• 3.6 miles one way (Rt. 302 to summit via Crawford Path)
• 2380 feet ascent one way
• Link to my hiking route: https://caltopo.com/m/N5KM1SE/E1FH7MQ41V3AK3U0

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The Plan

After the July 4th holiday I headed back to New Hampshire for another week of hiking. My goal for this trip was to hike the southern part of the Presidential Range and also hike one of the single mountains I still needed to complete for the New Hampshire 4000 footers. After the nearly 5 hour drive from my home in Northeastern New York State to the White Mountains, I reached Crawford Notch. The typical parking for the Crawford Path is a lot on Mt. Clinton Rd. (shown in the map below). However, Mt. Clinton Rd. was closed for paving so I parked on the shoulder of Rt. 302 near the Highland Center.

My main destination on this first day was the Mizpah Spring Hut where I had a reservation to spend the night. Mt. Jackson is a 1.6 mile hike south of the hut and I hoped I could do an out and back to hike Mt. Jackson before dinner at the hut. An alternative I considered was to walk a short ways south on Rt. 302 and take the Webster-Jackson Trail to Mt. Jackson, then continue over to the Mizpah Spring Hut on the Webster Cliff Trail. On a previous trip I had hiked most of the way up the Webster-Jackson Trail before turning back before the summit due to bad weather. I knew I would be slow going up that steep, rocky trail with an overnight pack. I chose the safe option to take the Crawford Path and Mizpah Cutoff to the hut since it was already noon, dinner at the hut is at 6:00, and my pace varies depending on my energy level and the terrain.

The Ascent to Hike Mt. Jackson

The Crawford Path was a steady ascent for the 1.5 miles to the Mizpah Cutoff. There were some stairs and areas where the trail was a bit rocky. Overall, it was typical of New Hampshire 4000 footer approach trails.

Once on the Mizpah Cutoff trail the grade was more gradual and the trees changed from the deciduous ones at lower elevation to the evergreen trees that dominate at higher elevations in the northeast. It took me around 2 hours from the start at the road to reach the Webster Cliff trail that runs along the mountain ridge. From this junction, I could turn left and quickly reach the Mizpah Spring Hut. But I decided to turn right and try to do the out and back to hike Mt. Jackson before dinner. I calculated my turn around time, then headed south along this stretch of the Appalachian Trail.

The trail rolls up and down along the ridge. At first, much of the trail is fairly smooth. Then there are some short rock scrambles.

The trail crosses a muddy area in the final col before the ascent to Jackson. In this area I got a peek at the summit over the short trees.

The final ascent to Jackson had multiple longer, steep rock scrambles. There were always find good places to put my feet and hands to help with the climb. I didn’t take pictures of these, but you can see them in my video (link above). 

The Summit

I made it to the summit of Jackson well ahead of my turn around time. My good pace let me have plenty of time to enjoy the 360-degree views on this summit.

I enjoyed looking north across the peaks of the southern Presidential range all the way to Mt. Washington. The Mizpah Spring Hut was a little white dot on the side of Mt. Pierce. I thought about my plans for tomorrow that would hopefully lead me to stand on the summits of Pierce, Eisenhower, and Monroe. Spoiler alert – I did successfully complete that hike!

The Finish

After carefully descending the steep rock slabs on the north side of Jackson, I enjoyed hiking on the rolling trail along the ridge back to Mizpah Spring Hut.

I was back at the hut well before dinner, got cleaned up, and enjoyed a wonderful hot dinner prepared by the hut croo. A couple of Appalachian Trail thru hikers hosted a Q&A session after dinner. I retired to my bunk around 8:30 and got a restful night’s sleep.

Jackson was my 38th mountain of the 48 mountains for the New Hampshire 4000 footer list, and 99th for the Northeast 111 list.