Mt Jefferson Loop

With an inclination to get out of the Boston area and to go climb on some rocks is what led me up Mt Jefferson yesterday. Woke up at 6am and decided I wanted to get out, so I hit the road by 630, and 180 miles later, I was at the trailhead in Jefferson Notch.
The above shot is about a mile or so up the trail when you finally pass treeline. The parking area is the highest for a trailhead in NH, so it doesn't take very long.
This part of the hike was going up the Caps Ridge Trail, and it like a hiking highway- I'd hate to see it on a weekend day....

Even on this very used trail, there are some sections that require a little more than your average hiker may be expecting. Some easy scrambling over large boulders- I ran into a man who was pushing his 80's it looked like when I was about .4 miles to the top.

These are the castles that the hike refers to, going up the caps ridge trail. I thought that perhaps these were just caps, and the other ridge had the castles, but i haven't gotten a second opinion on that one yet. Since it was pretty busy on the way up, I didn't hang around and look at these as much as I would've liked to.

The above shot is a man working his way up the rock face. I was glad to be wearing my sneakers that have rock climbing soles on them, i find they grip more reliably on rocks then vibram soles do, which are on most hiking boots. I pretty much walked right up this face in the above shot.

This tower and building in the distance is the summit of Mt Washington.

Around this part of the hike my camera decided it was too tired to go on, which was a shame, because my descent on the Castle Trail was much more enjoyable than my ascent was. I scarcely saw any hikers, and the trail was much more challenging in some areas. I had a couple camera worthy moments when I sat ontop of one of the castles, but they'll be there next time i hike it.