February 24, 2008
I hadn't planned to hike today, but after yesterday's hike I changed my mind. I had a bad experience yesterday (see yesterday's entry for details). I figured the best way to put a bad hike behind me was to go on another hike as soon as possible. Our group of ten met at the trail head at 8:30. Ed Hawkins was heading up the group. There was also Peirce and Bruce who I've hiked with before. I met lots of new people today. I'm not sure I got everyone's name right, but here goes. We also had Jeff, Michelle, Dave, Noel, Bob, and Drew. Drew goes by the trailname "Mountain Drew", a play on the name of the popular softdrink "Mountain Dew". Clever. I haven't hiked with Jeff before, but I've had the pleasure of hiking with his sister Darcy. Our group played leapfrog with her group up the Kinsmans last week.
I didn't take my GPS today, but we took the exact same track as when I did this hike two months ago.
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We headed up the Old Bridle Path.
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Two months ago, much of this hike was spent in the clouds and I missed this view.
Here's the view looking up to Franconia Ridge.
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But we have to work our way up this ridge first.
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Looking over to Cannon Mountain which I climbed last week.
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Greenleaf Hut
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A very frozen Eagle Lake
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After a break at the hut, we continued on. I forgot to take a picture of this sign, but Peirce got it. Thanks.
Peirce took some great pictures today, so I 'borrowed' a few. They are labeled 'Courtesy of Peirce'.
To see more of the pictures that Peirce took click here.
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Here's a look back at the hut.
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Peirce by a Cairn. I'm not sure who that is to the right of the cairn.
It's always great to hike with Peirce. He really helped me out last fall when we hiked a bunch of Maine bushwhacks that are on the 100 highest list. He said that once on a hike a woman was looking at his crampons which can become dull over time.
"Do you file those?" she asked.
"Yes, under 'C' for crampons," he replied.
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Peirce took a picture of me by the same cairn but different angle.
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Cairn covered with rime ice.
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As we neared the summit we got a great view of Mount Washington.
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Signs covered with rime ice. Good thing we know the way.
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Jeff and me just a few feet from the summit.
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Jeff on the 5260' summit of Mount Lafayette.
Special congratulations to Jeff. This was his first winter 4000 footer!!! He didn't pick an easy mountain to start with either. Technically, he not only climbed a 4000 footer, but a 5000 footer.
"I'm not the highest in my family today," said Jeff.
"What?" I asked.
"My sister Darcy is hiking Mounts Adams and Madison today."
A later learned from Darcy that she ended up climbing Chocorua that day, so I guess Jeff was the highest in his family that day after all.
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Here's our group on the summit where I shared my 'group gear', Little Debbie's Oatmeal Pies.
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We were now on the Appalachian Trail. I could never pick just one favorite spot on the AT, but Franconia Ridge is definitely a favorite.
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Our group descending Mount Lafayette.
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Here's an Appalachian Trail blaze poking it's way through the snow. Thousands of hikers will be starting their journey in Georgia over the next few weeks. The AT is such a huge undertaking, only about 20% of the northbound hikers will stay on the trail long enough to hike past this blaze.
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Part of our group descending a tricky spot.
That's Ed in the front, and another AT blaze on the rock in front of him.
I don't have a picture of Dave from today, but he was a 2005 AT thru hiker. I asked him if he knew my friend 'Runtrails', also from the AT class of 2005, but he had started the trail about 5-6 weeks ahead of her. I've met several people over the last few years who have thru hiked the AT. They all did it in '05. I guess that was a popular year. It's also the year I began section hiking it. I've currently completed 78% of it, and I'm quite eager for spring.
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Part way across the ridge I took a 360° video clip. I spun in a circle as I took it. I thought I went slow enough, but after looking at the clip, I should have gone a little slower. Click here if you want to get dizzy.
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We made our way up and over the 5089' summit of Mount Lincoln. Just like that, Jeff has his 2nd winter 4000 footer. Here's a look back at Lincoln.
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Next we reached the 4780' summit of Little Haystack which is not an official 4000 footer.
I always thought it was odd that there was a Little Haystack but no Big Haystack.
"Lincoln used to be named Big Haystack," someone said.
"There were a lot more farmers in those days," someone joked.
"And a lot less presidents," I added.
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It was time for our awesome time above treeline to end. We headed down the Falling Waters Trail.
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This only makes my 2nd time on the Falling Waters Trail. Both times were this winter. I'm looking forward to doing it in the summer sometime. I bet it has some nice waterfalls. I spent most of the descent with Peirce where I learned that congratulations are in order. He and his wife Jill are adopting a young girl from India. Congratulations!!
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Once at the bottom we got in our vehicles and headed our separate ways. Ed estimates in another 3 weeks it will be warm enough to start having tailgate parties at the end of our hikes.
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