MarkL
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- Joined
- Nov 14, 2003
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The forecast promised 3 days of good hiking weather, 12/22-24, but on the way down from Day 1's peaks, the Tripyramids, decided that taking a rest day was a better long-term strategy than trying to climb on 3 consecutive days. I actually felt I could have climbed the next day, but didn't want to jeopardize the Day 3 hike.
---The plan for Day 3, forecast to be the mildest of the three, was to attempt Lafayette and Lincoln, both on Franconia Ridge. The ridge is well above tree line and I'd be exposed for a mile and a half or more. The regular forecast was for fairly calm to light winds, but the higher summits forecast was for winds of, oh, I forget, maybe 20-35MPH. The day was to start mostly cloudy, but that would lift "later"(?). So I was in no hurry to hit the trail early. The longer I waited, the warmer and more clear it would be. On the drive from Gorham, no summits were to be seen due to clouds. I wondered if I'd see anything at all from the top. Turning south onto Rte 3 and I-93 and approaching the Lafayette Campground trailheads, there were signs of clearing. There was even a small gap in the clouds allowing a glimpse of a small section of Franconia Ridge. I kept going to a turn-around exit so I could park in a northbound parking area, ready to make tracks back to NY.
---I hit the trail at 11:14AM, exactly 1/2 hour earlier than my Tuesday start time. It was breezy and cool, which neither I nor my hands cared for. From reading the guide book the night before, I'd decided to head up the Falling Waters trail because it sounded steeper. Also, that would put the sun at my back on the ridge. But when I got to the junction of the Falling Waters and Old Bridle Path trails, I had a sudden change in plan. Given the wind, I figured I'd spend less time exposed to it on the ridge if I did the ridge in a generally downhill direction. Also, without really knowing the wind direction, I sort of pictured it coming more from the north than the south. That ungrounded assumption meant walking uphill into the wind. So I turned left and barebooted up the Old Bridle Path. After an hour of climbing, I thought the terrain was suggesting the use of traction, and might soon be demanding it, so I opted for crampons. Actually, I'd decided the night before that based on previous reports of this loop, and the lack of recent snow, that snowshoes wouldn't be necessary. So that's when I'd actually opted for crampons. Now I was just exercising that option. I caught some views of the Ridge as I approached the series of 7 or more bumps leading to the Greenleaf Hut (closed in winter). The moon, just under half full, had risen so its bottom point was wedged between two big rocks on the ridge above. But it was faint, and I didn't thing my disposable camera [from an October canoe trip in Algonquin Park] would do it justice. So I mention it to stir up that memory in the future. One bump looked like it had a significant drop on the other side, meaning I'd have to reclimb that elevation. But it turned out that the trail went to the left of the bumps and didn't go over the tops. It was pretty much a steady climb with no significant descents that I recall. I met a group of 3 coming down. Having seen Views From the Top decals on 2 cars in the lot, I asked the 3 if they were on that forum. It turns out one was Rocket21, with whom I'd had a brief, friendly exchange on the forum last winter. They had done my loop in reverse, climbing Lincoln, then Lafayette. Soon after I met a couple descending. They hadn't summited. A bit later I met a man and 3 or 4 children descending. He had tried for the summit, but found it too windy. Wow. Despite the relatively mild weather, these two peaks weren't in the bag, and I needed to prepare myself for the possibility of descending empty handed. I continued up, and it wasn't til I saw the hut that I realized I'd been spared lots of ups and downs on the bumps.
---At the hut, I stepped into a sheltered doorway to prepare for the upcoming exposure. I ate, put on a wind parka, filled its pockets with snacks, gloves, mittens, and hats, and put on big, bulky mittens. Soon after starting up from the hut, I decided it was close enough to aspirin time to take it, rather than waiting til I was fully exposed to the wind. I enjoyed a few more minutes of wooded trail, then emerged into a brief scrub zone followed by bare rock and snow. And wind. The wind was very brisk, and at times it seemed about to take my hood down. If it did that, it might then blow away my warm but loosely fitting orange tocque, which would be very bad. Fortunately, the trail's direction of approach to the summit kept the wind to my back or left side most of the time. Still, a couple of times I had to struggle a bit to keep my balance. Great views opened up behind and to the right. I could see the hut, Cannon Mtn, and the undercast to the west. Ahead and above was perfectly clear and blue, with the moon. As I was nearing what I thought was the summit, I saw a ridge with cairns above and beyond to the left. That was disappointing, since I thought I was almost to Lafayette's summit. The tracks I was following weren't heading directly to that ridge, and not having seen a cairn for a minute, I thought they might be off course, and I should make a beeline for the far point on that ridge. But I quickly saw a cairn ahead, and decided to stick with the official trail. I was on the summit of Lafayette a few minutes later at ~3:10PM. That ridge to the left was actually the ridge heading north from Lafayette eventually towards Garfield. The summit was windy of course, but with the mild ambient temperature, I looked around for about 5 minutes, including time to brush the hoarfrost off the summit signs, before pushing on. Camels Hump's distinctive profile stood above the undercast to the west. I tried hard and repeatedly to see the Adirondacks beyond, but couldn't. Mansfield was visible to the right/north of Camels Hump. Either Killington was hidden by the Kinsmans, or I didn't think to look for it till farther along. But it too was visible above the clouds. To the left, north, and east, there was almost no undercast, and the Presidential Ridge stood out in white. I could also identify Owls Head, and made a pretty good guess at the Bonds, but drew a blank at spotting the Hancocks or identifying other high peaks in that direction. It felt glorious to be heading downhill, with a brisk but non-chilling tailwind, with almost all of the days climbing behind me, terrific views to both sides and ahead, and enough daylight left to get me across the ridge and down into the better defined trail through the forest. There was lots of wind and bare rock, but it was still a very pleasant ridge walk. Having forgotten some details on the map, when I got to Lincoln at 3:58PM, I looked for a sign indicating the Falling Waters Trail was now ready to take me below tree line. But that wasn't to be until another half mile or more of ridge walking got me to the top of Little Haystack.
---The sun had more or less set by the time I started down, and less than an hour after entering the forest, it was time to get out the headlamp and change out of the windbreaker and big mitts. There were indeed some steep sections on this trail, but with poles and crampons, they weren't a problem. Lower down, the stream crossings were firm ice, perhaps the only places where I absolutely needed crampons the whole day. I wore them all the way to the car. At 6:20PM it was the only car in the lot, but at 11AM it had been one of 8 or 9. I was on the road by 6:30PM.
---On January 3, 2008, a day after suffering a mild cold injury to my finger tips on Whiteface and Passaconaway, I gazed at Lafayette and Lincoln from the Franconia Highway on a bitter, windy day. I was highly intimidated by the feelings evoked by their frigid barrenness, and wondered if the Winter 115 was really possible for my aging self. Then I remembered an important part of my approach to this challenge: "Choose your days." And so I did.
I found a brief report by someone who hiked the same route I did, starting 3.5 hours before me the same day. He took a lot of nice pictures.
A link from that brief report to his more detailed report and a few pictures:
http://dailey7779.blogspot.com/
Direct link to his slide show with all pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/cdailey7779/MountLafayetteLincolnLittleHaystack122409#
Chris took great pictures! So as sit here with my undeveloped disposable camera, all I can say is, "Yeah! What HE saw!"
---The plan for Day 3, forecast to be the mildest of the three, was to attempt Lafayette and Lincoln, both on Franconia Ridge. The ridge is well above tree line and I'd be exposed for a mile and a half or more. The regular forecast was for fairly calm to light winds, but the higher summits forecast was for winds of, oh, I forget, maybe 20-35MPH. The day was to start mostly cloudy, but that would lift "later"(?). So I was in no hurry to hit the trail early. The longer I waited, the warmer and more clear it would be. On the drive from Gorham, no summits were to be seen due to clouds. I wondered if I'd see anything at all from the top. Turning south onto Rte 3 and I-93 and approaching the Lafayette Campground trailheads, there were signs of clearing. There was even a small gap in the clouds allowing a glimpse of a small section of Franconia Ridge. I kept going to a turn-around exit so I could park in a northbound parking area, ready to make tracks back to NY.
---I hit the trail at 11:14AM, exactly 1/2 hour earlier than my Tuesday start time. It was breezy and cool, which neither I nor my hands cared for. From reading the guide book the night before, I'd decided to head up the Falling Waters trail because it sounded steeper. Also, that would put the sun at my back on the ridge. But when I got to the junction of the Falling Waters and Old Bridle Path trails, I had a sudden change in plan. Given the wind, I figured I'd spend less time exposed to it on the ridge if I did the ridge in a generally downhill direction. Also, without really knowing the wind direction, I sort of pictured it coming more from the north than the south. That ungrounded assumption meant walking uphill into the wind. So I turned left and barebooted up the Old Bridle Path. After an hour of climbing, I thought the terrain was suggesting the use of traction, and might soon be demanding it, so I opted for crampons. Actually, I'd decided the night before that based on previous reports of this loop, and the lack of recent snow, that snowshoes wouldn't be necessary. So that's when I'd actually opted for crampons. Now I was just exercising that option. I caught some views of the Ridge as I approached the series of 7 or more bumps leading to the Greenleaf Hut (closed in winter). The moon, just under half full, had risen so its bottom point was wedged between two big rocks on the ridge above. But it was faint, and I didn't thing my disposable camera [from an October canoe trip in Algonquin Park] would do it justice. So I mention it to stir up that memory in the future. One bump looked like it had a significant drop on the other side, meaning I'd have to reclimb that elevation. But it turned out that the trail went to the left of the bumps and didn't go over the tops. It was pretty much a steady climb with no significant descents that I recall. I met a group of 3 coming down. Having seen Views From the Top decals on 2 cars in the lot, I asked the 3 if they were on that forum. It turns out one was Rocket21, with whom I'd had a brief, friendly exchange on the forum last winter. They had done my loop in reverse, climbing Lincoln, then Lafayette. Soon after I met a couple descending. They hadn't summited. A bit later I met a man and 3 or 4 children descending. He had tried for the summit, but found it too windy. Wow. Despite the relatively mild weather, these two peaks weren't in the bag, and I needed to prepare myself for the possibility of descending empty handed. I continued up, and it wasn't til I saw the hut that I realized I'd been spared lots of ups and downs on the bumps.
---At the hut, I stepped into a sheltered doorway to prepare for the upcoming exposure. I ate, put on a wind parka, filled its pockets with snacks, gloves, mittens, and hats, and put on big, bulky mittens. Soon after starting up from the hut, I decided it was close enough to aspirin time to take it, rather than waiting til I was fully exposed to the wind. I enjoyed a few more minutes of wooded trail, then emerged into a brief scrub zone followed by bare rock and snow. And wind. The wind was very brisk, and at times it seemed about to take my hood down. If it did that, it might then blow away my warm but loosely fitting orange tocque, which would be very bad. Fortunately, the trail's direction of approach to the summit kept the wind to my back or left side most of the time. Still, a couple of times I had to struggle a bit to keep my balance. Great views opened up behind and to the right. I could see the hut, Cannon Mtn, and the undercast to the west. Ahead and above was perfectly clear and blue, with the moon. As I was nearing what I thought was the summit, I saw a ridge with cairns above and beyond to the left. That was disappointing, since I thought I was almost to Lafayette's summit. The tracks I was following weren't heading directly to that ridge, and not having seen a cairn for a minute, I thought they might be off course, and I should make a beeline for the far point on that ridge. But I quickly saw a cairn ahead, and decided to stick with the official trail. I was on the summit of Lafayette a few minutes later at ~3:10PM. That ridge to the left was actually the ridge heading north from Lafayette eventually towards Garfield. The summit was windy of course, but with the mild ambient temperature, I looked around for about 5 minutes, including time to brush the hoarfrost off the summit signs, before pushing on. Camels Hump's distinctive profile stood above the undercast to the west. I tried hard and repeatedly to see the Adirondacks beyond, but couldn't. Mansfield was visible to the right/north of Camels Hump. Either Killington was hidden by the Kinsmans, or I didn't think to look for it till farther along. But it too was visible above the clouds. To the left, north, and east, there was almost no undercast, and the Presidential Ridge stood out in white. I could also identify Owls Head, and made a pretty good guess at the Bonds, but drew a blank at spotting the Hancocks or identifying other high peaks in that direction. It felt glorious to be heading downhill, with a brisk but non-chilling tailwind, with almost all of the days climbing behind me, terrific views to both sides and ahead, and enough daylight left to get me across the ridge and down into the better defined trail through the forest. There was lots of wind and bare rock, but it was still a very pleasant ridge walk. Having forgotten some details on the map, when I got to Lincoln at 3:58PM, I looked for a sign indicating the Falling Waters Trail was now ready to take me below tree line. But that wasn't to be until another half mile or more of ridge walking got me to the top of Little Haystack.
---The sun had more or less set by the time I started down, and less than an hour after entering the forest, it was time to get out the headlamp and change out of the windbreaker and big mitts. There were indeed some steep sections on this trail, but with poles and crampons, they weren't a problem. Lower down, the stream crossings were firm ice, perhaps the only places where I absolutely needed crampons the whole day. I wore them all the way to the car. At 6:20PM it was the only car in the lot, but at 11AM it had been one of 8 or 9. I was on the road by 6:30PM.
---On January 3, 2008, a day after suffering a mild cold injury to my finger tips on Whiteface and Passaconaway, I gazed at Lafayette and Lincoln from the Franconia Highway on a bitter, windy day. I was highly intimidated by the feelings evoked by their frigid barrenness, and wondered if the Winter 115 was really possible for my aging self. Then I remembered an important part of my approach to this challenge: "Choose your days." And so I did.
I found a brief report by someone who hiked the same route I did, starting 3.5 hours before me the same day. He took a lot of nice pictures.
A link from that brief report to his more detailed report and a few pictures:
http://dailey7779.blogspot.com/
Direct link to his slide show with all pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/cdailey7779/MountLafayetteLincolnLittleHaystack122409#
Chris took great pictures! So as sit here with my undeveloped disposable camera, all I can say is, "Yeah! What HE saw!"
