Snow at last, snow at last, thank God Almighty it's snow at last! Ok, I admit it, I get excited by seeing the first snow of the year and by the thought that my favorite hiking season is right around the corner! It may not have been three feet deep but it was enough snow to make it beautiful and enough ice to add a challenge to the hike.

          This was a slightly unusual hike for us because we were bringing a couple of friends that have very little hiking experience. The thing is that they really want to get into hiking and had been given a suggestion about where to go....Huntington Ravine! All of you more experienced hikers out there know what a great suggestion that was for a late October hike by two new hikers! So my challenge was to come up with something that would hopefully excite and challenge them, but that wouldn't overwhelm them.

          After much debate I decided to go with an old favorite, Mount Jackson. There's a few things I look for when planning a hike with people of unknown ability. First I like to go somewhere that I know well so I can better estimate how we're doing. Jackson certainly fits the bill there. I've certainly done it more than any other Presidential, countless times, all four seasons and in many different ways. I also like a hike that has some things to see even if you don't end up making the summit and this hike has that. The view from Elephant Head can be seen in only 3 tenths of a mile. The view from "The Bugle" can be seen in less than three quarters of a mile and there are a couple of interesting cascades that can be seen in a mile or a mile and a half.

          We, got an early start but were less than thrilled when we reached the trail head and it looked pretty cloudy over head. But, we were all game and started up the trail quickly reaching "The Bugle", a cliff with a nice view down into the notch. Welllll, forgive me, but the view is less nice than it once was due to the mess the AMC is generating with their new "Deluxe Hotel"! Sorry for the rant, but I just don't see how an environmentally active organization can justify building that building in such a great location and thanks to the wonder of the internet I can express it! While we were on the cliff and I was "expressing" myself I was afraid I had convinced Mike to jump!

          Ok, I got a grip and we continued up the trail. The sky was getting pretty dark but no rain was falling. In less than a mile we reached Flume Cascade Brook and Rena took at look at the cascades. We then got under way again and came to three quick crossings of the brook. At this point the brook is quite small but the area is so lush and green that it's still quite beautiful.

          Once we climbed above 3300 feet we the trail was dusted with the first snow that I had seen this year. I got a great shot of Mike and Rena climbing up the snowy trail and we continued on up toward the top. By around 3600 feet the snow was becoming a bit more than a dusting and I got the years first shot of Louise hiking through snowy trees.

          A short while later as we were nearing treeline we were discovered by a couple of Gray Jays and of course I had to get a quick shot of them eating out of Mike's hand. From here the trail got pretty interesting with a mixture of verglas, snow, mud, you name it, it was to be had! But, we managed to scramble out way to the to the top.

          The plan was to find a spot for lunch but as you can kind of see in this shot of Louise it was quite windy and the temp was around 36 degrees. The summit was in and out of the clouds, so we hung around long enough for me to get at least one shot of the cloud covered Presidentials and then we headed down. In stead of heading down the way we came up I headed us over toward Mizpah Hut simply to see if anyone was sharp enough to catch the fact that I was getting them lost! Well, we had only gone a couple hundred yards when Mike caught me! Orrrr, let me try this one....the last scramble to the top was so icy that I felt it safer to descend another way?? Oh, all right!! What can I say? Even someone that has hiked the Whites for 40 years and has done this peak countless times can still make a mistake!! I'm sure I would have caught it soon but it was still a good pre-winter reminder for me to pay attention when leaving summit areas!! If that was too honest for ya just let me know and I'll go back to playing professional mountaineer!! :-)