grouseking
Well-known member
Whenever I hike with my father, I am about 95 percent blessed with the best weather. Yesterday was no exception as we hiked up to Little Haystack, Lincoln and Lafayette. It was my first time on the loop, and Dad's fourth. I guess he likes it.
We started out at about 8:20am under beautiful skies and pleasantly cool temperatures, but you could tell it was going to be hot since it was warming up fast. We opted to go up Falling Waters, because my Dad said it was easier ascending up that one rather than Old Bridal Path. We'll get into that debate later. I must say though, Falling Waters was not nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be. In fact, I think Liberty Spring trail was steeper than this one. I was unaware of the number of switchbacks headin up this which really helped out on the legs. The steepest parts for me were near the waterfalls (which were quite full and roaring), and once again near the summit. All in all I made fairly good time considering I'm always slow goin up and we arrived on the summit at 11:30am...after many stops, pics and breathers.
The views were magnificient. That's all I can say. The pics show it, but also don't do it justice. There might have been a little haze, but who cares. It was sunny, I was above treeline, and I didn't have to wrap up in winter gear. Actually it wasn't windy enough in some areas. Exposed parts of the ridge winds probably were in the 10-15 mph range and then dead calm in others, making for a very hot and occasionally buggy walk. We made it over to Lincoln by about 12:15pm and I took a longer break there to catch my breath. I've put on weight as of late, and boy did I feel it. The legs were fine, but the rest of my body was struggling. Sadly, I was so tired heading over to Lafayette that I don't remember much of that part. I do remember marveling at the Lincoln Slide and wondering how rough the walk down is, and how much you have to bushwhack to get to some very interesting bogs near the bottom. Also there was a hang glider doin his thing just above our heads, which was neat. Then we finally summited Lafayette (can't remember time) and I took a nice break there as well. There was a patch of snow at the top and I showered myself with it which gave me some new life. I powered the last half of my gatorade in about 5 seconds and downed the rest of my water, knowing Greenleaf Hut was only a mile away.
Twenty min later, down the Greenleaf Trail we went towards the hut. Parts were steep, others not bad, and as we got off the summit cone, things leveled off and it was a nice walk. I must say the whole walk was very scenic, whether above or below treeline. We arrived at the hut about 45 min later where I took a very long break, refilled on water and ate some food, now that I was finally hungry. (I always have a problem with eating) The sandwich proved to be fantastic fuel for the trip down. After many pics we were off down the OBP.
I must say, that trail is quite slippery in sections, even with dry rock. I had to get on my butt and slide down for a bit, which I hate doing, but I would have eaten ground had I not. Headin down the "Agony" ridge, there were fantastic views up along the BIG ridge as well as into Walker Ravine (I think thatgs what its called). I'm glad we went down OBP despite the slippery stuff because I think I would have been teased with the views of Lafayette forever and the borderline treeline for 2 miles would have killed me. On Falling Waters, there were trees till basically the top, and then I was there.
I still think we made fairly good time down considering we had to play leap frog with people the entire way (a little under 2 hours down from the hut) but I was surprised to see that the book time is 6hr25min. We clocked in at 7hr57min. I used to consider book time as a really slow average time but that was lightning fast compared to our time. If book time figures in long breaks, then I have some work to do.
All in all, the day was awesome. I got 2 more 4ks on a perfect late spring day. This brings me up to 18 I believe...30 more to go! I better start to do some without views, or else I'll end up with Waumbek as my 48th. I just want some sort of gratifying view at the top of my 48th. But I have fallen off topic....
I took over 200 pics (yikes), but whats new with me taking lots of pics. I tried to cut them down, but there are still 172 of them....oh well! Here they are Franconia Loop
grouseking
We started out at about 8:20am under beautiful skies and pleasantly cool temperatures, but you could tell it was going to be hot since it was warming up fast. We opted to go up Falling Waters, because my Dad said it was easier ascending up that one rather than Old Bridal Path. We'll get into that debate later. I must say though, Falling Waters was not nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be. In fact, I think Liberty Spring trail was steeper than this one. I was unaware of the number of switchbacks headin up this which really helped out on the legs. The steepest parts for me were near the waterfalls (which were quite full and roaring), and once again near the summit. All in all I made fairly good time considering I'm always slow goin up and we arrived on the summit at 11:30am...after many stops, pics and breathers.
The views were magnificient. That's all I can say. The pics show it, but also don't do it justice. There might have been a little haze, but who cares. It was sunny, I was above treeline, and I didn't have to wrap up in winter gear. Actually it wasn't windy enough in some areas. Exposed parts of the ridge winds probably were in the 10-15 mph range and then dead calm in others, making for a very hot and occasionally buggy walk. We made it over to Lincoln by about 12:15pm and I took a longer break there to catch my breath. I've put on weight as of late, and boy did I feel it. The legs were fine, but the rest of my body was struggling. Sadly, I was so tired heading over to Lafayette that I don't remember much of that part. I do remember marveling at the Lincoln Slide and wondering how rough the walk down is, and how much you have to bushwhack to get to some very interesting bogs near the bottom. Also there was a hang glider doin his thing just above our heads, which was neat. Then we finally summited Lafayette (can't remember time) and I took a nice break there as well. There was a patch of snow at the top and I showered myself with it which gave me some new life. I powered the last half of my gatorade in about 5 seconds and downed the rest of my water, knowing Greenleaf Hut was only a mile away.
Twenty min later, down the Greenleaf Trail we went towards the hut. Parts were steep, others not bad, and as we got off the summit cone, things leveled off and it was a nice walk. I must say the whole walk was very scenic, whether above or below treeline. We arrived at the hut about 45 min later where I took a very long break, refilled on water and ate some food, now that I was finally hungry. (I always have a problem with eating) The sandwich proved to be fantastic fuel for the trip down. After many pics we were off down the OBP.
I must say, that trail is quite slippery in sections, even with dry rock. I had to get on my butt and slide down for a bit, which I hate doing, but I would have eaten ground had I not. Headin down the "Agony" ridge, there were fantastic views up along the BIG ridge as well as into Walker Ravine (I think thatgs what its called). I'm glad we went down OBP despite the slippery stuff because I think I would have been teased with the views of Lafayette forever and the borderline treeline for 2 miles would have killed me. On Falling Waters, there were trees till basically the top, and then I was there.
I still think we made fairly good time down considering we had to play leap frog with people the entire way (a little under 2 hours down from the hut) but I was surprised to see that the book time is 6hr25min. We clocked in at 7hr57min. I used to consider book time as a really slow average time but that was lightning fast compared to our time. If book time figures in long breaks, then I have some work to do.
All in all, the day was awesome. I got 2 more 4ks on a perfect late spring day. This brings me up to 18 I believe...30 more to go! I better start to do some without views, or else I'll end up with Waumbek as my 48th. I just want some sort of gratifying view at the top of my 48th. But I have fallen off topic....
I took over 200 pics (yikes), but whats new with me taking lots of pics. I tried to cut them down, but there are still 172 of them....oh well!
Here they are Franconia Loop grouseking
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