Saturday February 20, 2005

Mt Jackson

Today we joined Bob Kittdredge for a hike to Mt Jackson.

Directions to the trailhead: Rte 93 north to Exit 35. Follow Route 3 East to the intersection with Route 302 in Twin Mountain. Take a right onto Route 302 adn follow it Wotuh for @ 10 miles. The Highland Center and Crawford Station will be in your right. The trail starts .1 miles south across the street.

We joined up with Bob K, Danette and Dugan at 8 AM at the Highland Center and headed down Rte 302 under cloudy skys. It has snowed over night covering the well packed trail with a couple of inches of snow at lower elevations.

Temps were similar to the previous day - around 4 degrees below zero, however today we had a brisk wind to deal with. Fifteen minutes into the hike Bob K, Geri, and Danette decided to put crampons on. With the fresh snow I opted to bare boot it and found plenty of traction available.

From a lookout there is a nice view of the Highland Center where we watched the movie "48" the previous night along with many others from VFTT.

The sun crept over the mountains and shone on us within 20 minutes of starting the hike. It may not have added any warmth, but it made us feel good!

We maintained a steady easy pace stopping now and then to enjoy views that you do not see during the Summer.

Just over halfway into the hike we come to the juction with the trail to Mt Webster. Here we decided that due to the wind and cold temps we would not traverse the ridge over to Webster.

Unfortuantly Danatte as experiencing troubles with her glasses freezing making visability a challenge.

As we made our way higher the overnight snow became deeper, with some drifting as well.

This was Dugans 2nd Winter 4K hike - he seemed to be having even more fun today!

The trees were laden with snow covering nearly everything in a deep blanket of white.

About 20 minutes below the summit we stopped to put another layer on as well as goggles.

Geri is ready for the cold windy summit.

Our destination viewed through the trees.

Danette attended to snow balls between Dugan's toes from time to time to be sure he was not injurying his feet.

Closing in on the summit we could now clearly see the trail above us.

On the summit we found winds to be @ 40-50 mph. The temp was 2 degrees below zero.

The clouds over Mt Washington were high providing a good view of the towers.

Bob K and Geri made there way to the souther part of the summit which was partially protected from the wind.

A few minutes later, Danette and Dugan made their way to the top.

Okay - enough wind - time to go!

A shot of the views to the West as we descend.

Back at the trail junction to Webster we stopped for a snack. We saw several other hikers pass by us here on there way to the summit.

Bob K - thanks for suggesting the hike - we look forward to seeing you on the trails again.

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