Tuco
New member
Started up the Old Bridle Path around 7:15- was cool and crisp with very little breeze. Trail was in great condition, very dry so no problem going up. Really no difficult spots on the trail, and before long I was getting some early looks into the Franconia Ridge and what I had to look forward to late in the day. I passed a group of scouts that were going up to Lafayette to assist in raising the flag for 9/11 memorial.
Got to Greenleaf hut in less than 2 hours and stopped for a bite and to take some pictures- the valley to the north had very low fog cover that looked cool. At this point the hut area became crowded with hikers, including several VFTT’ers involved with the Flag raising on Lafayette. Specifically, Jaytrek, and Pepsi- Postr Boy and others showed up a bit after.
I headed up to Lafayette alone, and started to get some outstanding views up the Greenleaf trail. A bit of hard work later, and it was #13 for me. Hung out for a while while the flag crew showed up, and Postr Boy and Chickadee talked to me and Swamp a bit of their AT experience. The flag went up on Lafayette between 1030 and 1100, with a reporter snapping pictures.
I headed over to Lincoln, and ran into Adamiata on the way. The flag crew on Lincoln was challenging the start time of noon
, so I waited for the flag to go up and headed out. A big group of VFTT’ers there, including some of the group that was on Lafayette and the flag crew. Didn’t really have time to meet them, perhaps another time.
Shortly after dropping off Lincoln is when the A10 went flying by. I was with a group of people at the time, and to a person it was one of the most exciting things we had seen on a hike. He was so close to the ridge when he went past, I was sorry to have had no warning he was coming for photo reasons.
Got over to Little Haystack and then continued on towards Liberty. Here I made my usual stupid mistake of not trusting my maps- I was convinced I was heading the wrong way and went back to LH to ensure I was, wasting about 25 minutes. I rushed over to Liberty to catch the group before the flag came down, ran into Sapblatt and ROLs on the way down. Got to summit just before 2:00, said hello to Double Bow and met a new group of VFTT’ers.
Needed to get home, so I followed the Liberty flag team down the Liberty Springs trail to keep my pace moving and we ran back into sapblatt and Rols. Sapblatt kindly offered to drive me back to my car- thanks Mike- and I avoided a near 2 mile walk back. Got back to the cars around 4:30.
Unbelievable day to be in the mountains- up to 15 4k’s, an A10 flyby, and a big thanks to all of the FOT48 teams. Having worked in NYC at the time it happened, and losing nearly 300 friends and colleagues, and personally assisting through this day affected families makes this day an emotional one for me always. Nice to see so far away from where it happened people still remember the way people’s live’s changed on that day.
Will try and get the old fashioned camera pix online later this week.
Got to Greenleaf hut in less than 2 hours and stopped for a bite and to take some pictures- the valley to the north had very low fog cover that looked cool. At this point the hut area became crowded with hikers, including several VFTT’ers involved with the Flag raising on Lafayette. Specifically, Jaytrek, and Pepsi- Postr Boy and others showed up a bit after.
I headed up to Lafayette alone, and started to get some outstanding views up the Greenleaf trail. A bit of hard work later, and it was #13 for me. Hung out for a while while the flag crew showed up, and Postr Boy and Chickadee talked to me and Swamp a bit of their AT experience. The flag went up on Lafayette between 1030 and 1100, with a reporter snapping pictures.
I headed over to Lincoln, and ran into Adamiata on the way. The flag crew on Lincoln was challenging the start time of noon
, so I waited for the flag to go up and headed out. A big group of VFTT’ers there, including some of the group that was on Lafayette and the flag crew. Didn’t really have time to meet them, perhaps another time.Shortly after dropping off Lincoln is when the A10 went flying by. I was with a group of people at the time, and to a person it was one of the most exciting things we had seen on a hike. He was so close to the ridge when he went past, I was sorry to have had no warning he was coming for photo reasons.
Got over to Little Haystack and then continued on towards Liberty. Here I made my usual stupid mistake of not trusting my maps- I was convinced I was heading the wrong way and went back to LH to ensure I was, wasting about 25 minutes. I rushed over to Liberty to catch the group before the flag came down, ran into Sapblatt and ROLs on the way down. Got to summit just before 2:00, said hello to Double Bow and met a new group of VFTT’ers.
Needed to get home, so I followed the Liberty flag team down the Liberty Springs trail to keep my pace moving and we ran back into sapblatt and Rols. Sapblatt kindly offered to drive me back to my car- thanks Mike- and I avoided a near 2 mile walk back. Got back to the cars around 4:30.
Unbelievable day to be in the mountains- up to 15 4k’s, an A10 flyby, and a big thanks to all of the FOT48 teams. Having worked in NYC at the time it happened, and losing nearly 300 friends and colleagues, and personally assisting through this day affected families makes this day an emotional one for me always. Nice to see so far away from where it happened people still remember the way people’s live’s changed on that day.
Will try and get the old fashioned camera pix online later this week.
