to follow and is like a trail in places. If you were to loose it, it stays pretty much on top of the ridge anyways. It took about as long to hike back as it did to come out. And soon I was back to the Long Trail and then the ski slopes. It was hot and humid today, but as soon as I got back into the sun on the slopes, it really hit me. I started to slow right down. It isn't really that far to the high point on the slope, but it seemed to be taking me forever. At the high spot is a small building and I decided I needed to sit in the shade here for a while. I tried to cool down, but with almost no wind, it took a while. I decided to change out of my now muddy socks while here and take advantage of the objects I was using as a seat. Eventually I felt like I had cooled down some and I started heading down the mountain.

View back to Jay Peak

Back into the woods I was taking it easy and making sure I was placing my feet correctly. The heat really had an affect on me. Gradually I started to feel better and kept picking up pace. I only wished there were some sort of brook along this trail so that I could splash some cold water on myself. Unfortunately, there were only a few very small puddles. As I neared the bottom of the mountain, I decided I would still do the Jay Camp Loop Trail as I had planned. I figured if there was a camp, there had to be a water source where I could fill a now empty bottle and dump it over my head. This trail was much less used, but still easy to follow. And sure enough, right next to the camp was a nice cold refreshing brook. This helped me feel even better. From here the walk out was almost completely flat and went quickly. Before long I was in dry clothes and headed home with the AC cranked right up.

Jay Camp

Google Earth map of the hike

For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE

Mt. Monadnock (3,165 ft) 7-10-15

Distance: 5.36 mi.
Elevation: 1,758 ft (overall) 2,018 ft (total)
Time: 2:03 (summit) 3:07 (total)
Trails: White Dot Trail, Cascade Link, Spellman Trail, Pumpelly Trail, White Cross Trail

I decided I wanted to get a hike in since it had been a while since I had been up a significant peak. I decided getting out of work an hour early and heading up Monadnock for the sunset was a good way to get in a hike. I'd been thinking recently that it had been a while since I was on the Spellman Trail, so I picked a route that included it.

The hike up went well. There weren't many people as almost all of them were heading down. It was a bit humid, but I just adjusted my pace some to keep from sweating too much. Once off of the White Dot Trail, I didn't see anyone else until I reached the summit. Going up the Spellman Trail was fun and conditions were good for it. There were a couple damp places, but not in the steepest areas where it would cause a problem.

Given the weather predictions, I didn't expect the sunset to be overly spectacular. There weren't many clouds for the colors to reflect off of and it was a bit hazy. As the sun went behind the clouds near the horizon, it appeared the sunset might be a bit of a bust. In fact, a family at the summit headed down at this point thinking just that. But as I talked with some other hikers, we noticed a break in the clouds above the horizon. This gave almost enough room to see the entire sun as it went down behind the horizon. While the colors weren't spectacular, this did make the sunset much improved. I wonder if the family watched as they descended and caught this or not.

On the way down I was able to go without my headlamp for nearly half of the descent. I put it on for the rockiest part of the White Cross Trail and left it on until I got to the car. At the park headquarters I was greeted by a barred owl up in the trees making a lot of noise as I got close. I was able to watch him with my headlamp for a while before I decided to leave him alone.

Brook crossing on the Cascade Link

Start to the steep section of the Spellman Trail

On the Pumpelly Ridge

Nearing sunset while climbing

The sun starting to go down behind the clouds

The sun coming down below the clouds

The last glimpse of the sun for the day

For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE