Mt. Jackson (#3) and Mt. Pierce (#4) November 1, 2009

Trails: Webster - Jackson, Webster Cliff, Crawford Path

Total Distance: 8.5 miles 2900’ Vertical Gain

Note: Almost all of these pics will open when clicked on, but a few will not. Sorry. I don't know why.


Once again, we started out from Crawford Notch, hiking this time on the East side of the notch. We left the parking lot at 7:30am, with the wind blowing and cloudy skies above us. It felt warm, at around 45° or so. Had to walk a tenth of a mile or two down the road to hit the trailhead for the Webster - Jackson Trail. If you zoom on this first pic, you can see Elephant Head rock just past Saco Lake, with the summit of Mt. Webster behind it.










We came across this view about 20 minutes in, looking back at the Crawford Notch Visitor Center and Saco Lake.


We started up on a fairly steady grade, and crossed upper Flume Cascade 45 minutes into the hike.

More steady hiking, and hit the split for Jackson and Webster spurs. Mt. Webster (3910’) was not in our plans today, but we noticed on the map that the Webster spur crossed Silver Cascade just a short distance away (maybe 200 yds.), so we decided to check it out. Boy, we were glad we did! A beautiful 20’ waterfall horse-tailing down into a clear, cold pool. After taking too many pics, it was time to get back on track.

Back to the split, and we continued up toward Jackson at a steady pace. Now we could really feel the wind start to pick up, and could feel the temperature start to drop. Around 300 vertical feet below the summit, out came the hats, gloves, and an extra layer on the body. We prepared ourselves best we could for the wind as we came out of the trees and climbed up the rocky summit cone of Jackson. At the top at 10am, we tee into the Webster Cliff Trail, with a summit cairn by the trail sign. Even with the wind, had to take a minute to enjoy the views to the South and SE.

Looking West toward Mts. Willey and Field.

Time to get out of the wind, so we start to head towards Mt. Pierce. But 50’ or so away around a corner, was another summit cairn with a view to the north. Dig out the camera for another summit pic, check out our next peak in the distance, and can see the Mizpah hut low on the side of Pierce. Ok, let’s get out of the wind!

Our summit pics for Jackson. One of them is the highpoint.

Once we scramble down the rocky top of Jackson, the next mile and a half or so is actually pretty flat, with a lot of walking bridges over some boggy parts of the ridge. Someone has done some great work here.

.................. Gorilla Man !!!!!!!!! ..................

Just past Pierce, Mt. Eisenhower comes out of the clouds.

This sign tells us that we're at the hut.

And what a hut it is. This thing is HUGE. It must sleep 60 people. Closed for the season, though.

We arrive about 11:00am, and decide to take a relaxing lunch break with minimal wind. Break out the sandwiches, Jalapeno cheese, and trail mix.

Our lunch break ends up being about 45 minutes, as 3 separate hiking parties roll through and break for food, also. They all offered encouragement for Thomas (and I) for this grand adventure we've embarked on. We finally pack up and get ready for a steep little section up to Mt. Pierce's summit ridge, where we're told has some excellent views from the South Ledges. Wow, they weren't kidding! Looking back at Mts. Jackson and Webster and beyond.

And West toward Mt. Willey.

Now that we're on the summit ridge, it's an easy jaunt to the summit of Pierce. We arrive at 12:30pm. #4 in the books. And the wind is still howling.

Just down the other side of Pierce is the junction with the Crawford Path. Decision time. We had talked about maybe adding Eisenhower as an out and back, which would add about 3 miles and 1.5 to 2 hours. We decided no for a number of reasons. Felt OK, but a little tired as we were both fighting colds; as the first day of daylight savings, would probably put us back at the parking lot around dark; the top of Eisenhower is wide open, was snowing off and on, and although we had some extra layers, we were not ready for full winter conditions battling the wind and cold. This is a great shot of Thomas with Mt. Eisenhower in the background. Looks tame, no?

So it's 3.1 miles downhill to end our day with Thomas leading the way. He left a bootprint that struck me as very cool.

Very close to the end of the hike, we came across this waterfall, known as Gibbs Falls. We saw a lot of moving water today, and still this struck us as picture-perfect.

Back down at the road, this sign really tells the story for anyone starting up its way.

We hit the parking lot around 2:45pm. About 7+ hours total. Not the quickest of times, but today, that wasn't the point. All in all, another great day in the mountains. We really had a fun time today. We seemed to take our time hiking, took plenty of little breaks, and shot off our route a few times for little excursions just to see what we could see. Also, this day was very close to our first 4k hike in that we were not sure where the real top was to our first summit, Jackson, and the length and vertical gain over the whole loop were similar.

One of the points Thomas and I talked about is that, although this is a worth-while goal, we don't want to exclude the rest of our family, who have always hiked together over the years. So not every hike in the next couple of years will necessarily be toward this goal. But we do have a couple of 4Kers that we can do with the family, and look forward to them joining us on these mountains.

One last point. Today was my Dad's (and Thomas' Pepere's) birthday. He passed away earlier this year, so we dedicated today's hike to him. Wished him a Happy Birthday on each top. And although he's in our thoughts always, today was special for us.