June 26, 2022

Start/End: Caps Ridge Trailhead, Jefferson Notch Road

Peaks: Jefferson (5,712')

Elevation Gain: 2,700 ft

RT Mileage: 5.1 mi

Rock Difficulty: Class 2+

After taking the spring off from hiking, I decided to begin the summer with a Presidential. Since I'd been out of it for a while, I started off small with an ascent of the Caps Ridge Trail to Mt. Jefferson. This trail is relatively short in terms of mileage, just 2.5 miles one-way, but pretty steep with just over 1,000 ft of elevation gain per mile on average.

Leaving home at around 8:30, I arrived at the trailhead at a rather late 11:00 AM. There were just a few other cars parked at the trailhead when I began. This is one of the shortest hikes in the Presidentials since the trailhead itself is at 2,900 ft. After around 45 minutes of easy hiking, the trail broke treeline at 4,100 ft. The first section above treeline was a horrible Class 2 pitch of loose, slippery rock. Thankfully, this section didn't last long and the trail soon flattened out to the first views of Mt. Jefferson above.

After another couple hundred feet of occasional scrambling, the route's only Class 3 section presented itself: a near-vertical but relatively short "crag." It looked enticing from far away, but ended up not actually being that hard. The first 10 vertical feet are the steepest, but isn't too bad with adequate hand/footholds and quite good traction. The other 15 feet are less steep and not too different from any other scrambling in the Whites. You probably wouldn't want to fall though, so don't rush.

After this, the remainder of the trail was relatively straightforward. The last 1,000 vertical feet to the summit is littered with large individual rocks. These rocks became especially dominant above The Cornice at 5,100 ft, with some solid Class 2 scrambling for the rest of the route. As such, progress can never be too fast, but because of how short it is I was still able to complete this last leg in a little less than an hour. I summitted at just after 2:00 PM on this wonderful, relatively windless Sunday.

Even at the exposed summit, winds were very calm this day for a Presidential. Views weren't too bad, and Mt. Washington looked amazing, but visibility in the distance wasn't the best because of haze. Also, bugs galore at the summit despite the rest of the hike being almost bug-free. After spending about 20 minutes on the summit, I began the descent.

The descent to The Cornice was as slow the ascent since I couldn't go fast on the rocky terrain and had to use my hands every so often. The area between The Cornice and the ever-looming Class 3 pitch was a bit of a breather. For the Class 3 section, I ended up bushwacking my way down towards the edge of the rock, and it actually proved easier. The final difficult pitch just above treeline was quite a bit easier on the descent than I had anticipated, and I had soon dropped back below treeline. It was smooth sailing from here, and I had arrived back at the trailhead by 5:30 PM, concluding my first hike of the summer.