Little & Big Blue Jobs - 10/15/16
Needed a shorter hike yesterday to fit into time constraints, as well as for the little legs, so after going through a few options we settled on a return to Blue Job. Hadn't been in a few years. This time all three of my girls, as well as my wife, brother in law, his girlfriend and their two dogs, would be joining. Arrived to find the trailhead parking lot overflowing. Not really surprising, but kind of surprising since lets be honest, IT'S BLUE JOB!! Not like it's a spectacularly scenic hike or anything. But for 1.5 miles and 400 feet of elevation gain total for both summits it's at least a far reaching view with a real mountain feel.
View of Blue Job up Berry's River on the way there
Berry's River looking good
Overflowing parking lot

We started up the orange blazed trail towards Little Blue Job, an easy walk on a wide well maintained trail. Even my 3 year old had no problems with this one, she actually led most of the way, and we hit the short ledgey stretch below the summit which took us up to the open top of this 1250 foot high former blueberry farm. Scrubby trees are filling it in but there are still plenty of far reaching views to be had, form the ocean to the Belknaps and even the Whites and Mt. Washington to the north. We took an extended break there surrounded by rolling, foliage covered hills backed by distant mountains. As I said before it is not spectacular but for the effort you'd be hard pressed to find a better view spot than this one for only 250 feet of climbing. If you do it's probably from a tower of some sort. This one is au naturel and even has a mountainous feel to it with all the ledge and rock around. Definitely the highlight of this hike.
Mt 3 year old leading the way
LJ joining us for his first hike
Plenty of color in the woods on this one
Into the pines
Summit scrub
Summit ledges
And were there
Nice color in the area right now
Far reaching views to the west, north and east
Views of what you may ask?? Just use the QR scanner to find out
This what what I got. All mountains should have these
Agamenticus to the east
Blue Job south of us
Belknap Range to the west
Whites to the north
Washington & Chocorua
Christmas tree farm??
After that we dipped down to the pond, but it took us a couple tries to find the correct route, as the paths are well worn but unmarked on LBJ. And from there it was a couple hundred feet of climbing, back onto the State Forest property proper and up to the fire tower through some nice pine woods. The fire tower stands on the summit, along with a radio antenna. The stair treads are new, but the frame is old and the chicken wire that is supposed to enclose it is rusted and missing big parts of it and could use some repair. Views from the tower are restricted by treetops, pretty much to neighboring Parker and Pawtuckaway, along with the flatlands of SE NH. From the ground views are non-existent, so we had our customary summit snack and moved on, making the uneventful trip down quickly and calling it a day.
Headed for the tower
BJ Pond
A little bit of ledgy goodness along the way
All of a sudden there are the towers
Safety first!!
VFTTower
Parker
Pawtuckaway Mountains
Tree tunnel
Blue skies showing up as we finished, naturally.
This was a good little hike for the effort and for only being 45 minutes from home. A great way to get the family out to see the foliage on a hike when time is limited if it's in your area. In a real time pinch or with really small kids Little Blue Job would make a great trip all by itself of only about 250 feet of climbing and maybe a mile round trip. We chose to add on the main summit, but having been there a few times now I can tell you that you aren't missing much if you skip it. But it's an enjoyable hike, and one you could easily combine with a bunch of other area hikes to make a day of it if you so choose. Or just do it s a dessert hike on the ride home from the Whites sometime. It's about 15 minutes from exit 13 off route 16 if you ever want to hit it up for whatever reason.