[at-l] Trip Report

[ARTCLOUTMN@aol.com (ARTCLOUTMN@aol.com)]

Drove to North Conway yesterday morning to pickup Suz Buchanan and do some 
Whites.

First we stopped at Hoop's super baggel shop for breakfast and baggel 
sandwiches for our lunches.  Talked a little about our hike then headed north 
through Crawford Notch passing the point where the AT goes over route 302.  
No hikers on the road.

We followed the Base road for the Cog railroad to Jefferson Notch Road.  
Jefferson Notch road is a single lane dirt road that twisted and turned and 
carried us to a point about 3000 feet elevation.

We hiked up the Caps Ridge trail taking a short break to look at he views 
from a rocking ledge with numerous pocked holes cause from the melting 
glacier.  The advantage of Caps Ridge trail is it gets above treeline in a 
little over one mile of hiking.  The disadvantage is the caps require a lot 
of scrambling hand over had climbs (or maybe that is also an advantage).  As 
I was decending one of the caps I heard a little scream from behind me and 
turned to see Suz doing a spectacular half gainer off of a stepdown and into 
some brush landing on her back just short of a good sized boulder.  She is 
not to sure how that happend and survived the stunt with some nice bruizes to 
her legs. We took our time heading to the summit of Mt Jefferson.  Gained the 
Summit just before noon having started at 9:30 we were right on schedule for 
the AMC White Mountain Guide discription of our hike.

The summit was in heavy fog.  A strong persistent wind with temps about 50 
degrees encouraged us to add a couple of layers over our sweaty t-shirts and 
shorts.  We ate the great baggels Hoop's made for us and talked to a number 
of day hikers trying to bag the New Hampshire 4000 footers.  Two backpackers 
came up the trail from Thunder Alley.  I bet the days hikes that these guy we 
southbound thru hikers.  They were!  Headed up mount Jefferson just to say 
they did it.  Jefferson Summit is not on the AT.  FireFly and Doctor Feel 
Good told us a little about their hike so far.  Started exactly one month ago 
on June 8th.  Felt mistreated by croo at Madison Hut since they were not 
allowed to worked for stay.  They wanted to do short hikes throught the White 
to enjoy their hike in this area.  They were headed for The Dungeon at Lakes 
of the Clouds.  I told them that back on June 1st the Dungeon had been frozen 
solid with ice because of some freak storms that hit the area in May.  A 
ridge runner told me this and said they did not expect it to be habitable 
until well into July.  But maybe the super hot days last week cleaned out the 
ice early?  FireFly and Doc headed back the way they came so that they would 
not misss any AT miles.  (Here is a place where blue blazing makes sense to 
me.  You are actually doing more miles and the AT could have just as easily 
been designated to go over the summit of Jeffereson).

After Lunch we headed down the Castle Trail.  This trail is very expossed and 
has a series of rock formations that from a distance look like the turrets on 
a castle wall.   We hiked down a field of bolders and rocks to our first 
castle wall.  Then climbed up the wall and scrambed down the other side.  
There was at least a mile of these walls.  On some the down side was very 
slippery.  Suz lost her footing a couple of times and ended sliding on her 
butt down the mudd and rocks to a stabble footing.  We could get some 
Spectacular views down into the valleys on either side of the ridge but up 
the mountain the clouds and fogg continued to confine the view.  It was still 
great hiking in the fog with the wind blowing knowing down below the temps 
were close to 90 degrees.

After the last Castle we turned south on the the Link Trail the connects 
several trails in the area.  We only had to travel one mile on the Link but 
it was just as difficult as the Caps and Castle trails.  It was difficult for 
a different reason.  Roots and rocks.  The Link Trail stayed roughly at 4000 
feet.  Just below treeline.  Most of our footing was on moss and pine 
needles.  But, one foot was always about 6 inches lower then the other.  And, 
one leg was always twisted in a knee high root system.  So we would find a 
place to put one hiking pole. Wiggle a foot and leg out of a root trap and 
put it in a new location then move the next pole and move the next leg.  
Every movement required study and thought.  Sometimes we would place a hiking 
pole and put some pressure on it to dicover it sink up to the hand in a soft 
or hollow spot.  This trail is maintained by the Randolph Hiking Club.  If 
you've ever hiked parts of the Randolph Trail you know these people are 
rugged hikers.  They enjoy challenge.  And every step was a challenge for the 
full mile of this trail.   Spring comes late to this part of the mountain.  
It was alive with black flies.  I was a bloddy mess by the time we reached 
the end of this section of trail.  It was nearly impossible to stop in this 
area because of the roots and rocks and black flies.  But as Suz said many 
times "Life is Good."

Eventually we connected again to the Caps Ridge Trail and descended back to 
Jefferson Notch and my van.  It was after 5 PM.  We took about 8 hours to 
hike 6 miles.  We did stope three times.  Once at the top for a leasure lunch 
break, once on the way up at the ledge with the glacier pot holes and once on 
the way down on one of the castles.  Susan is bruised and has numerous 
scrapes and cuts on her legs and a serious loss of skin on the palm of one 
hand.  I am covered with bug bites and little red welts from the black flies. 
 And my rigth knee is very sore.  But i loved the hike and can't wait to get 
ou on the trail with my new hiking buddy.

                                        Art