Hancocks & Jackson: 7.8.06

Summary
OwnerMITOC Gallery Administrator
Creation Date2006-07-09 10:00:16 UTC-0400
DescriptionHancocks and Jackson: 7.8.06
Mike Kokko



The plan was to go backpacking this weekend, but lots of people on the MITOC list were more interested in day hiking, so we set up a couple of trips for Saturday and Sunday. I must be a really scary person because all of my companions bailed for both days, leaving me to hike solo on Saturday. I don’t like the term “peak-bagger” much; I prefer describing my recent 4000’+ peak hiking addiction as being extremely goal-oriented (7 peaks and 53 days remaining!).



I set-out from Boston at 6am and arrived at the Hancock parking area in Lincoln around 8:30am after my usual exit 20 gas stop. The first 3 miles of hiking were very flat, leading me to wonder if the Hancocks were actually going to be 4000-footers. I turned left at the base of the loop trail and immediately dipped-down into a clearing which has been arranged as a campsite (good to remember for future trips – this would be a good “intermediate/advanced” winter-school 2-day). Then the trail shot upwards and got my heart pounding as I pushed for the top.



There were some nice views of the Osceolas from the North Peak, but more distant peaks were obscured by the usual summer haze which had already set-in by 10:15. After a quick bite to eat, I headed down into the col between the peaks and passed a couple of other hikers. The bugs were ferocious and there were man-eating mud pits in a couple of spots. A short 1.4 mile hike brought me to the summit of South Hancock which, although wooded, afforded some decent north-easterly views of Carrigain.



Heading down and out, I made it back to the car at 12:15. As it was lunch time, I ate my sandwich at the overlook while listening to a guy tell his young daughter that he had hiked one of “those mountains” when he was a kid. I decided that I still had some more hiking to do while I am “a kid,” so I wrapped-up my 15 minute lunch break and drove over to the Webster Cliff trailhead in Crawford Notch for my next adventure.



It is worth noting that there is water available from a spigot outside the Willey House. After filling-up, I put a valiant effort into reaching the summit of Jackson quickly. The Webster Cliff trail, it turns out, was named as such for the fact that it crosses the summit of Mt. Webster and ascends a mean, nasty cliff in the process. I was shocked to find a group of college-aged kids smoking on the first ledge – definitely not what I was expecting to find after such an intense ascent.



After numerous (convincing) false-summits, I made it to Webster and then plodded on to Jackson. There were some great views of the prezzies, Washington, and the eastern Pemi peaks from the top. It looked like a great day to be on Washington, but it was time for me to descend. My goal was to reach the Webster Cliff trailhead at 302 right around the time that the super-crazy superverse (24-hour Flume to Madison hike) folks arrived in the notch.



Sure enough, as I threw my pack into the trunk at 6pm, I spotted three hikers in MITOC garb trekking up the highway. I gave Ben, Dan, and Steve a lift back up to their car at the Willey house and hung around with them for an hour or so while they watered, rested, and consumed a frightening amount of calories. Turning the guys loose at 7pm, I headed back to Cambridge on Rt. 16.



Note: I’ve decided to start posting only a sampling of my pictures. The full selection can be found in appropriately-labeled folders at http://mikeserv.mit.edu/pics/summer06/