Capping off a fine day

Today Compa and I hiked up the Caps Ridge Trail to the summit of Mount Jefferson (5716 feet), one of the 5000 footers in the Presidential Range of the NH White Mountains. It took us 2h16 minutes going up (book time 2h35 or 2h40, depending on which edition one uses) and about 2h10 coming down. By contrast, my big bro ran up it in 54 minutes and down in 51. There's a clear break in the gene pool.

The hiker starts in a parking lot at 3009 feet, which as the sign informs us, is the highest road in the NH Whites.

While the distance of the trail is short, 2.5 miles, the altitude gain is 2700 feet. The catch is that one goes over three rock caps; hence the name of the trail.

As the AMC Guide Book says: The route is more strenuous than might be anticipated from the relatively small distance and elevation gain.

The Caps Ridge Trail follows the narrow crest of the ridge, becoming steeper and rougher as it climbs up into scrub, and views become more and more frequent. At 1.5 miles, the trail reaches the lowest Cap after a steep scramble up ledges and it runs entirely in the open from here. The trail ascends very steeply up the ridge to the highest Cap... then continues to climb steeply as the ridge blends into the summit mass.

So, the first 1.1 mile is pretty gentle. One gets to peek through the trees to see the summit way up there.

Even two-thirds of the way up today, we could see all the way to Camels Hump, pointed out by the red arrow. To the right is Mount Mansfield. Easily 90-100 mile views, though we couldn't see the Adirondak High Peaks.

The red arrow indicates from whence we have already come, a bunch of rocks that give the hiker the first good views of the NH Whites.

Big Bro passed us about 0.4 miles from the summit. He'd been following our progress up the Caps (which really do require what I call 'Four Wheel Drive,' i.e., hands and feet) through his telescope at home so when he saw us go up the first Cap, he took off from his house. So, here he is steadily hiking up. He did wait for us up top: because it was such a fine day, he wasn't worried about getting chilled.

Up top Mount Jefferson (which was a zoo today because so many people had done as we; you just don't get a bunch of 100-mile view days — yesterday was rainy), you can look across the Great Gulf to the summit of Mount Washington (6288 feet). The red arrow indicates the path that Compa and I took two summers ago up the Great Gulf Trail, which in that gulf ascends 1600 feet over 0.8 miles (on a topo map, the lines are practically together). Compa and I thought it looked far worse from afar than when one is actually about to do it. The other red arrow, that bends, shows the route we did last October to Lake of the Clouds hut and then up Mount Monroe.

Now we are on the way down and this photo shows you some of the rocks you have to scramble down.

This is looking down, knowing that we have to go there. Just follow the yellow paint stripes on the rocks and the rock cairns and you'll stay on course.

I never can get enough of looking across at Mount Washington or taking in all the rock slides and fields up on the Presidential Range. All the smoke comes from the cog railway. It really seems crazy in these pristine mountains to have a steam-operated ancient railroad go up the ridge of the Mountain but there's no talk of stopping it.

The people in the photo give you an idea of how the trail goes.

Yes, the trail takes you over that crest and down, down where the red arrow is.

Just before I took this photo, there was a labradoodle that had scrambled down this rock face with no trouble at all. She was in the bushes by the time the shutter clicked. Oddly, she got down that wall which was harder than other places, but there she balked and her owner had to carry her down.

Shall we say a fine time was had by all and best of all, we got back down all in one piece (always desirable, especially today since I have a funeral on Saturday).