Member Trip report
Hike up Blue Job Mtn, and some 4x4 roads
09/29/2021
Trip Report/Photos from BillyB1976
Blue Job! Now that is an interesting name for a mountain! LOL Someone with a dirty mind could have fun with that one, but my mind is as pure as New York snow! LOL :)
Blue Job Mtn is located in Farmington off of First Crown Point Rd. I drove there from Meredith, and if I had relied on Google to direct me there, she would've led me to a road that I don't think even exists! Luckily I looked at my NH/VT road atlas and the road she told me to go on wasn't there! I wrote down my own directions and had no problem finding the trailhead.
The elevation of Blue Job is 1,357 feet. There is a fire tower at the summit, and I think it is an active tower.
I arrived to an almost full parking lot, which surprised me.
I did the loop counter clockwise, going up 1/2 mile to the summit and fire tower. It is steady uphill, but not really difficult, although the trail is eroded from heavy use. I met one large group coming down this trail. It took me 15 min. to hike up to the top. I spent just over 30 min. at the top before heading down 0.7 miles, which took 15 min.
Total hike was just over 1 hour. 1.2 miles total. Elevation gain was a mind-boggling 350 feet! LOL Except for the large group coming down, I didn't meet a whole lot of other people on this hike. I thought that was odd considering how many vehicles were in the parking lot, including a small bus.
After the hike I decided to check out a couple of nearby unimproved / undefined roads that were shown on the map. I wanted to explore my redneck side. :) LOL Both was shown as through "roads", but I had no idea of the condition. The first road was just a short distance beyond the Blue Job parking lot. It was sketchy for sure and I used 4WD to be safe. After a short distance I came upon a mud hole. I could see some went through and that others turned around. Not knowing what was beyond, I decided to turn around.
The second road was at the end of Second Crown Point Rd. It was sketchy as well and I used 4WD to be safe. I made it a little further than on the first road, but eventually came to a fork with a severely washed out hill on one fork and a mud hole on the other. No way I'd make it on either road with my truck, so I turned around and headed back to Rt. 202A.
I headed back to Meredith, stopping at Dairy Queen in Laconia along the way. Gotta have a chocolate milkshake. :) LOL
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Thanks Jim. That info is very helpful. I was unaware of the pronunciation :) If I had more time I would've done more hiking there, but my primary goal was the fire tower on this hike.
Regarding the mystery as to where all the locals were, they were most likely hiding down at the pond or over on Little Blue Job Mtn. At the turn of the century, we locals used to take a herd path from the Blue Job summit over to those secret places. However, the newest AMC "Southern NH Trail Guide" (5th ed, 2021) includes a "tell all" map showing trail improvements made in 2019. I guess we locals are just going to have to find a new secret place to hang out.
Hey Billy, Nice report on Blue Job Mtn and nearby roads! Your purity of mind is safe as long as you know to pronounce "Job" with a long "o", as in "the patience of Job", the man of the Old Testament, not as a short "o" as in "top" or "bottom". LOL I believe the "blue" comes from all the blueberries along the trail, a tasty treat when in season.
