Map

  Jackson page: 

1

2

3

4

The group of climbers who had helped me up the ledge were already at the summit and one of them offered to take a picture of me and Muffin. I stood next the summit trail sign and held Muffin in my arms. He then took another picture of me with Mt Washington and the Southern Presidentials behind me.

The landscape was vast and impressive, encrusted all around in a thick layer of white. Mt Washington particularly stood out, its summit buildings and towers encrusted in ice. To the east, the Dry River Valley and Oakes Gulf stretched out far to the south. In the other direction, the Southern Presidential ridge extended down toward Mt Webster and the Webster Cliffs before disappearing into the southern end of Crawford Notch. To the northwest, beyond the White Mountains, the land flattened out, continuing as a series of low hills up toward Canada.

Although it wasn't windy, it was still fairly cold, and I was exhausted. It took far longer to climb Mt Jackson than I had planned, and I quickly ditched all plans of continuing on to Mizpah Hut. The Webster Cliff Trail looked untracked. After a quick snack and a change of water bottles, we were on our way back down. I still had my crampons on, and had no trouble getting down the large ledge at the bottom of the summit cone. Of course, it's far easier to sit down on your butt and slide part of the way down. If nothing else, gravity is on your side.

When we returned to the junction where the Webster-Jackson branches split, I sat down to remove my crampons. Once again, I tried to give some water to Muffin but she wouldn't drink it.

As usual, the trip down seemed endless, but we finally emerged from the woods at the trailhead, just north of and below Elephant Head Rock, which I stopped to take a picture of. Before heading home, I went into the Highland Center to look for a t-shirt, but ended up buying a fleece instead.

Me and Muffin at the summit. A group of climbers had arrived just before us and offered to take our picture. Notice the snow and ice balls on Muffin's legs and feet.

Me on the summit. Mt Washington and the Southern Presidentials are in the background behind me.

Closeup of Mt Washington and its towers and summit buildings. Down below are the Dry River valley and Oakes Gulf.

Looking southwest from the summit. To the left, the Southern Presidential ridge stretches out toward Webster Cliffs. To the right are the mountains on west side of Crawford Notch.

Looking northwest from the summit. Crawford Notch and the trailhead are far below. One of the hikers who took my pictures is having a snack. Behind him, another hiker is ascending the last few steps to the summit.

Elephant Head Rock. This appropriately-named formation looms just above the Webster-Jackson Trailhead. A spur trail leads to it, but we didn't take it.

Map

  Jackson page: 

1

2

3

4