Hello again, this is Dickens the hiking Welsh terrier coming to you direct from soggy New England. Mind-boggling rains this spring and early July have made viable hiking days more precious than ever before. On July 10, Bruce and I climbed Mt. Crescent NH (3261 feet) which is just north of Mt. Madison (5366') and Mt Adams (5799') and has dramatic views of King Ravine and other features of these majestic peaks. When we arrived at the trailhead parking area at 12:00 noon we were the only ones there, which is good because the parking area only has room for two cars!
     The weathermen predicted mostly sunny, 77 degrees for today but actually it was at least 50% cloudy all day; sometimes up to about 70% cloudy. It seemed about 78 or 79 at the beginning but it cooled off later.
     We started off and saw a red squirrel. We took the Carlton Notch trail which goes past a stream to keep me cool. We then took the Castle View loop, which goes by another stream, and came to a very nice lookout at 12:45 PM where we had lunch.
     There is a great panorama of Mt. Madison on the left, the Valley Way ravine, then Mt Adams with the huge King Ravine. Connecting these two mountains is a very spiny ridge with the peak of John Quincy Adams in it. The map does not do justice to this feature. On the map it looks pretty flat but in real life it looks like you would need a Swiss guide to help you traverse it. On the far left is a ridge which blocks a view of the Howker Ridge and the various Howks. On the far right is a ridge which contains the Castle trail on Mt. Jefferson with a series of bumps called "Castles." You can't see the Caps Ridge trail because this ridge blocks it.
     Continuing on our way, we joined up with the Mt. Crescent trail which has a loop on the top of it. We took the right trail in this loop because it goes by a couple of streams which are a very welcome feature to a hiking dog. We didn't have a Randolph Club trail book or map. The guide book we did have has an inaccurate map which shows a second, smaller, elongated loop on the summit. Actually, there is only one loop.  Our trail goes off to the right and around to the other (north) side of the mountain, then joins the other side of the loop off beyond the summit. We had to then backtrack, go over the summit, and then go back downhill to come to the South lookout. We arrived here at 2:18 PM. Fortunately we figured this out for ourselves or we would not have come to the main lookout on the mountain.
     Instead of a football shape, the trails on the summit actually look more like a parrot beak.
     The view on the summit is similar to the lower lookout, but more comprehensive. Far off in the distance to the southwest, we saw two very pointy peaks and with the zoom lens we photographed them, although we have no idea which mountains they were. The South lookout has rocks to sit on but they are very lumpy and perhaps if they had been ironed they would be more comfortable. I had a nice bowl of water here and we enjoyed the view, leaving at 2:39 PM.
     We went back to the trail junction which has a so-called "North lookout" but it is really more of a west lookout. We could see the rounded, wooded summit of Mt Randolph and a mountain with a slide on it which could be Pliny Mtn. It is pretty mild compared to the dramatic South lookout.
     Continuing on, we went along the Crescent Ridge trail which had many signs of a large moose population. This trail goes through a number of marshy areas on the forested ridge, but it is passable enough. At one point on our trip down we caught a pretty glimpse of Mt Madison and Mt Adams where the clouds that had been throwing them in shadow had cleared somewhat, resulting in a very nice photo which is in our photo section, or will be soon. Along our route we saw two snakes and one toad. We were out at 4:50 PM.

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