Neil
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- Apr 26, 2004
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Some trips are put well together and work out perfectly. This was one such a trip. Other than the actual physical space of a hike I think the headspace is a key element. I wanted a long day with many peaks, new country and no crowds. I also didn’t want to have any feelings of time pressure or have to push the pace. What I was looking for was a long, mellow, drawn out and laid back experience. That is exactly what my host and guide served up.
When I go to the Dacks these days I feel more and more at home. In fact, when you go to the same area 40 or more times in a single year not only do you get to know it in intimate detail, it becomes a part of you. So, when I pulled into the Lincoln Woods parking area at 6:30 am I felt like a guest as I sat there for a few brief moments waiting for my host. A few minutes later Dr. Wu wheeled into the lot and after a quick intro we took off in his car to the Garfield trailhead on highway 3. His plan for my intro to the Whites was a combination of my request and his experience. I had picked up a copy of the guide-book and between the maps in it and some old VFTT TR’s I figured that I wanted to check out the Pemi. Up until a few months ago I didn’t even know what the Pemi was. Oh sure, I’d seen threads that referred to the Pemi and the Pemi Loop but I never read them. I also was keen on Franconia Ridge but not if there was going to be hordes of people on it.
According to Wu there would be no one on Garfield Ridge on a Friday in April. Anyway, the long walk to Garfield was about as pleasant as it gets and we chattered away as we experimented with our MSR’s versus barebooting. The mix of ice and bare trail gave way to deep snow which supported us up in bare boots. Lower down, the “mixed zone” made me resort to the shoes for traction. Garfield, as I’m sure you know is about 3500 feet above the TH. The trail curls its way up the mountain. in such a manner however that you are barely aware of all that elevation gain.
We arrived at the summit mid-morning and it was like someone had suddenly whisked a curtain away from a masterpiece of art. What a view! Out came the cameras and the Doctor named off all the summits, ridges, potential bushwhacks etc. We were in no particular hurry and we hung out there for a long while before turning towards our next objectives, Mt. Lafayette and Franconia Ridge, which stood out against the sky nearly 800 feet above us.
It took a while and a bit of effort to get above tree line on Lafayette but the views back towards Garfield and the cliffs as well as the Twins kept us moving. Suddenly, we broke tree line and removed our snowshoes as we hit mainly rock mixed with some hardened snow. This was the beginning of a couple of miles of the most awesome hiking I’ve ever done. I wouldn’t really call it hiking because as you proceed along this ridge you are not really aware of expending any effort. The scene is so incredible that any physical work or effort goes unnoticed. The fact that we had a warm sunny day was a big help.
We definitely dawdled. Just as we had been doing since Garfield. Whenever it was time to take a picture or just stop to drink in the day or take a bight of a chocolate bar, we paused with almost no regard to the time. The few people we saw all day were on the Ridge and they were almost all French Canadians. I had a bit of fun going first and greeting everyone in French so they would assume that Dr. Wu was a Frenchman and speak to him in French.
As we dilly-dallied our way over to little Haystack snapping tons of pics the sun continued on its relentless way to the west. I looked over at Liberty and Flume. They seemed a long way off and appeared to rise very steeply from their low points. Wu, excellent host that he was, mentioned the possibility of bailing down the Falling Waters trail and hitching a ride to my car. The late afternoon light was fantastic though and it looked like we would be pretty close to the Wilderness Trail before having to break out the headlamps so we whipped down to the low point between Haystack and Liberty. I was wondering about the steep climb to come but before I knew it Wu called out that we were almost at the summit. It was about 5 o’clock now and the light kept improving. We hung out on the summit for a good 15 minutes feeling the accumulated effort and fatigue of our day before dropping down to the Flume-Liberty col. Just for fun we pretty well ran down which brought our energy level up, and made the low point in 15 minutes before our final ascent of the day. More fantastic views were to be had from the top of Flume, in addition to the cool scree and talus slides now we could see the entire Ridge and we had a head-on view of Garfield and its cliffs. By now I could easily recognize Carrigain, the Bonds, Guyot and many other peaks. The Bonds and Guyot really impressed me. The sign at the juction of the Flume Slide trail and the Franconia Ridge trail indicated we had about 5 miles to go. I took a look at my watch and realized the headlamps would be coming out long before we would be. This was perfectly cool of course and was the natural result of enjoying such a relaxing Pemi dawdle. The beautiful late afternoon light on Franconia and Flume is something I know I’ll never forget. We cruised along, bathed in the early evening sunlight as we passed through young balsams mixed in with mature hardwoods. The young balsams had a way of reflecting the light that I could never capture on camera…
After a while the trail became very steep and icy for a 500 vertical foot section. The ladders were covered in ice but some of the steps had an inch of bare wood exposed. I was still in boots while Wu chose to go with the traction the MSR’s offered. It was steep enough to glissade the sections between the ladders but care had to be exercised on the icy steps. Eventually we hit the dreaded mixed zone of glare ice, mud and rock so I put my shoes on too for a final 15 minutes. Darkness gradually enfolded us as we dropped lower and lower following the Whaleback. The headlamps came out and once we hit the Lincoln Woods Trail we cruised until we got to the suspension bridge 13 perfect hours after leaving Wu’s car on Highway 3.
When I go to the Dacks these days I feel more and more at home. In fact, when you go to the same area 40 or more times in a single year not only do you get to know it in intimate detail, it becomes a part of you. So, when I pulled into the Lincoln Woods parking area at 6:30 am I felt like a guest as I sat there for a few brief moments waiting for my host. A few minutes later Dr. Wu wheeled into the lot and after a quick intro we took off in his car to the Garfield trailhead on highway 3. His plan for my intro to the Whites was a combination of my request and his experience. I had picked up a copy of the guide-book and between the maps in it and some old VFTT TR’s I figured that I wanted to check out the Pemi. Up until a few months ago I didn’t even know what the Pemi was. Oh sure, I’d seen threads that referred to the Pemi and the Pemi Loop but I never read them. I also was keen on Franconia Ridge but not if there was going to be hordes of people on it.
According to Wu there would be no one on Garfield Ridge on a Friday in April. Anyway, the long walk to Garfield was about as pleasant as it gets and we chattered away as we experimented with our MSR’s versus barebooting. The mix of ice and bare trail gave way to deep snow which supported us up in bare boots. Lower down, the “mixed zone” made me resort to the shoes for traction. Garfield, as I’m sure you know is about 3500 feet above the TH. The trail curls its way up the mountain. in such a manner however that you are barely aware of all that elevation gain.
We arrived at the summit mid-morning and it was like someone had suddenly whisked a curtain away from a masterpiece of art. What a view! Out came the cameras and the Doctor named off all the summits, ridges, potential bushwhacks etc. We were in no particular hurry and we hung out there for a long while before turning towards our next objectives, Mt. Lafayette and Franconia Ridge, which stood out against the sky nearly 800 feet above us.
It took a while and a bit of effort to get above tree line on Lafayette but the views back towards Garfield and the cliffs as well as the Twins kept us moving. Suddenly, we broke tree line and removed our snowshoes as we hit mainly rock mixed with some hardened snow. This was the beginning of a couple of miles of the most awesome hiking I’ve ever done. I wouldn’t really call it hiking because as you proceed along this ridge you are not really aware of expending any effort. The scene is so incredible that any physical work or effort goes unnoticed. The fact that we had a warm sunny day was a big help.
We definitely dawdled. Just as we had been doing since Garfield. Whenever it was time to take a picture or just stop to drink in the day or take a bight of a chocolate bar, we paused with almost no regard to the time. The few people we saw all day were on the Ridge and they were almost all French Canadians. I had a bit of fun going first and greeting everyone in French so they would assume that Dr. Wu was a Frenchman and speak to him in French.
As we dilly-dallied our way over to little Haystack snapping tons of pics the sun continued on its relentless way to the west. I looked over at Liberty and Flume. They seemed a long way off and appeared to rise very steeply from their low points. Wu, excellent host that he was, mentioned the possibility of bailing down the Falling Waters trail and hitching a ride to my car. The late afternoon light was fantastic though and it looked like we would be pretty close to the Wilderness Trail before having to break out the headlamps so we whipped down to the low point between Haystack and Liberty. I was wondering about the steep climb to come but before I knew it Wu called out that we were almost at the summit. It was about 5 o’clock now and the light kept improving. We hung out on the summit for a good 15 minutes feeling the accumulated effort and fatigue of our day before dropping down to the Flume-Liberty col. Just for fun we pretty well ran down which brought our energy level up, and made the low point in 15 minutes before our final ascent of the day. More fantastic views were to be had from the top of Flume, in addition to the cool scree and talus slides now we could see the entire Ridge and we had a head-on view of Garfield and its cliffs. By now I could easily recognize Carrigain, the Bonds, Guyot and many other peaks. The Bonds and Guyot really impressed me. The sign at the juction of the Flume Slide trail and the Franconia Ridge trail indicated we had about 5 miles to go. I took a look at my watch and realized the headlamps would be coming out long before we would be. This was perfectly cool of course and was the natural result of enjoying such a relaxing Pemi dawdle. The beautiful late afternoon light on Franconia and Flume is something I know I’ll never forget. We cruised along, bathed in the early evening sunlight as we passed through young balsams mixed in with mature hardwoods. The young balsams had a way of reflecting the light that I could never capture on camera…
After a while the trail became very steep and icy for a 500 vertical foot section. The ladders were covered in ice but some of the steps had an inch of bare wood exposed. I was still in boots while Wu chose to go with the traction the MSR’s offered. It was steep enough to glissade the sections between the ladders but care had to be exercised on the icy steps. Eventually we hit the dreaded mixed zone of glare ice, mud and rock so I put my shoes on too for a final 15 minutes. Darkness gradually enfolded us as we dropped lower and lower following the Whaleback. The headlamps came out and once we hit the Lincoln Woods Trail we cruised until we got to the suspension bridge 13 perfect hours after leaving Wu’s car on Highway 3.
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It's good you didn't have the crowds parading around the ridge too.
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