Thursday, May 5, 2016

Jackson, May 1, 2016

5.2 miles round-trip
2,150 feet of elevation gain

When Mom, Sage, and I, it was slightly chilly but not very cold.  I could feel springtime in the air as I crossed the street and walked along the growing grass to the trail sign.


Some of the plants along the trail appeared not quite alive yet.  Also, the trees had not gotten back their leaves.


The distinguishable blue blaze marking the path...Sage in the background.


Thin tree serving as something to walk under, stretching across the path. 


A water crossing--you don't see the water in this picture.  The water is there, though, between Sage and the large slab of rock.


About halfway done!  We arrived at the intersection.  The temperature was still comfortable.


Continuing along the trail...pole in the picture as usual.


We found a kid's glove on top of a small tree (shown in the image).  It looked as though someone hung it there after seeing it somewhere else--perhaps on the ground.


A little ice showed itself--not so bad though.




Okay...here we put on traction.  It became apparent that the trail was too slippery to get away with  bare boots.



I was happy to get above treeline!  There wasn't ice on the rock up there, so that was good.  We took our traction off at this point, as to not ruin the blades.

Here is the sign.


We traveled to the summit and sat down for a while.  It felt good to take a break without getting cold right away...Washington in the distance.


My attempted zoomed photo of Mizpah Hut.  Not a perfect picture...



Mom found another lost item.  This time it was a light blue washcloth, as shown in this image.


I enjoyed my snack up there.


It was odd, because I didn't see any gray jays.  I saw a different kind of bird, though.  It was smaller than the previous gray jays, but it was similarly colored.  Joking around, we wondered if they "ate the gray jays."


When we finished eating and started heading back down, we met this nice couple.  The mother had a baby strapped to her back.  I was happy to see a young person in the mountains!

'Til next week...and I hope to see some of you at Beech Hill Farm this Friday!

4 comments:

  1. Great post. I am trying to ease my girls into loving hiking like I do so I am showing them your posts and photos. Thanks for sharing.

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  2. That bird's a junco. They're winter-only birds where I live, but year-round birds in the Whites. It's always a little weird when I'm hiking up there in the summer and see one.

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  3. Alex, I really enjoy reading your blog! I think you "smaller but similarly colored" bird is a Junco.

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  4. Fooseberry--I am glad to help! It would be awesome if your girls loved to hike as well. Hope to see you on the trails sometime!

    Cumulus--Thanks for the clarification! I wasn't sure what it was.

    Zefra--Thank you for the identification--it was weird seeing the junco birds instead of the Gray Jays.

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