Today we are off to Mt Webster and Mt Jackson via the Webster Loop Trail and Mt Jackson Trail. Accompanying me is my son Nick and my brother-in-law Rob Lambert. This is actually my second hiking trip and first excursion up a 4000 footer.

We started on up and not far along saw signs for Elephant Head, which is a rocky out cropping that from the road looks like an Elephant’s head and trunk. We didn’t go out on the forehead but marched on. We came to another sign that said Bugle Point so we thought we would check it out. This outlook offered a great view back to our parking area but not much of the valley.

We marched on and reached the junction to Mt Jackson and we went right toward Mt Webster. I had read that this might make for a better loop since the elevation gain up Webster would be easier than going the direct route up Jackson. The trail up to Webster had a couple stream crossings which in high water would likely be a challenge or even impossible. Overall the trail was steadily steep requiring you to pace yourself a bit.
On our day though were fine at the water crossings and we made the summit of Mt Webster in great time. All morning the wind had blown and the clouds hung low. We kept hoping things would clear for us as forecasted so we would have some views.
We reached the summit of Webster and the sky started to brighten and the clouds were breaking. The winds were gusting and quite strong. Where we were we had some protection but the wind pushed steadily. It was neat to be able to look down on Mt Willard which I hiked with Shane a couple weeks ago, it looked so low. The perspective of Mt Willey and valley was neat.

We hung out and took some photos and got off the summit to have some lunch. After lunch we hiked over to the summit of Mt Jackson. The hike from Mt Webster to Jackson doesn’t have much elevation change and travels through what is called an Alpine Bog. The vegetationwas interesting and we made great time up to Jackson. When coming up the summit of Jackson we felt some pretty strong winds. At the time we were on the sheltered side. Once we stepped onto the unprotected summit it was amazing to feel the full force of the wind. I haven’t felt that strong and consistent a blow in my life. My guess is the winds were sustaining 70mph or so. You could lean right into the wind and not fall forward. I set my camera down and it would just blow away.

As we left the summit the path coming off it was crazy steep. At first i though i was walking off a ledge but then i saw a person come up, then another so i knew it was ok. Initially though i was real concerned. We hiked on down the Jackson trail which was much steeper than the Webster loop. At the bottom we hung out a moment and headed for home…

A great day for hiking and a wonderful trip.. Links to the rest of my Photos