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.

Guess I shouldn't have done this one in stick season.

I would have to say yes foliage season beats stick season on this one. Not that you missed much. You still got what views there are, even if this one never made it past the nominating committee for the Hike-NH list.

I was alone on Saturday and needing some time in the woods. First up was to be Stonehouse Pond in Barrington. When I arrived, there wasn't a sole or car in sight, so being spooked from the suicide there this summer, I didn't dare go it alone. Strike One.

Next up LBJ, I'd been to Blue Job, but never realized there was such a thing as LBJ. Plenty of cars in the lot, dogs, and families abound, so I wasn't afraid here. I headed opposite everyone else to get my peace, and went left following the orange blazes. Well, it only took 10 minutes for me to lose the blazes. Am I that bad. I know I have trouble sometimes, but come on. So I followed a well worn path thinking, maybe, but I ended up here. I knew this wasn't right.



So I continued up because I was starting to get some views, and when I reached the top I spotted an orange blaze. Maybe I was going the right way....



So Now I started heading down following the orange, but ended up back at my car...ugghhh. I saw alot of these signs, but they said nothing.



I continued going around in circles up and down, for over an hour and never got away from Blue Job!
I finally conceded defeat and hit up the fire tower.





I saw this cairn on my way down. What the heck. It was no help.




Nothing I saw looked like anything in your trip report GG. I'd like to try again, but
I'll need more directions........

That's kind of a bummer Terry. The tower is nice but I do like the LBJ ledges better. Maybe this will help. All you have to do is go straight where the Orange blazed trail makes a sharp right and you can see a little road looking thing on the Scrutton property. That road/path will bring you right up to the wide open ledges. There is no blazing once you split off the orange path, but it's actually really easy to follow and just go up until you hit the ledges. Then getting to the tower is just heading in that direction on one of a couple herd paths. It's really obvious once you're at the little pond and goes along the left side of the water before climbing on a clear path back to the orange trail and the tower. Hope this helps!

Thanks, that's exactly what I did. I took the right, instead of going straight ahead. I didn't
know there weren't any blazes out to LBJ. I thought orange went to LBJ. I used runkeeper and I checked my track, and your map and realize now the trail went straight, and I see the pond. I should of
done more research, but I just assumed from your report and followed the orange. I'm still
learning. I did have a good time, just was a little frustrated.
Thanks for the info.

Terry

I guess I should have written a better report!

Hey!!!! Terry posted some great pictures! Now that leaves only you-know-who to get on the stick!

Nice pictures, Terry. Looking forward to seeing more of your trips.

Sounds like a good New Year's resolution for you Beckie. Figure it out and post some reports to pump some life into this site.