Tom Rankin
Well-known member
Started yesterday at 8 and took the Falling Waters trail up. The stream was flowing pretty well, but not wildly so. We got nice views of the waterfalls!
On and on we went, eventually walking up into the clouds. Dead calm above tree line, but 100-300' of visibility when we hit the ridge line. Since there was no wind, and the recent light snow was leaving prints, we cautiously continued on towards Lincoln. There was some ice, but mostly it was either hard packed snow, or drifted powder. I was counting steps, checking the time and the elevation. Eventually all 3 agreed that we were atop Lincoln. Views were like the inside of every other cloud I had ever seen.
We rested briefly and discussed continuing. The wind was still dead calm, and every so often a hint of the Sun was visible behind us. We were still leaving tracks most of the time, the weather was supposed to get better, and we could always find the cairns, so on we went. It didn't take all that long before we were there. Of course the sign that marks the top was there to tell us that we had made it.
Next we discussed going down. We knew that the trip down to treeline was a lot longer, and twistier, than the Haystack side, but we also knew that there were a lot of cairns on this side to guide us. So, we located the correct trail and down we went, SLOWLY! There was a lot of ice on the descent, but we never took off our MSRs. There was enough snow to make it past the tough spots. There were a few places where we could barely see the next cairn, so I went searching till I found it and Laurie followed. But soon after this, the Sun started coming out! We could SEE!
At this point we made much better progress. We had gone past several cairns when we met 3 guys coming up from the hut! Woohoo! A broken trail to follow! I'm sure they were happy too! We chatted for a while, and I found out one of them is 'whiteout' on rot! What an appropriate handle!
As we descended, it kept getting clearer and clearer. It was great. We saw Lonesome Lake, Lincoln, Cannon, the Kinsman, and eventually almost everything except the very tops of the peaks was out. It would have been nice to see it all from the top, but this was cool too. When we got to the hut, we took a break and had some tea. Just as we were off, a tall guy caught up with us and blew by us a few minutes later, almost running down the trail, with no snowshoes, and a mini-pack. He did have something on his feet, maybe micro-spikes, and truth be told snowshoes were not absolutely necessary, but a few days before, lots of people were making major league post holes! The trail itself was ok, but it was extremely narrow. Every few steps, there were huge, deep boot shaped crevasses! Speaking of footprints, it looked like someone might have come from Lafayette to Lincoln but turned around before they got there, probably the day before.
As we dropped elevation, the sky continued to clear. We dropped 2100' in an hour from the hut and were back to the car from the top in about 2.4 hours, including all the breaks and chat stops.
Weekend stats:
4 peaks (Wildcats and Hale Fail in other threads!)
8500' of elevation
23 miles on the trails
Not to leave out lots of good beer (and other adult beverages!) and friends!
Pics from the long weekend:
Looking DOWN at the Carter Notch Hut:
Tim, showing us how deep the snow is!
Tim, showing us how big his pole is!
Blue ice on the Twin Trail
Water falls on Falling Waters trail
Early on the Ridge Line:
Lafayette!
Lonesome Lake
Cannon
Franconia Ridge starting to show us some slides
On and on we went, eventually walking up into the clouds. Dead calm above tree line, but 100-300' of visibility when we hit the ridge line. Since there was no wind, and the recent light snow was leaving prints, we cautiously continued on towards Lincoln. There was some ice, but mostly it was either hard packed snow, or drifted powder. I was counting steps, checking the time and the elevation. Eventually all 3 agreed that we were atop Lincoln. Views were like the inside of every other cloud I had ever seen.
We rested briefly and discussed continuing. The wind was still dead calm, and every so often a hint of the Sun was visible behind us. We were still leaving tracks most of the time, the weather was supposed to get better, and we could always find the cairns, so on we went. It didn't take all that long before we were there. Of course the sign that marks the top was there to tell us that we had made it.
Next we discussed going down. We knew that the trip down to treeline was a lot longer, and twistier, than the Haystack side, but we also knew that there were a lot of cairns on this side to guide us. So, we located the correct trail and down we went, SLOWLY! There was a lot of ice on the descent, but we never took off our MSRs. There was enough snow to make it past the tough spots. There were a few places where we could barely see the next cairn, so I went searching till I found it and Laurie followed. But soon after this, the Sun started coming out! We could SEE!
At this point we made much better progress. We had gone past several cairns when we met 3 guys coming up from the hut! Woohoo! A broken trail to follow! I'm sure they were happy too! We chatted for a while, and I found out one of them is 'whiteout' on rot! What an appropriate handle!
As we descended, it kept getting clearer and clearer. It was great. We saw Lonesome Lake, Lincoln, Cannon, the Kinsman, and eventually almost everything except the very tops of the peaks was out. It would have been nice to see it all from the top, but this was cool too. When we got to the hut, we took a break and had some tea. Just as we were off, a tall guy caught up with us and blew by us a few minutes later, almost running down the trail, with no snowshoes, and a mini-pack. He did have something on his feet, maybe micro-spikes, and truth be told snowshoes were not absolutely necessary, but a few days before, lots of people were making major league post holes! The trail itself was ok, but it was extremely narrow. Every few steps, there were huge, deep boot shaped crevasses! Speaking of footprints, it looked like someone might have come from Lafayette to Lincoln but turned around before they got there, probably the day before.
As we dropped elevation, the sky continued to clear. We dropped 2100' in an hour from the hut and were back to the car from the top in about 2.4 hours, including all the breaks and chat stops.
Weekend stats:
4 peaks (Wildcats and Hale Fail in other threads!)
8500' of elevation
23 miles on the trails
Not to leave out lots of good beer (and other adult beverages!) and friends!
Pics from the long weekend:
Looking DOWN at the Carter Notch Hut:
Tim, showing us how deep the snow is!
Tim, showing us how big his pole is!
Blue ice on the Twin Trail
Water falls on Falling Waters trail
Early on the Ridge Line:
Lafayette!
Lonesome Lake
Cannon
Franconia Ridge starting to show us some slides
