The Route: Webster-Jackson Trail
Total hike time: ~5:30
When my mom decided to come out to the east coast for a weekend in NH, it was obvious that we had to do a hike. I plugged "moderate" into AllTrails and found a wide variety of options...Moat Mountain, Mount Willard, and at least one other all made the short list. However, one option just kept calling me back because it was a 4000 footer...and that was Mount Jackson. So in keeping with my tradition of dragging unsuspecting parents up large mountains, my mom's first EVER true hike was to be a White Mountain 4000 footer. What could possibly go wrong?
We stayed in North Conway and were up bright and early for the drive to Crawford Notch. With the potential for thunderstorms in the forecast for the afternoon I wanted to be on the trail ASAP, and right on schedule we pulled into the Highland Center parking lot at 7:15. After a little bit of confusion trying to find the trailhead (it's on the side of the road with the lake, but past the lake - it just kind of dives into the woods and if you didn't know it was there, you'd miss it), we were trekking off into the woods! I was filled with excitement to be back in the mountains and to get to show my mom what I love so much about this place.
Here we goooo!
Mom's learning quickly
In standard White Mountain fashion, the "moderate" nature of this trail was a touch questionable, and early on I definitely wondered if I'd made the right choice. A pretty consistent uphill grade quickly gave way to a stairmill of boulders and rocks to climb over. My mom's reaction to this was somewhat funny. I definitely know EXACTLY what she was expecting when I mentioned hiking because it's exactly what I thought of as hiking before I was introduced to New England mountains - a nice, groomed footpath up the side. Clearly she got a bit of a rude awakening upon finding out that "trails" in the mountains are a lot more rugged than you might expect! Still, we kept the pace easy and were having a great time. The weather was beautiful, with the humidity of the morning starting to burn off sunbeams started flitting through the trees, creating a gorgeous scene.
She's a trooper
Not too much to say about most of the ascent - in my limited experience, it was a pretty standard rocky fun time of a White Mountains trail! There were a couple of bigger river crossings which both of us managed to make it through without taking a dive. As we approached the summit, things started to get rockier and steeper...suddenly, out of nowhere, we came up on a huge scramble! I had heard a little bit about the fact that the very end of Jackson was a little challenging, but I'll admit I wasn't quite expecting this. After the first big scramble, Barb decided that she'd gone as far as she could - definitely the smart move. I asked if it was OK if I kept going because I had the feeling the summit was close and I couldn't stand the thought of missing out on a summit having already come so far. She told me to go, and with that I headed up the remainder of the scramble. As predicted the summit WAS close, although I didn't realize I was going to have to scramble up a pretty steep slab to get there. I've never done any part of a hike totally alone, and while I was worried that my fear of heights would kick in at any moment, the feeling of doing this - of climbing a mountain on my own - was nothing short of exhilarating. I made my way up the steep slab and was finally greeted by a cairn as well as a couple of other hikers (the first people I'd seen all day) on their way down off the summit. I asked that if they saw a woman hanging out down the trail by herself that they tell her her daughter was at the summit and fine (as it turns out my mom did have somewhat of a panic attack thinking I'd somehow gotten myself killed on the way up to the summit, so I was glad they were able to ease her fears sooner!) and then proceeded to spend a few gorgeous minutes with the summit of Mount Jackson belonging only to me.
Top of the world
'
Ascent to the top; slightly steeper than I'd expected but good prep for the future I'd say!
The best feeling. #3!
My time on the summit seemed too short but I knew I had to get back down to Barb before she went completely crazy. I scrambled back down with a grin on my face. As for my mom, she was thrilled herself to have made it as far up the mountain as she did! I know for her it wasn't so much about summiting but sharing the day with me, and I was thrilled to be able to share it with her too.
The hike down was pretty uneventful. My mom was definitely starting to get fatigued and took a couple of spills on the big rocks on the way down, but nothing major. She also wound up with a black toenail probably due to the relentless descent...oops, sorry mom! Luckily I had ibuprofen and tape and we made it down just fine, stopping a couple of times to rest by the beautiful streams on the way.
Happy times
Pausing at the river crossing
Success! And only slightly worse for the wear.
All in all it turned into a beautiful day for a hike - the rain held off completely and by the time we got back to the car it was quite a warm day with plenty of sunshine! We celebrated our accomplishment in the only appropriate way possible: with burgers and beer at Moat Mountain Smokehouse. This was the hike that officially cemented my goal of completing the NH 48 - I've got a long way to go but am excited about the journey! As for my mom, not sure she's gunning to climb another mountain any time soon, but I'm really proud of her for toughing it out!
