Sandwich Dome - Jennings Peak 8-30-2015

We had been trying to get to these peaks for a while and Sunday was the day to do them. We arrived at the trailhead around 8:00AM and there was only one other car there. We decided to do the loop starting out on the Sandwich Mountain Trail and returning on the Drakes Brook Trail.
Once on the trail we were brought to the crossing of Drakes Brook. The rocks were slippery, but hop able. No sooner did we cross the brook and the incline started and it was pretty much a constant up until we reached the Sandwich Wilderness sign. Up until the sign though, we were feeling it. After the sign the incline didn’t seem as bad and we got some welcome flat spots. The trails for the most part were dry, the blazing is fading, but the trail is easy enough to follow.
We got up the first view point and noticed potholes existed there like they do on Mt Jefferson. We stopped and enjoyed the view for a bit. When we left we were waiting to see Noon Peak, but being the wilderness area, we figured there would be no signs or even a cairn. We know we hit it seeing how the trail goes right over it supposedly. It showed on the GPS that we went over it too. Jennings and Sandwich Dome were the objectives anyway, being that they are on 52WAV, so we were looking forward to the view.
By the time we hit the Drakes Brook Trail junction, we couldn’t believe we had only come 2.5 miles. To be fair we didn’t get to bed the night before as early as we were hoping. Shortly after the junction, we came to the spur trail for Jennings Peak. The spur trail is for the most part flat until the very end. Once up on the summit there was no marking to say we were there and we didn’t see any higher spots once the trail ended. What we did see was the view it offered of Sandwich Dome and the Acteon Ridge. Jennings Peak is named after Captivity Jennings whose mother Hannah was kidnapped by Indians, taken to Canada to be held for ransom while she was pregnant with captivity. There’s a whole story about that kidnapping involving the Waite family too.
Coming down off Jennings we continued along the Sandwich Mountain Trail heading towards Sandwich Dome. The trail was flat again up until about 0.2 miles after the junction with the Smarts Brook Trail when the incline started. For the most part we found the beginning of the trail the toughest part of the whole hike due to incline.
When we arrived at the summit we had expected a little more. The summit is small and you have to stand on the rocks to see the views. I imagine that the view was probably a lot better before the trees started to grow back in. There are artifacts from a signal station that used to be on the summit. There is a lot to see, but we preferred Jennings over Sandwich Dome. That’s just our opinion, could have just been a bad day too
The hike back down was uneventful, we didn’t even film any of it. The Drakes Brook Trail follows close to the brook at times. There is a geocache that we found before having to cross the brook. This trail is a little longer than the Sandwich Mountain Trail, but it makes for a nice loop.

Love the video. Nice work. I did the exact same hike a year ago. I'm pretty sure Noon Peak is that first view point. There's a good "back side" view of the Tripyramids from there that you filmed but did not ID. N/M/S Tri, then to the right of that the Sleepers. The day I was there, you could see Washington off in the distance to the left of N Tri. There's also a good shot in your pan from Sandwich Dome that shows the Osceolas. I was lucky enough to see a moose at the junction of the Jennings Peak spur.

I always cut right to the Video on these reports.

Grey J said:

Love the video. Nice work. I did the exact same hike a year ago. I'm pretty sure Noon Peak is that first view point. There's a good "back side" view of the Tripyramids from there that you filmed but did not ID. N/M/S Tri, then to the right of that the Sleepers. View attachment 5344 The day I was there, you could see Washington off in the distance to the left of N Tri. View attachment 5345 There's also a good shot in your pan from Sandwich Dome that shows the Osceolas. I was lucky enough to see a moose at the junction of the Jennings Peak spur.

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Thanks for your comment about the video. We were thinking that Noon Peak was the first view point, but the GPS showed it further up. Didn't really matter the views were pretty good there. Thanks for pointing out what mountains were what. The Tris we know , but the glare on the viewfinder made it tough to see as I was panning, so I wasn't sure when they were in view. We didn't get as lucky as you to see a moose, but we saw a lot of evidence that they had been there.

skiguy said:

I always cut right to the Video on these reports.

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Thanks. I hope to continue to like them.

After re-reading the AMC WMG book, I think you're right that the "summit" of Noon Peak is probably just beyond that viewpoint. I also thought your characterization of those flat ledges as sidewalks was spot on.