David Metsky
Well-known member
Mats started organizing a full Franconia Traverse starting at Lincoln Woods and ending at Skookumchuck. Us mere mortals decided on just hitting the high points of the trip by doing the standard loop up Falling Waters and down OBP.
All that I knew was the MichaelJ, mntpa, and Ski_mom were going to be there at 8:00 but soon after I met Michael there Donna, Bob, Chomp and his cousin Jake all arrived. Michael put on his Micro-Spikes at the trailhead since they're hard to put on once your feet are in your boots, the rest of us bare booted but we were all carrying crampons and/or Stabilicers. The first part of the hike was quickly attacked, the stream crossing low on Falling Waters was a bit tricky. The Falls were gorgeous and the ice was fairly soft, allowing us to stay with bare boots.
I was suffering the after effects of my cold, and spent most of the day in the back of the pack, coughing loudly. Bob was a bit under the weather and he and Donna decided to go their own pace; with the possibility of turning around at the ridge. We made it to Little Haystack around 11:40 and there were those in the group who thought that Mats and his super hiker had already passed through. We grabbed some food in the bright sun and bitter cold, but the winds were very low and the views were to die for.
Along the ridge we just walked and talked and looked. It was fairly cold so we only stopped occasionally, on the summits of Lincoln and Truman (North Lincoln). There wasn't much snow but the icy sections called for a bit of care. We ran into Jason Patrick who was looking for Mats but we weren't sure if they were ahead or behind. Not too many people were up there on such a glorious day but a few groups were doing to the loop. We reached the top of Lafayette around 2:30 and Chomp, Jake, and Dani decided to try to catch up to a group they could see ahead and thought were Mats and Company. If not, they'd hitch back from Skookumchuck to pick up cars.
Mtnpa, MichaelJ and I headed down OBP. There is one section about 10 minutes down from the summit which always wigs me out a bit in winter. It's a left turn on a patch of snow and ice that doesn't have a very forgiving outrun. There were butt slide tracks leading down to a rocky ending; hopefully no one was seriously hurt. We negotiated it without trouble. At the hut we ate more food, drank our soup and tea, and changed some clothing for the final leg. Who should appear there but Donna and Bob! Once they reached the ridge they felt good enough to continue and had a fine time as well.
At the Red Rocks section mntpa and I put on crampons and Stabilicers respectively for the trickier sections. Why we didn't do this earlier I don't know; it made for a much faster journey. We came out to the cars around 4:15 - no need for headlamps today. Amazingly, the Skookumchuck group had already gotten out and been driven to Lafayette Place. I guess I was slowing them down.
They had arrived just as Annalisa had been dropped off to pick up her car. She, NH_Mnt_Hiker and Janine had dropped down Falling Waters from the other group, the rest were still coming down Skookumchuck.Off to the Mountain House for a post-Thanksgiving Dinner that couldn't be beat, several hours of the Discovery Channel, and lots of body parts being rubbed.
Photos are HERE
Thanks Mats for making this hike necessary.
