OldMan
New member
Sad that the winter hiking season was over, I decided it was time to start filling in my spring list! I had hiked 7 peaks in the spring last year so the field was wide open for places to hike. The forecast was for partly sunny and warm so I headed off to the Franconia Notch on Saturday morning. My plan was to hike the Mt Lafayette and Mt Lincoln loop.
I got started at the trailhead at 7:30am. There were already a couple of cars in the parking lot as I gear up and headed down the trail. I started off on microspikes and brought along my snowshoes and crampons, just incase. My snowshoes would end up just coming along for the ride. The trail was hard packed as long as you stayed in the middle. At about 2 miles in on the Old Bridle Path there is a steep pitch and the microspike were just not going to cut it anymore. I switched to my crampons for the rest of the hike. The views of Mt Cannon were incredible as the sky cleared completely.
Cannon from the Old Bridle Path:
From the hut up above treeline the snow was pretty sparse except for the trail which was mostly ice:
Looking back at the Greenleaf Hut:
I was getting more use to my crampons now as this was only the 2nd time I've had to use them. It takes a certain amount of trust in what they can grip on to be comfortable using them. I was amazed to see frozen in the trail someone's boot marks where they had clearly been slipping in the icy slush from days earlier. I was glad to have crampons for this final approach to the summit. The wind picked up a bit on the summit but the temperature was so warm it wasn't much of a bother. I stayed hiking in my tee shirt all day. The sky had now gone mostly overcast but still the views were great. It had been clearer on the hike up but this front made it's way in by the time I reached the summit:
I love the view from Mt Lafayette down the Franconia Ridge Trail to Mt Lincoln:
After enjoying the views on Mt Lafayette I continued on to Mt Lincoln. I ran into several groups of hikers doing the loop in the other direction on Franconia Ridge. The skys were still cloudy but Mt Liberty and Mt Flume poked there pointy heads towards the sky in the distance:
I continued on to Little Haystack before stopping for some lunch. Looking back at Mt Lincoln there was some blue sky trying to break through:
On the way down the Falling Waters Trail I took the short spur to 'Shining Rock' which would more appropriately be called 'Shining Snow' this time of year:
On the way down the sky completely cleared! Dam... looks like I started about an hour too early.
The good news was made it back to my car by 2:00 which ment I would be home in plenty of time to have a nice dinner with my wife.
I got started at the trailhead at 7:30am. There were already a couple of cars in the parking lot as I gear up and headed down the trail. I started off on microspikes and brought along my snowshoes and crampons, just incase. My snowshoes would end up just coming along for the ride. The trail was hard packed as long as you stayed in the middle. At about 2 miles in on the Old Bridle Path there is a steep pitch and the microspike were just not going to cut it anymore. I switched to my crampons for the rest of the hike. The views of Mt Cannon were incredible as the sky cleared completely.
Cannon from the Old Bridle Path:
From the hut up above treeline the snow was pretty sparse except for the trail which was mostly ice:
Looking back at the Greenleaf Hut:
I was getting more use to my crampons now as this was only the 2nd time I've had to use them. It takes a certain amount of trust in what they can grip on to be comfortable using them. I was amazed to see frozen in the trail someone's boot marks where they had clearly been slipping in the icy slush from days earlier. I was glad to have crampons for this final approach to the summit. The wind picked up a bit on the summit but the temperature was so warm it wasn't much of a bother. I stayed hiking in my tee shirt all day. The sky had now gone mostly overcast but still the views were great. It had been clearer on the hike up but this front made it's way in by the time I reached the summit:
I love the view from Mt Lafayette down the Franconia Ridge Trail to Mt Lincoln:
After enjoying the views on Mt Lafayette I continued on to Mt Lincoln. I ran into several groups of hikers doing the loop in the other direction on Franconia Ridge. The skys were still cloudy but Mt Liberty and Mt Flume poked there pointy heads towards the sky in the distance:
I continued on to Little Haystack before stopping for some lunch. Looking back at Mt Lincoln there was some blue sky trying to break through:
On the way down the Falling Waters Trail I took the short spur to 'Shining Rock' which would more appropriately be called 'Shining Snow' this time of year:
On the way down the sky completely cleared! Dam... looks like I started about an hour too early.
The good news was made it back to my car by 2:00 which ment I would be home in plenty of time to have a nice dinner with my wife.
