Member Trip report
Mts. Jefferson & Adam Loop
07/22/2017
On Friday night, July 21st Jim and I joined Stephen and Tom for a weekend of camping. Jim and I were off to a different adventure and Stephen was kind enough to open his camping weekend to us. We arrived a little after 9pm and quickly set up camp then joined Stephen and Tom around the fireplace for some good conversation and catching up.
Saturday morning came early and we got up around 6am, a little after I think. I started to head over to the facilities (aka “outhouse”) only to round the bend and see a rather large black bear looking back at me. I think the bear was 60 to 75 feet away – just a bit too close really. Jim was not far behind and I found myself whispering to him to hurry up so he wouldn’t miss this sight – all the wrong things to do of course. Jim and I were in awe… it was truly an awesome sight… but we quickly realized we should talk and wave our arms to make sure Mr. Bear would retreat into the forest. Sure enough, it slowly turned away, paused to look back, and carried on into the woods – phew!! It will be a while before we forget this walk to the outhouse!!
The previous Sunday I’d hiked the Castle Trail to Mt. Jefferson with Mike, Chuck, Phil and Dave. Jim was unable to make it but I was happy to hike it again and have Jim experience the journey as well as get some well deserved trail time. Once on the summit of Jefferson I opted to mix it up a bit and rather than repeat the descent from the previous week, we crossed the ridge to summit Mt. Adams. This was Jim’s first two Presidential Summits – Congrats! We then carried down the Lowe’s Path for a short bit, taking a detour down the Spur Trail to check out Crag Camp – the most awesome hut ever!! A short 4/10’s of a mile west was Gray Knob – the second most awesome hut ever!! I love winter hiking and huts and there will be a return trip to both this winter.
After chatting up the caretakers at both huts, we carried on re-connecting with the Lowe’s Path to check out the Log Cabin – a three sided structure along the Cabin Cascades Trail. We then followed the Cabin Cascades trail to connect with the Israel Ridge Path that then took us back to where we started that morning, Bowman. As we were nearing the river crossing on the Castle Trail Jim caught view of a bear running over the embankment. I heard the rustling – we’d clearly startled the creature. Unlike the morning encounter, this bear had no time for us, lol. I’m good with that!
I don’t have many photos because I once again forgot my camera but the few we have are inspiring. It’s a strenuous but rewarding loop hike.
We finished a little later than anticipated and while we were hoping to meet up as a group for dinner, that didn’t happen. Jim and I found a nice swimming hole to freshen up in, grabbed a quick bite and found our way back to the campsite by 9:30pm.
Sunday Jim was feeling a bit overworked thanks to the previous days 13 to 14 mile hike. Sadly we decided not to hike Whiteface and Passaconaway. On our way home we decided to rent a canoe and splash our away onto Squam Lake where we explored islands, got some well deserved SKINNY DIPPING in beautiful waters, lunched and concluded the day. A brilliant and varied weekend with great company at day’s end. Thanks to Stephen & Tom for being great hosts and camp buddies.
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