Caps Ridge, Jefferson and Clay

After much back and forth over where to go yesterday, what route to take and who was going, Dr. Wu, Jessbee, Anthony, and myself met at the Base Station to hike Jefferson. We had decided against taking the Castles Trail due to high winds, and instead opted to go up the Jefferson Notch Road to Caps Ridge.

We started out on the Jewel Trail following a nice set of Fisher (I think) prints to the Boundary Line Trail, and then up the Jefferson Notch Road. The good doctor was experiencing some pain from a bruised ankle bone, which he was able to remedy by shoving a liner glove into the bottom of his boot.

Caps Ridge was sweet, the rock scrambles with many patches of ice provided sufficient challenges on the way up. As we came out of the woods the clouds cleared and it was a beautiful day. Slowed by the rock scrambles, a group caught up to us from behind. MTN Magic was with that group and from that point on he stayed with us. I must point out that someone in that other group was RIDICULOUSLY loud, and had they completely caught up to us I would have said something.

We reached the top of Jefferson around 1 I think. We discussed going over Clay as Frank said it had awesome views. Jess and Anthony opted to skip Clay go down to the Jewel Trail, and Frank and I decided to go for it anyway. MTN Magic decided to ditch his group (still slowly ascending Jefferson) and go down the Jewel also. Frank and I let the other three get ahead of us as we stopped to take lots of photos and check the progress of the other group. We were a little concerned by not seeing the rest of MTN Magic's group anywhere, and wondered if they had decided to descend the Caps Ridge, which with all of the ice, would have been far more difficult than going up it.

The hike up Clay wasn't bad at all, which was good because my body was pretty pissed to be going up again. The views from the top of Clay were spectacular, by this time there was not a cloud in the whole range, the temperatures were in the mid 20s and the wind was pretty tame.

Frank and I descended Clay down to the Gulfside Trail and then to the Jewel. Just below treeline we came upon Jess and Anthony, and we all continued down together.

At the bottom, we were all a little concerned that the other group was not down yet, as it was quickly getting dark, and we didn't even know for sure which route they had taken. I was glad to see last night that a report was posted on Rocks on Top, and that group had a good time and made it down safely.

This was one the best hikes I've been on yet, and my first successful trip to the Presidentials, just spectacular. The weather couldn't have been better, the trail was fun, and Frank and Jess rule! Did I miss anything guys??

Photos

sleeping bear said:

...we were all a little concerned that the other group was not down yet, as it was quickly getting dark...

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I guess it's a good thing you didn't know Hamtero and I were watching the sun set from just below the summit of Mt. Madison on the Osgood trail.
The sun sets on Mt. Washington 3/11/06

Glad you had a good hike.

One of those perfect days in the Presidentials:

My ankle is in pretty rough shape right now. Shoving a smartwool liner sock into my boots helped relieve the pressure on it which allowed me to do this hike. Interesting enough, I thought the clouds would have broken much earlier, however when we drove up I was startled (dismayed) to see that they were still present. I figured they'd break eventually and they did... my pictures show how they basically continued to lift & dissipate the higher we went. We were never in the cloud the entire trip.

As we reached Sphinx Col, the clouds were completely gone, even on Mt. Washinton, and we had perfect views. This was a special day in the presis, especially after such a crummy winter: warm weather (20's), quite breezy (I estimate only 30-40mph) and sunny. Not a typical day on Jefferson and Clay but not totally unheard of. I've had weather like this plenty of times but it was really nice to feel the cool breeze on my face (and not have to wear a face mask!)

I'm glad we chose to bust on to Mt. Clay. I believe Anthony had injured his knee so He and Jessbee opted to head over to the Jewel Trail and out. Mt. Clay adds about 700'+ to the trip but it was worth it, especially for views into the Great Gulf and also back to Jefferson, Adams & Madison. We even considered a quick shot to Washington Summit but decided against it -- although maybe we should have gone for it? We hadn't told Jessbee & Anthony about this so perhaps they would have been wondering just what the hell happened to us?!

Overall, we couldn't have asked for more perfect conditions. I loved the clouds at the beginning actually but was happy to see them blow away by the time we got to the summit. Plenty of walking around above treeline is always the biggest bonus. It had been a long time since I've been in the Presidentials and I realize how much I'd missed it. Already planning a trip for next weekend!

Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/548491926gkjWgG

-Dr. Wu

Good to see that you guys finally made it out to the caps. Looks like you had a great day for it!

Cheers.

-percious

nice job guys/gals - now thats a trip.

Nice seeing the Dr. & company in the lot, the longer trip meant you were still up there when the clouds broke. I ended up hooking up with three other people for most of the trip up Monroe & we were on the way down when the weather began to break. Looked great from the lot!

Per the MWO websites hourly observations, the winds were in the 60's & came back down apparently more slowly than anticipated. Warm temps though as I was happy to just wear the wind-bloc balaclava & not the face mask, although we had them close at hand.

We also toyed with the idea of hitting Washington from LOC but Wayne's boot was acting up & at 11:45 it was still fog covered & too brisk to try on my own. Thought we could go down after Monroe & call it a funs short trip or spend a couple of more hours out in the wind & possibly call the trip a wind battered slog so we opted for getting the feet out of the boots & calling the day fun.

Awesome, awesome hike!! Thanks guys for making it happen. I'll get back out to Clay some other day I suppose. Anthony's knee is recovered and I've made him feel sufficiently like a wuss for skipping out on the slightly longer route Another day of great company, great conditions, and beautiful above treeline views. I'm ready for another!!!

Mike P. said:

Per the MWO websites hourly observations, the winds were in the 60's & came back down apparently more slowly than anticipated. Warm temps though as I was happy to just wear the wind-bloc balaclava & not the face mask, although we had them close at hand.

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We must've had good timing & location. I thought the winds were very mild as were the temperatures. I wore a hat and windbreaker but never considered taking out my parka, face mask or goggles. The wind felt great -- I could have stayed up there forever and enjoyed wind (and then sun) like that! I mean, it was blowing fairly good but the very mild (for winter, in the presis) temperatures kept it comfortable. Also, I've been knocked around and thrown by the wind in the presidentials and the weather was not like this at all on Saturday. I think we got lucky in terms of when we reached Jefferson Summit that winds were not too heavy and also, the Jefferson mass blocking the winds as we walked along to Clay.

It was nice seeing you, Mike P -- it had been a while. Too bad you didn't get thum views like we had! Should've stayed a little longer up there!!

-Dr. Wu

Come to think of it, I wasn't cold at all the whole day ... not even a little bit... not even my hands... or feet for that matter!

For me, that's like winning a million bucks!