Blue Job 8/28/10

"Off Roadin' to Blue Job" Pics HERE

Difficulty: Easy - Moderate:
Fire Wardens trail on South and East side of the mountain is steep and wet with loose footing.
Loop trail which follows part of the access rd. is moderate but easy footing.
Gray Hill or Little Baldy Knob trail is easy with some easy rock scrambles.

Directions: From Rt. 11/N Main St. in Rochester, NH take Rt. 202A. Just past the "4 Corner Store" take your first right at a corner onto First Crown Point Rd. Follow it for approximately 5 miles. The parking lot is on the right (signed) just over the hill. 

 Report:


A long night of work Friday spawned a not-so-thrilled-to-get-up-early-in-the-morning-for-a-long-hike attitude. Scott's mother (Paula) had mentioned over the summer she would like to climb Blue Job with us sometime as she had not done so since she was a teenager. With the Pease air show going on this weekend I thought it would be an awesome sight from the Blue Job fire tower, so we made our plans. We picked Paula up and using my google maps I found a back way to the end of First Crown Point Rd. that would shorten our drive considerably. I found said road, which soon got rough with large rocks. We passed a logging plot and soon found ourselves on a logging road with rocks and mud puddles. I negotiated around a mud puddle, the truck on a 40 degree angle, yikes! Then gunned it through two other mud puddles. Then we came to two more larger puddles. The last two felt a little sticky and I didn't want to chance getting stuck, so I turned it around and made my way back through the obstacle course. I must say, my Ford Escape did well! Hit one rock but the front metal plate took the blow, no damage, phew! Well at least Paula was enjoying herself, she was just sitting in the back laughing!

We made the long drive around the mountain and down First Crown Point road to the parking lot. Got there around 10:30 I think. There were half a dozen of cars or so already there, but not as busy as I had expected. We hit the trail heading to the Little Baldy summit. Paula kept right up with no problem. We summited Little Baldy (passed a few people on trail and a small group on top) and checked the views. The White Mountains were visible through binoculars. I picked up two Tupperware containers and a beer bottle at the summit cairn...are you kidding me? Grrr!!! We then headed for Blue Job summit. The second laugh of the day was when we were talking about facebook etc. and Paula called it Space Book, he, he!

The pond in the Blue Job/Baldy Col. was very pretty. Water levels were surprisingly at a normal depth and the reflections off the water was wonderful!

We arrived at the crowded summit tower, about 6 people on the grounds and 7 or 8 on the tower. We waited for it to clear before climbing the tower ourselves. I was bummed that I had not seen or heard any jets yet today and the same from the tower. I was expecting them to be flying over head as they made their turnarounds. Ah well, still a fun day. We made our summit rounds and headed down the Eastern trail, passing several other people on there way up. Turned out to be a great hike. Relaxing and Paula had a great time. I told her we are going to bring her up Tecumseh so she can get a Four Thousand Footer in! She said bring it on!

Pics HERE

Mt. Willey 8/21/10

"Lost half our lunch on Willey!" Pics HERE

Difficulty: Very Hard (Steep, rocky trail/steep ladders)

Stats (Round Trip): Mileage> 5.4 - Elevation Gain> 2985' - Book Time> ?hrs - Our Time> 5hrs.


Directions: Take Rt. 16 through Glen, NH. At the three way intersection continue straight onto Rt. 302N. Follow for approximately 18 miles. Destination will be on your left. There is a pond, and cabins here marked as the Willey House Site. Hiker parking and trail are located at the South end of the buildings (signs)

Report: We had originally planned to hit Adams on Saturday but we felt more like doing a shorter hike. Willey left us hanging (pun intended) this Spring with deep soft snow keeping us from getting beyond Kedron Flume. We began today's hike at the Willey House Site at 7:15am. The trail is very gradual as you pass some boulders and you switchback up to the train tracks. You make a steep climb up the banking on the other side and continue a gradual climb before making a slight drop down to Kedron Flume. The Flume is suffering from various blow downs, one of which was cut up this Spring, but otherwise if you climb up it a little bit you can get a good picture. The limited view to the South end of Webster's slide scarred ridge is also nice.

From here the trail makes an immediate steep climb through a blow down hell, but the heaven sent trail adopter had it all cut and moved aside. This trail section must require a ton of work each year! The steep climb continues until you reach the Ethan Pond trail where it levels off for a bit. In a short distance we kept right onto Willey Range trail. The trail turned steep again, over loose, gravelly sections then becoming very steep. You arrive at the largest collection of ladders I have yet to see in the White's. Not 2, not 4 but I believe there were about 9 ladders most of which were connected. It was awesome!

We got a partial view into the valley below with the river, road and train track snaking through the trees. We continued the very steep climb arriving at a knoll where the trail leveled and trees were smaller. Not the summit yet though! So we continued on becoming steep again before finally arriving into 7 foot high pines, a view point sign and just beyond, at 10:10am we reached the summit cairn at 4285 ft. (no view). We snapped a picture (number 27/48 4000'r for me) and went back to the view spot for lunch.

Views are spectacular with the Presidential range in full view and Mt. Webster "close enough to touch". Views were 180 degrees from just East of Washington all the way around to Carrigain. Some Gray Jays showed up which just made our day all the more wonderful. Out came the sandwiches and these two birds ate half of them! And I got my first Gray Jay pics...sweet! Just as we were packing up a solo hiker with a small dog named pepper showed up and chatted with us. He was doing a Field/Willey/Webster loop.

We parted and began the steep decent back the way we came. We passed a dozen people coming up, and we were glad to see we weren't the only ones astounded by how steep the trail was. And how awesome, but "calf killing" the ladders were. Many asked how much further there was to go. Not something I like being asked (and I never ask) and I usually say I don't know, but today, with such a steep trail I tried to comfort them with a reasonable estimate. One English couple in particular had us laughing. Husband to wife trying to catch up on a steep section (with English accent): Husband: "Come on you Bimbo!". Wife: "I'm coming, why did they have to put this retched rock in the way"!

We descended pretty quickly, especially once we were back on Kedron Flume trail where things leveled out. We were passed by the man and dog we met earlier headed to Webster. We arrived back at the lot, full of tourists. Time was 12:15pm.

Pics HERE

Stone House Pond 8/14/10

Another great walk around Stone House Pond in Barrington, NH. We took a break from hiking in the White's and got some sleep. We got to the empty Stone House Pond parking lot at 11:17am. Going clockwise around the lake, pine needles raining down on the trail and in the forest. They must be beginning to shed there needles from the cold nights? We noticed some horse poop on the trail as we made our way along this beautiful, quite pond. We arrived at the top of the ledge in 15 minutes and relaxed a few. Then Scott decided he wanted to find the trail that continues around the pond. Negotiating some ledges and bushes we easily found the trail and followed it, only getting a little confusing around the marsh area. Stubbled upon a yellow Caterpillar on the trail and it ended at the ledge at the parking lot. We finished at 12:05pm.

Pics HERE

Moriah and Shelburne Moriah Mts. 8/7/10

View Pics HERE

"MUDing and PUDing, a Kenduskeag Scalping!"

We parked at the Wild River campground ready for another long Saturday hike. Shelburne-Moriah and Moriah Mountains were the objectives today and the crisp, dry air were just what we had hoped for! We left the parking lot at 8:00am and walked back down the road to take Shelburne trail from it's start. Though the water level was relatively low the crossing proved difficult. We had to go upstream a ways to find a good crossing. Once across, a dried up river bed tempted me to take that to High Water trail that follows the river. We came to a stream instead of a trail. So I pulled out my map and found that the trail is actually further away from the Wild River in this area than I had thought. First of two mistakes made and not wanting to take a chance on following the stream and not finding the trail, we back tracked back to and down the Wild River to the Kenduskeag trail and began our long journey.

We crossed several dry river beds and flowing streams, climbed a banking and passed the High Water trail junctions. From here the trail is rather boring. Mushroom hunting helped to pass the time. The trail is very gradual and overgrown in many sections. I stopped to clear a blowdown about a mile in. Otherwise, the blowdowns were taken care of, just some shrub growth beginning to take over the little used trail. Once you reach the brook crossing (approximately 1700ft.), the trail climbs steeply. Along our steep climb we could here some birds chirping. I was startled when I heard Scott ahead let out a scared yelp. I looked up in time to see a goss hawk nearly a foot away from scalping Scott. His yell scared it back and it flew around me and onto a branch 15 ft. away. It glared at us then flew off out of sight. Apparently that chirping was a nearby nest! We cautiously made our way out of that area, not waiting for it to come back out of the trees for another attack!

Neary 4 miles and 1700 feet of elevation behind us we finally arrived at the Kenduskeag trail. The steep climb continued before leveling off under some ledges then a ledge on the left that we could climb to get our first views of the day. Shelburne-Moriah Mt. rose steeply ahead of us. Moriah could be seen as well as most of the Carter's and the Baldface's. We returned to the trail, dropped slightly then climbed through brush and a bad washout at a ladder and up to an open knob with more views. A board walk started here which helped through the muddy sections. Down another col. than another steep climb up Shelburne Mt. We climbed out of the tree's to an open plateau, then back into trees and onto boardwalks and mud to the Western, more open side of the mountain and it's highest point.

We reached Shelburn-Moriah's summit 3735' at 12:15pm. Picture taken we hit the trail again, the semi-open ridge and Mt. Moriah ahead of us, with the Northern Presidentials now looming behind Moriah. We climbed down the summit to the ridge and found a spot with a little less wind. Temps. were only in the mid-50's and the wind hitting our sweaty bodies was a bit cold when not moving. Lunch quickly eaten we continued on our journey. Kenduskeag is the Abenaki word meaning 'pleasant walk', but it was anything but. The views from the Western side were nice. Particularly the unique view across to the Baldfaces, the granite bald shoulder of South peak shining in the sun. And the view of Moriah from this direction interesting, especially of the granite slide on Moriah's North East facing slope. And I never seen such an extensive sections of boardwalks. They must be over a mile in total length!

From here pretty much the same story the rest of the way to Moriah's summit. PUDS, Mud, boardwalks, back into trees and then steep, steep, steep. Once passed the Rattle River trail we began to see people as I had predicted. One impartcular gave us a good laugh. Scott stopped because he had heard a noise. A small dog came around the corner and began yipping. The owner yelled "shut up Jake!". He stated the dog owners usual words "he's OK" to us, then picked it by the handle of the dogs pack and carried him by us. It was rather humorous. We had just about ran out of energy when we finally made it to the summit sign and reached the surprisingly empty summit 4049' at 2:15pm. We snapped some pics, had a snack and took back off, many more miles to go and the day getting late.

It was at this time I made mistake number 2 of the day. When coming down off the summit, I took a left at the carter-moriah trail sign. We dropped nearly 200 feet before I had a feeling that something wasn't right. We should not have dropped this quickly and there were no open ledges I remember from our hike in 2007. And I was certain the trail we took up our last Moriah hike over Mt. Surprise was Carter-Moriah trail. So I once again took the map out, and lo and behold we were headed the wrong way, rrrrr! We angrily trudged back up the steep trail, passing those we saw going up, who looked at us confused. Wiped out now, we arrived back to the summit sign. As we passed it a hiker said, "aren't you going to the summit? It's that way!" We said we were already there but went down the wrong way. He laughed and said "that happens", he himself had gone right by the summit sign and that is why he was making sure to point it out to us.

We climbed down the steep section back to the kenduskeag junction and continued on the Carter-Moriah trail. Passed by many other people, again expected on this portion of the mountain, and as we arrived at the ledges we looked back at the now visible summit full of people. The rest of the trip went well. 5 long miles of Moriah Brook trail, but this trail is always a pleasure. Easy, soft footing most of the way and a beautiful, cascading Moriah brook. The water was low so the cascades along the way weren't much and since it was getting late in the day I didn't make many stops or side trips for pictures. We hussled down, making our way to the gorge and the PUD section of trail up and down small run-off stream gully's. Finally over the bridge and a final climb up a banking. We reached home plate at 6:00pm.

Total trip time 10hrs.; 15 miles; 2800 ft. elevation; weather-perfect! NO BUGS !!!! : )

Pics HERE

Great Gulf (Mt. Washington) 7/31/10

View the pics HERE

The Great Gulf, Great in every sense of the word!We had this trip planned all week and the weather forecast for Saturday stayed looking perfect! We arrived at the Wilderness parking lot and headed down the trail bright and early at 7:15am. We planned for a 12 hour hike so we weren't wasting anytime. A man coming down said hi as he passed then blurted out, "you're entering bear country!" Yikes, you don't say!? That's OK, we came prepared, I threw a can of hornet spray in my pack for just such an unfortunate occasion. Pictures were kept to a minimum, well, for the most part! Mushrooms were numerous and the Gulf trail follows the river most of the way, and it is very difficult not to be stopping to view the continuous cascades.

Scott was burning up the trail today. I have never seen him take the lead with such speed. Perhaps it was the thought of the climb ahead. Fast forward >> we passed the Six Husbands trail and finally made it to the Sphinx trail junction. Here on up would be new territory for us. The trail immediately got narrower and less traveled. The cascades and waterfalls in this area are spectacular! We got a little confused at a small river crossing, finally seeing a small cairn upstream slightly that went up into an inlet brook. The trail crossed this stream various times, plan to get your boots wet if you take this trail! Luckily the waterproofing spray was working perfectly!

The trail makes some moderate climbs and finally comes to Spaulding Lake (4228'), which we reached at 12:00pm (exactly at book time of 4:45). Rather unique in it's own way, but really not much to look at we carried on looking for a rock with a view to eat lunch. Unfortunately there was no such spot until we got a little ways up the head wall. We finally got to inhale our lunch and take a breather. The Head wall wasn't as climatic as the other ravines and it really didn't look all that difficult.
Well, I ate those words. The climb up the head wall was very steep as it climbs up the small stream of rock and moss. Numerous flowers were blooming which made for some gorgeous scenery. Oh, and can't forget about the view down the gulf and up to the Northern Presidential's! It was neat to see how the gulf floor drops quite steeply just under the lake. From the top of the head wall the gulf floor looks level. We very carefully crawled our way up, a bad step on this climb could result in a very painful fall, or worse! Near the top of the head wall we past a few guys making there way down and an older man whom we chatted with briefly. He stated he was heading to the parking lot, and we would probably beat him there. It's funny, everyone including him were shocked to see us ascending the wall. Personally I would rather climb it, it's very steep and slippery and not something I would want to try and climb down!

A cheer from Scott meant we had reached the top of the head wall and our first view of Washington summit was ahead. So close to not keep going to the peak Scott once again took off! We stopped a couple times to answer trail questions (never fails on the Presi's!) and finally reached the observation deck at 2:15pm. Scott's third year of hiking, several attempts at summiting Washington and we finally made it. I hadn't been up to the summit in exactly 4 years! (7/30/10) What a coincidence!! The crowded summit sign was crazy, no surprise on a day like today. So we skipped standing in line amongst the chaos for a pic and just chilled and snacked a bit on the deck. We quickly had our fill of the noise and such and headed down the Nelson trail, over Ball Crag and on to the Wamsutta trail.

Wamsutta was Weetamoo's 1st of 6 husbands and man, he must have been a gentle person but with a fierce side! The trail starts off on the Auto Roads winter route then quickly breaks off headed down a partially open ridge visible ahead. The trail is gentle with soft dirt and pine needles underfoot. A few rocks to negotiate here and there, made difficult by the overgrown alpines blocking your view of whats under your feet and a small stream that the trail follows briefly. We were commenting on how lovely and comfortable the trail was, but I was pretty certain that would change once over the bluff. We reached the bluff with a unique view of Jefferson's knees right in front of you and views up to the Great Gulf head wall. Then the fun started!

Now the trail drop, drop, dropped! I think it is something like 1000 ft. in less than a mile! Ledge scramble after ledge scramble our tiring body's being pushed to there limits! Of all the hikes I have done, and of all the Great Gulf trails I've taken, this trail I believe is the steepest and most technical I've yet to see. It was awesome! Once below the ledges the trail once again levels off with comfortable footing. Happy to see the Great Gulf junction we started the long hike back down. Just below the bluff area we caught up with the man we chatted with on the head wall! We laughed and joked, this guy was pretty humorous. I poked a little fun with him, "You said we'd beat you! Just barely though!" We came to the climb up to the bluff, and he joked, "why do they have to put an uphill when your trying to go downhill!" He called us his heroes for tackling such a long and difficult loop, which made us feel pretty good, it's not often we take on such a huge trip and we felt we had done really good.

Down further near the Osgood junction two guys were standing next to the trail, one with a clipboard dressed like Curious George. I was caught off guard when the other guy said as we passed, "Jason?" Turned out to be Rich (lal12) from Hike-NH headed out from a Six Husbands-Northern Presi-Osgood loop. He caught up to us a little further down and we chatted about our day. Then we said our farewells and he bolted down the trail, a 3 hour drive ahead of him! Nice to meet you Rich! We trudged along what seems like such a long section of trail when your tired and finally crossed the bridge and arrived back at the parking lot at 6:30pm.

A beautiful day! Spectacular, wild and steep trails. Perfect temps. An overcast sky and hardly a bug! We couldn't have asked for better :) 14.8 miles, about 5300 ft. elevation gain, 11.5 hours.

View the pics HERE