Mount Jefferson via Caps Ridge Trail - 8/21/17, an unforgettable day!

The mountain: Mount Jefferson (5712')
The route: Caps Ridge Trail out and back
Total hike time: LONG, mainly due to ~1 hour on the summit, a long break on the way down, and just generally taking our time
Summit beer: Red Hook Long Hammer IPA

By far the most important thing to say about this hike is that on our way down the mountain, Andrew and I got engaged!! Admittedly this had been planned for awhile so it didn't exactly come as a *total* surprise, but nothing could have been more special or wonderful than having the man I love propose to me in our favorite place ever.

Even aside from that, this was just a wonderful, fun hike. I knew my fear of heights was going to be put to the test on the Caps, but I feel like I've become so much stronger and more confident with scrambling and exposure in the past year that I felt ready to take on the challenge. (The, uh, knowledge that there were some additional rocks waiting for me besides the ones on the mountain may have helped. ;)) We had spent the night at the Moose Brook Motel on Sunday after a day of some casual hiking on the Basin Cascade Trail and up to Square Ledge, a really nice, short little hike with a fun scramble at the end and some nice views! Open up the AMC guidebook to a random page and have at - I'm pretty sure you can't go wrong. I had woken up at 2:30 in the morning pretty much too excited to sleep, and had no problem being up and at 'em when the real alarm went off at 5:30. We drove to the trailhead and I was a little surprised to find only one other car in the parking lot - as it would turn out, everyone was getting a late start to try to watch the eclipse on the mountain. We did make small talk with a lovely Canadian gentleman, who was hiking in the Whites for the first time. He also had a really sweet dog - we would see them several times more as the day went on! Final preparations made, we were off up the mountain!

Pre hike shot!

The trail begins fairly uneventfully, with some pretty walking at very mild grades through the forest. The forecast had called for a clear day but there was some significant fog going on - it made for a lovely "fairy forest" feel in the early going. The trail was super green with lots of moss, and in the quiet with no other hikers around it really felt magical. A mile into the hike, we reached the rock that I've seen photographed a bunch with potholes left naturally by glacier activity. This was the last glimpse of any views we'd have for quite some time - it was a lovely overlook and we stopped to snack on some blueberries and take in the view.

From the pothole rock you can see the caps in the distance, and let me tell you, they look intimidating! I said to Andrew "see those rocks over there? That's the trail". To which he responded, "AWESOME!" This mountain goat I'm going to marry...hahaha. Caps Ridge is pretty short as trails in the Whites go, but once you pass the 1 mile mark you're basically out in the open from there on. Despite the fog and complete lack of views, it was AWESOME. I've been trying to decide this summer if I secretly really love scrambling, because everything we've done that's involved scrambles (the Chimney on Osceola, the Blueberry Ledges), I've found to be the most fun thing ever. Caps Ridge pretty much sealed the deal: I LOVE scrambling. I'm not sure if it was because it was so foggy that you couldn't see how high you were, or because I've just gotten over that particular fear, but I never had even a second of apprehension on this hike. It was pure adrenaline, where am I going to put my foot next, god this is amazing, fun, fun, fun.

Andrew climbing the first or maybe second cap - guy in the top left is our Canadian friend, who had to do some serious coaxing to convince his pup to find a way up. He made it eventually!

 Slightly deceiving photo of me on a cap - but for real, use of all 4 extremities was definitely necessary

 "Maybe if I just LOOK at it hard enough, this fog will go away"

The whole time heading up I would stop intermittently and kind of mournfully ask Andrew where on earth the "clear" forecast that I had been seeing all week from the Mount Washington Observatory was. Honestly it was pretty cool and a little eerie ascending into such heavy fog, but I had heard that the views from this trail were quite spectacular so I was a little disappointed to not be able to see them! Still, we were having a great time and really enjoying the trail - I think from a challenge and fun perspective, this is one of my favorite trails I've done in the Whites. After the Caps, you continue to climb with some flatter areas, and then finally a steeper section up to the summit. We discovered on the way down that we may have gotten a little "creative" on our ascent to the summit - by this point the fog was so thick that we were basically going cairn to cairn, and at some point we must have missed one or followed a rogue cairn or something, because the ascent to the summit was MUCH steeper and more slippery than the descent. Whoops! Oh well, no harm, no foul. We made it to what we assumed, and eventually confirmed was the summit in one piece. 

I took a picture here because I was surprised to see those plants, but in hindsight I'm glad I did because Andrew proposed on those rocks right over there. :) 

 A demonstration of how we managed to go off trail on the way to the summit...very, VERY foggy

We made it to the summit, where it felt like the temperature dropped about 15 degrees and the wind kicked up significantly - luckily, we were able to find a sheltered spot and hunker down for a bit. We were still holding out some hope that maybe the clouds would magically part and were comfortable enough with our gear that we felt like we could handle hanging out for a bit. We chatted with some other hikers coming through; my personal favorite was the guy coming over from Adams who did a "superman" to touch the summit marker post, and then remarked "yeah, did you guys see when the sun came out for like 5 seconds earlier? I literally shouted with excitement to no one, I probably looked crazy!" He said that he had never seen fog like this and had been worried about getting lost over by Adams - this definitely cemented our decision to go down the way we came, as opposed to trying to make a loop. We also talked for a bit with our Canadian friend, who I think was enjoying his first trip to the Whites. It was interesting to hear about his travels in the Canadian Rockies, where many mountains apparently don't have official trails, but there are trail "registers" at the top of many summits for people to mark when they've been there. He said one summit he climbed the next most recent name to his on the register was 10 years earlier! He also seemed mildly disappointed at our lack of thrilling wildlife - most notably the cute animals called pika that apparently exist in the Rockies and make adorable squeaking noises. 

Andrew found a natural recliner! 

 Official summit shot: NH48 #13 for me and #11 for Andrew!

This was actually slightly better visibility compared to the majority of our time at the summit - junction with Gulfiside Trail and Castle Trail just below the summit

After consuming our lunch (leftover pizza from last night's dinner, an AMAZING choice) and gradually adding on layers as it got chillier and chillier, we finally gave up on any summit views and decided to begin the trek back down the trail. Andrew told me later that he of course wanted to do a summit proposal, but it was so windy and foggy that he was worried he would drop the ring, so he decided to wait! We once again went cairn to cairn coming down off the summit cone. The lower we got the more the wind subsided and things started to clear a bit. Finally, Andrew told me to come and stand on top of some rocks just off the trail, got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him! 

Winter hats in August and absolute happiness

Rocks and a ROCK! ;) I adore my ring - it's a padparascha sapphire and it's absolutely beautiful

Caps Ridge Trail: Probably my new favorite/most memorable trail ever!

The rest of the descent, I was maybe just a LITTLE distracted by the new shiny gem on my finger and the fact that after almost 10 years together, I was finally engaged to my best friend in the world. In a delightful coincidence, just about as soon as Andrew proposed the clouds gradually started to part, and we were treated to some stunning views as we descended. We also encountered TONS of hikers heading up the mountain to watch the eclipse and were able to give some advice to a couple that looked a little concerned about the caps. It feels good to be enough of a veteran that I feel like I can give a bit of support to others! We also stopped for awhile on one of the caps to enjoy our summit beer - I joked that we really should have bought a mini bottle of champagne - and take in the views. I also somehow resisted the urge to tell every single person we encountered on the way down that we had just got engaged. 

 Clouds starting to clear

 Feels like you can see forever, even in the clouds

 Cloud 9 :) 

 Looking down at a cap

Pretty cool that we climbed up AND down that

 Looking back up at Jefferson and the caps on the left from pothole rock

Once past pothole rock, we headed back into the trees and made quick work of the easy rest of the descent, and soon were back at the parking lot, where we reunited with our Canadian friend and a couple of other guys we'd run into on the way down. 

Eeeep we are fiancees!

Our Canadian friend's dog, who did not want to jump up into his owner's pickup truck and instead hopped into the backseat of our Zipcar hahaha

After the hike, we had a delightful rest of the day in store - first we headed to the AMC center in Crawford Notch to see the eclipse (we literally timed it perfectly to get there at maximum coverage) and call our family members to tell them the exciting news. Then we headed to the Mount Washington Hotel, where we had the most delightfully swanky night that included myriad cocktails, champagne while planning our next hike, slow dancing in the ballroom esque restaurant, and being utterly ridiculous in the Cave bar. It was, in a word, perfect. I absolutely can't wait to spend the rest of my life having adventures with Andrew, to the summits of the NH48 and beyond. We still have 3 more mountains to bag to achieve our goal of 10 4000 footers this summer, so stay tuned!

Mount Whiteface and Mount Passaconaway via Blueberry Ledge/Rollins/Dicey's Mill Trails

The mountains: Mt. Whiteface (4020') and Mt. Passaconaway (4044')
The route: Blueberry Ledge Trail --> Rollins Trail --> Walden Trail/East Loop --> Dicey's Mill Trail
Total hike distance/time: 11.9 miles, 6:51 moving time (~7:45 total time)
Summit beer: Woodstock Inn & Station Pig's Ear Brown Ale

Hard to believe it's been a month since our last summit! That's technically not true for me, since I ran the Mount Washington Road Race a couple of weeks ago, but it feels like it's been awhile since our last hike. While some really awful storms thwarted our initial plan to head up to the Whites over the weekend before July 4th, the forecast for the 4th itself looked perfect so that was our day! We chose Whiteface and Passaconaway as our goal mountains for this hike for a few reasons - we wanted something in the southern Whites (aka closer to Boston, since we were only coming up for the day), and something with an "unexciting" summit. Add in the Blueberry Ledge trail with it's promises of excitement and challenge, and we were sold.

We were up bright and early and left Boston by 5:45 for the trek up to the Ferncroft trailhead. After a meandering drive on NH 113, we found it - and what a lovely trailhead! The porta potty was also a nice and appreciated touch. It was actually quite a bit warmer than the forecast suggested so we spent a few minutes trying to figure out what to bring or not bring, and then by 8:45 we were off!

Pre-hike shot

Heading into the Sandwich Wilderness

The hike starts with a very pleasant road walk, and soon after that a left turn into the woods takes you down another private road and onto the trail itself. Everything is well signed and it would be hard to get too confused. We headed off onto the Blueberry Ledge trail, which started fairly gradually. We were power hiking at a pretty quick pace over the first stretch and I actually found myself getting uncomfortably warm! After the first mile or so, things start to climb a little bit, and soon we found ourselves on some slabby ledges. You get a couple of peekaboo views through the clouds but nothing to write home about, although I kind of enjoyed the change of pace of climbing up the stone ledges as opposed to your typical rocky trail.

Peeking back on the ledges

After a little while, the Blueberry Ledge cutoff trail pops back in on the right, and things start to climb a little bit more. The trail has some inclines and some flat sections, but things do gradually get steeper (I mean, we are climbing a mountain after all!) There was one section where things got pretty steep and challenging, and we elected to take a break for some refueling near the top - I was surprised at how tired my legs felt! Looking back I think I was a little dehydrated and probably running low on glycogen, because the cherries really did the trick. As we continued upwards, I found myself wondering when this trail was going to take a turn for the intense. We were nearing the 3 mile mark and still in the trees, but I knew the ledges were approaching. And sure enough, after a short scramble, there we were on essentially a cliff! Much to my pleasure, my feelings about this cliff mostly leaned toward the "astonished by the view" as opposed to "afraid for my life". We chatted with another hiking pair who had 2 adorable dogs and they gave us some tips on the scramble that was to follow - much appreciated!

 Beautiful ledge and some happy puppies

That first glimpse of sky and mountains on a bluebird day = perfection

The only part of the day where I felt mildly uncomfortable - standing on the heavily slanted ledge to take a photo! Hence the fact that I'm awkwardly gripping Andrew's leg and laughing at how stupid I look 

Next up was THE scramble that I think Blueberry Ledge is known for - the one that used to have a ladder, but now just has some holes in the rock. I had spent the past week psyching myself up to be terrified for this scramble, and so what a delight it was to find myself feeling no fear and only excitement while navigating it! It took me a second to figure out an initial path but I loved solving the puzzle, and came up and over the rock with a smile on my face. The ledgy scrambles continued, and they continued to be a blast. This may have been one of my first hikes in the Whites where I never really felt afraid! Big thumbs up. I had a blast trying to choose the best path and clambering up the ledges, where the views seemed to get better all the time. 

THE scramble (the key is, it actually goes to the left and not straight up!)

 Taking in the views post scramble #1

Andrew vs. Wild

Happy humans

This is what we call fun

 Spectacular views over the Bowl from one of the ledges

 Looking over at our next destination, Passaconaway

Cliffs on the side of Whiteface

After completing the ledges (with a break for some trail mix and enjoying the views) we continued on to the junction of the Rollins trail, where we found one more ledgy area that I think is the south summit (not to be confused with the much, much lamer true summit) of Whiteface. The perfect weather inspired some rock hopping and while we didn't stay too long due to an onslaught of black flies and mosquitoes, we definitely enjoyed the views.

We left the ledges and headed onto the Rollins trail, which would take us across the ridge to Passaconaway. While it was a little bit of distance at 2.4 miles to the next junction, with some interesting ups and downs, for some reason I had gotten it into my head that this trail was going to be a pain, and quite frankly I found it delightful! Early on, we passed the extremely *thrilling* true summit of Whiteface - literally a tiny cairn off the side of the trail, not even a clearing. I almost didn't believe Andrew when he was like "uh, I think this is the summit" but he pointed out that you never build cairns on wooded trails, and so this had to be it.  The ledges definitely had made up for it, so it was almost hilarious how underwhelming the true summit was. 

It is a summit. 

SO EXCITED (#11 for me, #9 for Andrew)

The traverse to Passaconaway seemed to pass pretty quickly - the scenery was lovely, there was a seriously pleasant breeze, the temps were perfect, and there was nothing that was really too challenging in terms of terrain. It felt really secluded and sort of mystical in a fairy forest sort of way. We did run into our friend KAREN (mud) a few times but I think we're so desensitized at this point from our trudge through the swamps of the Porcupines that the occasional mud pit on a trail really doesn't even faze us anymore. There were also a couple of nice outlooks and some peekaboo views through the trees as we went along. 

We reached the junction with Dicey's Mill trail and picked the opposite fork (we'd be back to Dicey's later) up to Walden trail and the summit of Passaconaway. The climb up to the summit was probably the steepest hiking (besides the ledges) we'd encountered all day! Big boulder falls with some minor scrambles got the heart rate up again in a good way - I think one thing I really enjoyed about this hike was the variety of terrain we covered. 

 View from the lookout just below Passaconaway summit

And another super exciting summit (admittedly better than Whiteface!) #12 for me and 10 for Andrew - both in double digits! 

We headed down off the summit and over to Walden trail to make the rest of the loop around the summit and back to the junction with Dicey's Mill. I had read that there was an overlook off of this trail - I had thought it was 0.3 into the trail (turns out it was 0.3 off of the trail). Either way, when I saw a sign that said "view" with an arrow, I literally leaped in that direction. The 0.3 mile journey was slightly unexpected, and for awhile I thought I was being led on by the wilderness, but we finally reached a small ledge with an outlook that is described in different places in the White Mountain guide as being "secluded", "spectacular", and "splendid". All VERY apt descriptions of the nicest private lunch spot I've ever seen. 

 Yeah nope I have no idea why anyone would ever enjoy hiking. Nooooo idea whatsoever. 

 You can see Mt. Potash which we hiked back in June on the left behind the pine tree - such a little nubbin at 2700 ft! 

THE 0.3 MILE JAUNT IS SO WORTH IT

We enjoyed some pretty stellar ham and cheese sandwiches, trail mix, and our summit beer, and spent some time trying to pick out what mountains we could see in the vista - this isn't one of our strengths, but we're working on it! We headed back to the main trail and continued to make our way around the summit. The descent on this side was probably one of the most challenging parts of the day - it was STEEP and pretty rough, with some wet rocks where you really needed to take your time. Since both of us took diggers on Eisenhower neither of us were in any mood for a repeat performance, so we maintained a pretty casual pace. After about a half a mile we were back on less intense grades and soon enough we were back at the junction of Dicey's Mill trail where we would make the 3ish mile descent back to the car.

There's nothing too exciting to say about Dicey's Mill trail - compared to the rest of the day, it felt incredibly easy, although on tired legs that was actually quite welcome. We kept a pretty brisk pace and just chatted about various life things as we meandered through the forest. It was an incredibly lovely way to spend the afternoon. One devastating thing was that we had forgotten to bring our meat sticks for the time honored "way down meat stick break" so we actually didn't even stop - we ate some gummi worms as we walked haha.  I have to mention how easy to follow all of the trails were - despite being in a wilderness area and therefore more sparsely blazed, etc, we had no difficulty pathfinding all day.  Just before the intersection with the Tom Wiggin trail (I can't not say that in a southern accent) there was a river crossing, but luckily there was also a conveniently placed tree.

We pretty much power walked the last mile out of the trails - if I'd been a little less tired, I totally would have thought about trail running this one! Soon the trail left the wilderness and popped out onto the dirt road again. I have to say, the road walk in/out of these trails was just delightful!

We packed up and prepared for the trek back to Boston - luckily holiday traffic didn't turn out to be as bad as expected - and made it back by 7 pm, perfect timing to eat some pizza and have a celebratory beer outdoors at Mike's. It was a wonderful way to spend the 4th! I really loved this hike (I know I say that about pretty much ever hike, but still...). The ledges and scrambles were a really fun challenge, there was a great variety of terrain to keep you on your toes but not completely wear you out, and the views may have sometimes taken a little extra effort but they were spectacular! This was our longest day hike ever at nearly 12 miles and I feel pretty good about getting that kind of distance in in a day with the drive to/from the city! We're over halfway in our goal of hitting 10 4Ks this summer and have already picked our next adventure - Jefferson. I have a feeling that one may be one of our favorite peaks yet!