Mount Jefferson

<Japanese version is after English: 日本語は英語の後にあります>

We hiked up Mount Jefferson on the weekend. 

Mount Jefferson is the one of the peaks in the Presidential Range, New Hampshire. As you may know, the mountains in the range is named after America's president's name in the past. 

Mount Jefferson is next to Mount Washington (6288 feet), the highest one in the Presidential range and the entire New England. Mount Jefferson is high close to Mount Washington, and it is 5712 feet high. 

This hike is really nice, because there are many viewpoints. Because only a mile, you will reaches the ridge, so half of the hike has continuous views. This is very unusual for the New England hikes. 

This hike is 2.5 mile one way, out and back, +/- 2600 feet. 

Trailhead

We started at the Jefferson Notch road.  There were already about 10 cars parked at 10 a.m., but still plenty of space was remained. Then we started walking on the Caps Ridge Trail. 

 

 

 The first mile is in the forest, and the trail is uphill but not very steep. Then after a mile, there are some rocks with open views. This will be a nice spot for casual hikers: total worth coming here. When we came back to the trailhead, one hiker started hiking. Probably he was going to this point to see sunset.

First viewpoint

As you can see in the left picture, the trail continues to the highest point in the picture (left peak in the picture). 

Looking back the trail we came

 

 

 

 

Now 30 minutes more climb from the first viewpoint from the rocks. If you have great eyes, you will see rocks in the middle of pictures. It is nice to visualize the progress of climb like that.

 

 

Rocky section

 

 From here the trail becomes really rocky and you need to use both hands and legs. The left picture, you will see what it is like. No need to have special gear, but you will need stamina. 

We saw a dog whining at these rocky section. The doggy was saying, "kuun kunn" when he had to jump down. Funny and cute!

 These rocky portion continues until the top: that's why hiking pace in New England is much longer than California. 

After 2.5 hours of hiking for 2.5 miles, we reached the top! Very nice view on perfect sunny day. Probably this is one of the best hikes in New England. So far tied with Mount Monroe. The two pictures below were taken from the summit. 

The summit is extremely windy but always windy side is one side and there is non windy side. We sat down on the non windy side and ate sandwiches and chocolates. Lunch with view is the best meal in the wilderness. 

The picture on the right contains Mount Washington in the left (the one with antena at the top).  On the right of the Mount Washington is Mount Monroe. We climbed both mountains from the opposite side.

Mount Monroe and Mount Jefferson are much nicer than Mount Washington. The reason is no autoroad. There are only real hikers at the top: much quieter and peaceful. I like to be in the wilderness, so it is nice here.

週末はジェファーソン山へ登った。

ジェファーソン山はニューハンプシャー州にあるプレジデンシャル山脈のうちの一つで１７２２メートルの山。この山脈で一番高いのがワシントン山、でその隣の山がジェファーソン山だ。今回のハイクは約８キロ、８００メートルの高低差。

このハイキングの良いところはわずか２キロ程度ですぐにリッジに出るので半分以上は視界がひらけた所を歩ける。かなりの間景色を楽しみながらハイキングすることができるのだ。

まずはジェファーソンノッチロードからスタート。１０時にはすでに１０台ほど車が停まっていたがまだ空きはたくさんあった。そしてキャップスリッジトレイルを歩き始める。トレイルヘッドにあるサインが１枚目の写真。

最初の２キロ程度は森の中。そしてその後、岩がありそこから景色が見張らせるところがあった。２枚目の写真がそこからの景色だ。なかなか良い。写真の一番左のピークが目指すジェファーソン山の頂上だ。そしてずんずん進んで行って振り返ってみるとさっきいた岩が小さく見えた（２枚目の写真：よくみると真ん中あたりに岩が見える）。

そしてここからはかなり急な登りとなる。というか岩をよじのぼる感じになる。４枚目の写真がその様子。手と足を駆使して登って行く。２キロ強このような状態が続いて頂上へ！頂上からの景色が最後の２枚の写真。山の頂上から山脈をみる。。。気持ちいい。山にいる時が一番楽しい時間だ。心がスッキリする。

２枚目の写真の一番左がワシントン山。アンテナが見えるだろう。そしてその左がモンロー山。

私のお気に入りのニューイングランドのハイキングでモンロー山とジェファーソン山がタイで１位だ。 この山々はワシントン山と違って車道がないのでハードコアなハイカーしか来れない。なので静かな中で自然を満喫することができる。