A Presidential Stroll on the Franconia Ridge (NH), 01/31/09

[rocket21]

A Presidential Stroll on the Franconia Ridge (NH), 01/31/09

While most New England hikers associate Presidents with the Presidential Range, the Franconia Ridge has its fair share of executives as well. As such, a trio of history buffs set out to hike four of the Franconia Presidentials on the last day of January.

All photos featuring rocket21 are courtesy hikingmaineac. Any rebroadcast, reproduction, or other use of the pictures and accounts of this hike without the express written consent of the history buff trio is prohibited.


Not quite the same angle and zoom, but nonetheless, winter and spring at the trailhead:

hikingmaineac, Mrs. hikingmaineac, and rocket21 set out on their quest for Presidential research.


hikingmaineac asked us to pose for a photo, for which I decided to do a 70s-era Presidential pose (and no, I am not a crook!):

Upon realizing what I was doing, the reaction from the rest of the trio wasn't positive:

The Falling Waters Trail is quite scenic:

Heck, it's *really* scenic!

Soon, we were clearing the treeline. At this point, we had some visibility.

The first of the Franconia Ridge Presidentials, Little Haystack (4,780') is named after the 15th President, Millard Fillmore. Nicknamed "Little Haystack" by his farmer father, Fillmore is perhaps best known for repealing the Irrigation Control Act of 1855, as well as installing the first ever White House bidet.

The view from near the summit of Little Haystack


Continued...

 

[rocket21]

Our next stop was Mt. Lincoln. The ridge was rather windy, however a decent portion of this particular stretch fortunately was on the east side of the height of land.

When asked to do the Cosby Dance, I rarely decline.


Eventually we arrived at Mt. Lincoln (5,089'). The 18th President, Lincoln was perhaps best known for having Hannibal as his first Vice President. Lincoln might still be alive today had he waited for Our American Cousin to come out on DVD.

Stellar views from Mt. Lincoln


Dropping off Mt. Lincoln, we were getting battered by increasingly bitter wind gusts. Nonetheless, we made it Mt. Truman (5,000'). The 33rd President, Truman is perhaps best known as the only executive to have a one-letter middle name, as well as being the only person to ever lose an election to a guy named Dewey.

Visibility started to drop dramatically between Mt. Truman and Mt. Lafayette


The walk from Mt. Truman to Mt. Lafayette was particularly challenging - bitter, snow-throwing winds, ever-decreasing visibility, windblown-snow-covered trail...it wasn't exactly a blast! Nonetheless, we soon arrived at our final Presidential peak of the day.

Mt. Lafayette (5,260') is named after the 11th President, Joseph Lafayette. Best known for trying to purchase Cuba from Spain, Lafayette was the first ever President to earn an honorary AMC NH 4,000 Footer patch. It is not known if he ever hiked to the true summit of Owl's Head.

Mr. & Mrs. hikingmaineac reach Mt. Lafayette


The winds were very rough descending from Mt. Lafayette on the Greenleaf Trail, as snow was getting hurled directly at us at a fast clip. A few hundred vertical feet down, however, things cleared up nicely for a few minutes:

After lunch on the deck of the Greenleaf Hut, we made our way down the Old Bridle Path. Finally reaching the original 'Bridge to Nowhere,' we felt compelled wrap up our quest for Franconia Presidential history by posing for a celebratory photo:

 

[TrishandAlex]

Marvelous. Fantastic in every way. Great narrative, great photos, great sense of humor. A hundred greenies to you.

 

[rocket21]

Marvelous. Fantastic in every way. Great narrative, great photos, great sense of humor. A hundred greenies to you.

Thank you Are greenies redeemable for baked goods?

PS - Make sure Alex doesn't use this trip report as a source for any history papers she may write in her academic future

 

[Silverfox]

Terrific report and some great photos

well except for the Cosby dance thing....

better than the half time show

 

[wardsgirl]

Thanks for including "Truman" in your presidential reminiscing!

 

[Amicus]

. . . the 15th President, Millard Fillmore
is perhaps best known for . . . installing the first ever White House bidet.

Google does not confirm this. Frankly, I'm skeptical. Fillmore was the only President to belong to the Know-Nothing Party (after his Presidency), officially anyway.

 

[rocket21]

Google does not confirm this. Frankly, I'm skeptical.

Are you questioning the knowledge of not one, but THREE Presidential scholars?!?

 

[hikingmaineac]

When asked to do the Cosby Dance, I rarely decline.

Funny... I don't recall asking...

 

[pks4000]

HikingMainiacs and Roger21K's

Its a testesmoney to the failyure of the educashunal sistum that I could have grone up in Franconya looked up toward the Franconya Range and never wonse knew what I was lookin at. Thank ewe (Love them ewes!)

I due no that Mt Adams was named for Presidant Sherman Adams who ran the US wyil they were desiding if they shud call Mt Eyesenhower, Mt Eyesenhower or name it after our other president Mr. Pleasant.

Thank you for teeching me new stuff.

cool: You guys rok!)

 

[1HappyHiker]

Congrats to the entire crew of historians! And thank you Jeremy for another very witty & entertaining TR. If your career as a historian doesn’t pan out, perhaps you could consider a career as a sitcom writer!

Anyway, just a few comments as follows:

hikingmaineac asked us to pose for a photo, for which I decided to do a 70s-era Presidential pose (and no, I am not a crook!)

Hmmmm! Seems like a political quote from former NYC Mayor David Dinkins might be appropriate here:
"I have not committed a crime. What I did was fail to comply with the law."

Eventually we arrived at Mt. Lincoln (5,089'). The 18th President, Lincoln was perhaps best known for having Hannibal as his first Vice President. Lincoln might still be alive today had he waited for Our American Cousin to come out on DVD.

And one final hmmmm! "If Lincoln were alive today, he'd roll over in his grave." . . . statement attributed to former President Gerald Ford (Abe had no comment!)

 

[rocket21]

If your career as a historian doesn’t pan out, perhaps you could consider a career as a sitcom writer!

If neither of those pan out, I think perhaps another venture I may consider will be to create an audio laugh track that can be attached to VFTT trip reports

 

[1HappyHiker]

If neither of those pan out, I think perhaps another venture I may consider will be to create an audio laugh track that can be attached to VFTT trip reports

Sorry . . . that’s already been done . . . you just can no longer hear it since the laughter was deafening!

 

[rocket21]

you just can no longer hear it since the laughter was deafening!

I just figured that my jokes were SO good that everyone was sore for all of the laughing!

 

[rocket21]

Well, Truman left office with an approval rating in the 20s. In this poll, he's at 6%! It appears that more people like cake than any of the Presidents in the Franconias! Considering we have Presidents who helped us win the Civil War and World War II there, it must be some really good cake!