There are several little bumps, ups, downs, and sub-summits along the ridgeline before one gets to the "true" summit of Jay, a little under 6.5 km (4 miles) from the trailhead. Having done it before myself and simply wanting to create the best possible intro experience, I figured it'd be more pleasant if we stopped and turned around at one of the nicer of the sub-summits, of which there is one at just over the 5.5km mark. The little point has a fun scramble approach available to it, enhancing the sense of "destination". We arrived at the top of this point shortly after noon - perfect timing for lunch.
courtesy JInnes
Despite it being a relatively warm and sunny day, there was a fairly stiff west wind blowing across the open prominences today. We retreated into any little eastern-facing hollow we could find to get a more calm lunch-eating experience.
Before 1pm rolled around we had started our journey back west along the ridge, headed back to the trailhead. Apart from having to avoid the unusual mud patches, our hike back down was pleasant and unhurried (if there were mud patches on the Jay Mountain trail, I can only shudder at how muddy the trail conditions must be on some of the more notorious trails of the high peaks). We were back at the trailhead shortly before 3:30pm. Plenty of time to get back to Ottawa at a good hour.
courtesy JInnes
One of many colorful fungi
I sincerely hope all of the new-to-the-ADK-folks enjoyed themselves, and up for another outing soon. Maybe we'll pick something a notch up on the challenge scale?
Interactive trackmap with photo points - Jay Mountain Ridgeline - click map to view
Jay Mountain (to a subsummit) - Hike Data
Start Time:
8:56a.m.
End Time:
3:26p.m.
Duration:
6h29m
Distance:
11.12 km
(6.91 mi)
Average Speed:
1.7 km/hr
(1.1 mph)
Start Elevation:
1471ft
(448m)
*
Max Elevation:
3555ft
(1083m)
*
Min Elevation:
1465ft
(447m)
*
End Elevation:
1466ft
(447m)
*
* : +/- 75 feet
Total Elevation Gain:
2215ft
(675m)
*
Total Elevation Loss:
2248ft
(685m)
*
* : +/- 75 feet
Elevation Graph
