Ridge of the Caps and Back

Date of Hike: 8/10/14

Caps Ridge Trail: 2.5 miles  /  Jefferson Loop Trail: 0.3 miles  /  Gulfside Trail: 0.6 miles  /  Sphinx Trail: 1.1 miles  /  Great Gulf Trail: 1.1 miles  /  Wamsutta Trail: 1.7 miles  /  Alpine Garden Trail: 0.4 miles  /  Nelson Crag Trail: 0.9 miles  /  Crawford Path: 1.5 miles  /  Monroe Loop Trail: 0.7 miles  /  Crawford Path: 1.4 miles  /  Eisenhower Loop Trail: 0.8 miles  /  Edmands Path: 2.9 miles  /  Mount Clinton Road: 1.3 miles  /  Jefferson Notch Road: 3.4 miles
Total Miles: 20.5 (7,850 feet elevation gained)

Trip Report
- Decided to do a big loop hike in the Presidential Range with a side trip to the Great Gulf to do trail work on the Sphinx and head up the Wamsutta Trail.
- If you get lost on the Sphinx Trail after all the work I put in over the past two weeks I suggest you find a new hobby or stick to hiking Mount Monadnock!
- The Wamsutta Trail is a steep trail with pretty kick ass views down into the Great Gulf Wilderness.  There is a view of Jefferson and Clay that I had never seen before.  The trail has some minor scrambling in the woods then pops out on Chandler Ridge with terrific views.  The trail ends at the Auto Road, where the Alpine Garden Trail starts across the road.
- I hooked onto the Alpine Garden Trail for a short distance before heading up to the summit via the Nelson Crag Trail.  The summit was super busy and the pack room was roped off so I got out of there as quickly as possible.
- On the hike down to LOC (Lakes of the Clouds), I passed a guy who felt the need to tell me he's doing much better since his diarrhea passed.  Thanks for the info buddy!
- The hut was full of happy hikers coming in from all different directions. One person didn't believe what I was hiking and told me I'd be hiking in the dark and that's not a good idea.  It was very nice of him to tell me how to hike, I run into one or two of these types a year.  I was eating a yummy piece of corn bread at the time so I was too happy to care!  Side not, I finished at 5:30pm, well before dark!
- Next stop was the summit of Mount Monroe.  I picked up the pace from here on out because I knew a storm was coming and it wasn't a matter of if, it was a matter of when.
- On the summit I ran into a hiker who recognized me from my blog.  I'm terrible with remembering names but I think his name was Bill (if I'm wrong, I'm sorry not Bill!)  He was taking a friend on her first hike up Mount Monroe and Washington.  I hope Washington was less crowded when you got there!  Nice running into you.
- Between Monroe and Eisenhower the sun was out but it was also sprinkling from time to time.  It was a warm day so the rain drops felt great.
- At the summit of Eisenhower I was sad to see the big cairn was half destroyed again.  It was much bigger in June during the Presi Traverse with Kyle and Tony.
- From here I descended the Edmands Path and road walked back to my car.  The road walk wasn't too bad, my feet were only sore on the Mount Clinton Road part because it's paved.  The Jefferson Notch Road part, while steeper, is a dirt road so it was easier hiking.  About 100 yards from the trailhead a car with RI plates coming towards me stopped, and what do you know, it was my friend Dion!  He had just hiked Mount Jefferson and was heading back to RI.  Always great to see Dion!
- Back at my car a packed my gear, changed into clean clothes as a thunder and lightening storm started right as I drove down Jefferson Notch Road.  By the time I got to base road it was sunny where I was but it was black above the range!

 Route for the day!  Click here for more details

 Hiking up the Caps Ridge Trail

 Ascending the Caps, looking back down from the top of the Caps, the summit of Mount Jefferson, and hikers along the A.T.

 Glacial potholes and Monticello Lawn

 The Gulfside Trail

 Monticello Lawn

 Trail work on the Sphinx!

 Clay Brook Cascades

 More Cascades!

 The Irene Landslide area!

 The Sphinx Trail and the cascades along the Great Gulf Trail

 Triple Falls and the Wamsutta / Six Husbands Trail Junction

 The Wamsutta Trail, it's steep and rough!

 Views from the Wamsutta Trail.  The Auto Road, Mount Adams, Mount Jefferson

 Ascending toward the Auto Road on the Wamsutta Trail

 Wamsutta Trail ends at the Auto Road high above the Great Gulf Wilderness

 The cog making it's way up to the Castle in the Clouds

 Heading to the summit, which was a zoo!

 Descending Crawford Path and up the Monroe Loop Trail

 Hiking through the Southern Presidential Range

 Descending Edmands Path

 Hiking along Mount Clinton Road

Finishing up back at the Caps Ridge Trail at Jefferson Notch







Socked in on the Southern Presidentials

Date of Hike: 11/7/10

Edmands Path: 2.9 miles
Mount Eisenhower Loop: .8 miles
Crawford Path: 1.2 miles
Webster Cliff Trail: 2.6 miles
Webster-Jackson Trail: 2.6 miles
Route 302/Mt. Clinton Road: 2.4 miles
Total Miles: 12.5 (3,750 elevation gain)
Click here for trail descriptions page

Trip Report:
- After a long and tiring hike on Saturday and with a promising forecast for Sunday I was hoping to head up Mount Eisenhower via the Edmands Path and turn north up to Monroe and Washington then head down the Jewell or Cog Tracks and hoof it back to my car. However the Presidential Range had other ideas for my hike!
- I was on the trail at 8am and although the Edmands Path has moderate grades I had an awful time trying to hike at my usual pace.  What made things worse was the Mount Washington Observatory forecast of "in the clear under increasingly cloudy skies" was missing the part about the big time undercast as my hike up the Edmands Path was in the clouds.
- Once I popped up above treeline and hit the Crawford Path/Eisenhower Loop I was greeted with a steady 30 mph wind out of the north, views of a couple hundred feet, and full winter conditions with microspikes on my boots.
- As I headed up the Eisenhower Loop I knew I would be changing plans.  Washington was in the clear but how far above the undercast it was I had no idea and knowing that there was a good chance I wouldn't have ran into anyone from Eisenhower to Lakes of the Clouds and heading two miles strait into the wind with low visibility was not a smart thing to do on a solo hike.  So I played it safe (or wimped out) and decided to head over to Pierce and Jackson for the day.
- Eisenhower summit at 9:45am, Pierce 10:35am, Jackson 12pm, finished 2:30pm.  Temps in the mid twenty's to low 30's, 30 plus mph wind out of the north, totally socked in views, snow and ice!
- Once I descended from Eisenhower I was shielded from the wind and started to warm up.  The trail between Eisenhower and Pierce ranged from icy, frozen mud, couple inches of snow, and rocks with ice where the microspikes came in really handy.
- I figured I'd start to run into people when I was around Pierce or descending to Mizpah Hut but still I saw no one!  When I arrived at Mizpah Hut I took a few pics and made a new friend (click here)!
- The hike over to Jackson was more fun than it normally is with all the snow and ice especially the section over the bog bridges through the alpine meadow.  With the low visibility and snow everywhere it made for a very eire and cool feeling.
- The finally climb up to Mount Jackson over the steep ledges was alot of fun but it became very cold once I was out in the open.  The wind was still a constant 30 mph out of the north with some really big gusts approaching 40 mph.
- I finally ran into people hiking up while descending from Mount Jackson.  I took a break at the Webster-Jackson fork junction to eat some food, shed layers, and remove my microspikes.  While zoning out I was startled by a guy coming up the trail asking if I had seen any "Yaks".  I thought I misheard him and he really said "tracks" but no he repeated "yaks".  I have no idea what he was talking about other than animals so I said "I saw Yax Tracks but no animal or people tracks!"...he said "mmm no yaks" and happily went on his way!
- The road walk back to the car on Mount Clinton Road went really fast.  I passed by two hunters with their hounds about to head into the woods and I was stunned to see more than a half dozen cars and a big group of people at the Edmands Path trailhead when I finished, there was not one car when I arrived this morning.
- Eventhough there wasn't a view to be had it was still a real fun hike in the Presidential Range and for better or worse from now until late April it'll pretty much be all snow and ice in the White Mountains!

Pictures: Click here for all pics

View from Mount Eisenhower Summit

 Crawford Path

 View from Mount Pierce Summit

Alpine Meadow on Webster Cliff Trail