November 12, 2007 Hike #1
Today's plan is to bag 2 more peaks on the New England 100 highest list. Here's today's track.
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Here's the view of Jay Peak as we drove to the trailhead.
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Lynn started today's hike with me. We took the Jay Loop down towards the shelter.
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On the way we stopped to look for a geocache. This is a new hobby that I recently started. Peirce Hunter told me about this as we were bushwhacking some of Maine's peaks two months ago. I have since decided to give it a try. For more on this you can visit www.geocaching.com. It makes hiking a little more fun if you have something to look for. My GPS got us within a few feet. The clue that was given with this geocache was "birch tree". We found a birch tree and looked all around for about 5 minutes. Then I noticed another birch tree about 10 feet away. I noticed the green box hidden in a hollow spot at the base of the trunk.
"There's another birch tree there," I said to Lynn trying to give her a hint.
"Oh yeah," she said as she kept looking.
"Maybe it's over there," I said as she still kept looking.
"Maybe it's over by that tree," I said very loudly.
"Did you already find it?" she said.
This was our 8th find.
We signed the log inside the cache, reviewed the prizes but didn't take any, and returned the cache to its' hiding place. Thanks for the cache.
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Then we checked out Jay Camp.
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We continued the loop for another steep .2 miles until we were back on the Long Trail. Lynn headed back, and I headed up to Jay Peak.
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Crossing a ski trail.
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That must be the summit.
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Nope, that must be the summit.
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This time it was. The 3858' summit of Jay Peak marks my 91st peak on my New England 100 highest list.
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There was a great 360° view from the top.
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Looking over to Big Jay, my next target of the day.
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Ski lodge at the summit
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The Long Trail follows a ski trail for a few minutes,
before ducking between two sections of the fence.
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There is no official trail over to Big Jay, but there is a very well defined herd path. I read on the Internet that a trail was illegally cut over to Big Jay in 1999. About 100 feet after the Long Trail reenters the woods, the herd path bears to the left.
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The snow was deeper here about 6-12 inches. No one had been through since the last snowfall, but the herd path was easy enough to follow.
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Looking back to Jay Peak
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I found the jar at the top of the 3786' summit of Big Jay.
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I opened the jar and signed the log. The last entry was from a week ago. This makes #92 out of 100! I returned over the same route except for bypassing the very top of Jay Peak and going by the loop trail for Jay Camp.
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