Mount Jefferson

Mount Jefferson is a 5,712-foot mountain in Coös County, New Hampshire. It is the third-highest peak in the state. Named after Thomas Jefferson (the third President of the United States), Mount Jefferson is part of the Presidential Range of the White Mountains. It is situated between Mount Adams to the northeast and Mount Clay to the south, and features steep, rocky slopes and alpine terrain characteristic of the northern Presidentials. Mount Jefferson, the third-highest peak in the state, is named for Thomas Jefferson, the third U.S. President. It received this name during the same 1820 naming event that christened Mount Adams and Mount Monroe. Mount Jefferson is distinguished by three dramatic glacial cirques on its slopes — Jefferson Ravine, Castle Ravine, and the Great Gulf — carved by Ice Age glaciers. Near its rocky summit is an alpine sedge meadow dubbed “Monticello Lawn,” a nod to Jefferson’s Virginia estate. Early hikers in the 19th century were awed by these unique features, and the mountain’s Caps Ridge Trail (whose trailhead is on the highest public road in NH) has been a popular direct route for over a century. Mount Jefferson stands between Mount Adams and Mount Clay, completing the northern trio of major Presidentials.