What a Day on Mt. Washington and Mt. Jefferson Monday October 5, 2015

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J&J

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The weather in October in the White Mountains can always be fickle, especially above tree line. It can be 50 degrees with clear blue skies and calm winds or 10 degrees with heavy snow, whipped by 60 mile an hour winds. I was waiting for one of the former days and I got it.

At noontime on the summit of Mt. Washington it was 43 degrees with winds of 10 mph and visibility of 110 miles. The summit was not as busy as I thought it would be as I hit the top at just the right time. Three cog trains had just left the station minutes before I made it to the summit. I touched the summit, took a picture of a couple on the summit with their camera, and then headed to the cafeteria to have a slice of pizza. Part of a summit visit always includes a chat with Guy J. if he’s working that day and he was. We chatted for a while and then I headed out to fill my water bottles and point my boots to Mt. Jefferson.

Heading down the Gulfside I passed a few strollers who had braved the trail down from the summit a short distance and were headed back up. I passed two hikers also heading up. I did not see anyone again until after I had summited Jefferson and was well down the Jewell trail.

I took the scenic route over Mt. Clay since the day demanded I do so. Views were incredible. Prior to heading up Clay, I had noticed the new wind turbines on Mt. Jericho in Berlin. Five more wind turbines to look at in addition to the 33 wind turbines on Dixville Peak, Kelsey, Owlhead Mountain and Fishbrook Ridge.

Hiked my way over to Jefferson wearing a light zip tee and pants (could have/should have worn shorts) as in spots there was no wind with bright sunshine with a very light layer of clouds overhead and very comfortable temps for hiking. Made my way up the last scramble that is the summit of Jefferson and touched Brad Washburn’s summit pin.

Done. Done three ways. Once I made it back down to the car of course. Mt. Jefferson was my final 48 winter peak many years ago (and has always been one of my favorites) and today it serves as my final peak once again. Summiting Mt. Jefferson finished my second complete round of the 48x12, the 576, the Grid, whatever one wants to call it.

This was also the concurrent finish of a complete round of the grid over the age of 60. I started my second grid (G2) with a hike up Mt. Waumbek on my 60th birthday. I remembered my (at that time) blank spreadsheet where I entered the date for Waumbek, hit enter, and it automatically tallied up my totals. The totals read 1 hiked with 575 remaining peaks to hike. Hiking the grid seems impossible when one starts with a blank slate.

Time passes. I keep plugging away on G2 in addition to working on other hiking projects, trying to maintain a sane balance of fun. After all, I had the time, the desire, and the health to get it done. After all, it’s just hiking. There is no incredible superhuman set of skill sets necessary. It’s just time, desire, and health.

And here I am three years and ten months later, entering the dates for Mt. Washington and Mt. Jefferson. The spreadsheet does its magic totaling. Washington, 10-5-15, enter, total 575/576. Jefferson, 10-5-15, enter, total 576/576. Done.

Almost as an afterthought, I remember summiting Jefferson also finishes 30 complete rounds of the NH48. Little did I realize when I hiked my first two 4k’s (the Osceola’s) back in 1974 that I would still be hiking all these years later.

My G2 was fun and definitely worth doing. My G1 was better though since I hiked all 576 peaks with my wife, June Rogier. I am truly blessed to have her support although she still thinks I’m crazy for doing a G2. She joined me on many of my G2 hikes as well as other hiking projects I’m working on as well as working on lists of her own. Thanks, June!

I’ll also give a quick shout out to the man who first completed this crazy hiking game now known as the grid. He doesn’t like the name of the game (the grid) and prefers not to be listed on the finishers list therefore I’m not going to state his name here even though most people probably know who it is or have certainly heard of him before. Thanks for inventing this crazy game!

Even though I hiked many of my G2 peaks solo, I still hiked many G2 hikes with many different people over the last three plus years and I thank them for being part of my endeavor even though they may not have known it. Thank you!

For my G2, I did hike with a core group of strong hikers that I spent many long days and long miles hiking with and sharing our love of the mountains. I’ll recognize them here with pictures. I hope they don’t mind. Thank you!

My favorite hiking partner, June Rogier.
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Carl Rosenthal’s Wednesday hiking group where they prove every Wednesday that 70 is the new 50.
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Jeb Bradley, grid completer.
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Mike Lynch, almost grid completer, trail maintainer extraordinaire.
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Bill Cronin, grid completer, trail maintainer extraordinaire.
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Steve Moore, grid completer, trail maintainer extraordinaire.
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Diane (Princess Di) Schor, grid completer.
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Bill Schor, grid completer.
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If you the reader made it this far, thanks for reading this. I hope it didn’t bore you.

As for me, I have to get my pack together. I have a hike planned for tomorrow.

John
 
Congratulations on G2!!!! What a fantastic day for celebrating it!
 
Hearty congratulations, John! You've inspired me to pull out my records and see how close I am to completing G2. (Oh but for pesky April...)

Remember: "Gotta have a list!" :D
 
Thanks Chip, Tom (Happy belated birthday), Summerset (aka Pom-Poms who hiked the AT this summer. Congratulations!!), LeftyE and Stinkyfeet! Any day out in the woods is a good day!

A handful of pictures from the hike.

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Wind turbines on Jericho Mountain from the Gulfside.
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Zoomed in view of the turbines from along the Gulfside.
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View of the turbines from Mt. Jefferson.
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Zoomed in view of Jericho Mountain with summit detritus. :eek:
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Thanks for the turbine shots. I was curious how obtrusive they would be. Two of them are visible on RT 16 near the Walmart. There is a neighborhood in Berlin on Cates Hill that used to have incredible S, SW views that now have a up close and personal view of the turbines.

Folks should be glad the folks in Randolph bought the Mt Randolph and Mt Crescent ridgeline as I expect if it was in private hands it would be lined with turbines.
 
Not that I want them everywhere, I kind of like the turbines. I'm no expert on the subject, but wind power is something I can stand behind. I mean, when I heard they were calling off drilling in the Artic, I was glad. Clean power has to be sought. Thanks for the great pictures. Congratulations.
 
congrats J&J great photos as well. As far as turbines go They ruined the Beaudry.First it was stolen equipment at the worksites.Then everyone who used the road to go do the Caribous,Leroy, or what ever was scrutinized by company security.One of the Kibbey's summit as others(Spencer Bale etc) were totally changed for ever.But I am no expert on the technology either
 
The part that annoys me with respect to this set of turbines is that given the current grid restraints in the region, if the power from the wind turbines happens to line up with periods of high demand, the output is most likely severely limited due to a lack of grid capacity in the area. Currently the Millsfield windfarm is limited to 50% output. If the project had gone before the state Site Evaluation Commission, they probably would have booted it but the developer used a loophole to avid SEC oversight. This issue is limiting the available capacity of the all the other renewable power plants in the area to export.

Eversource should have been concentrating on upgrading the regional grid but went after northern pass instead. The northern pass revised project has 200 million assigned to upgrade the regional grid which is a suspected bribe to a large industrial land owner who wants to install a large wind farm north of the Balsams. The details on when, how, if, and who would administer this upgrade is strangely not detailed out in the current proposal.
 
Wonderful trip report and great photos that will encourage us all. Thank you and hearty congratulations.
 
Impressive! I don't know how you grid finishers do it--I just don't have that determination nor skills, really. Always it's so impressive to read about these feats! Congrats!
 
South Terrace 12-12-15 010.jpgThough not as a brilliant day for pics as John's, here's a pic of the Jericho Mt. wind turbines from South Terrace....
 
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