bintrepidhiker
New member
Fall Foilage at its best was the theme of the day and words can't begin to describe how beautiful everything was.
Me and grouseking left Lebanon around 6 and took 118 to 25 to get to 93. On 118 we found a nice viewspot that had frost, sunrise colors and the setting full moon all together. We had to stop and get a picture or 2 before continuing on. Temps fluctuated between upper 20's to 30's along the way before settling just below 30 at the trailhead. We met up with grouse's father and off we went at 8:12. Was a little cold so i had to start with 4 layers that after a couple of miles went down to 2. The stream crossings across the Spruce Brook were easy to manage long as you picked the right spot. I did my traditional dunking of my head into the first stream that despite the small ice cream headache felt really invigorating. All around early there were nice views of sun hitting the now colored leaves that made the setting so peaceful. The trail itself for the most part was very easy-going so me and grouse's dad cruised along making it to Garfield Ridge in 2 hrs 10 mins.
After a 10 min rest, grouse caught up to us and we pushed ahead for the final 2 tenths of a mile. This was the hardest part and felt i did the most work. Along the way there was one spot of ice, mainly off trail. Won't be much longer before it'll all be snow up here. Before i knew it we were there. I couldn't take my eyes off the Franconia Brook valley that had patches of color and the whole north side had mostly reds that looked so good. All around there was no clouds anywhere i could see. The skies had a deep blue and the sun did its job warming us up after being in the cool shade all morning. Temps had to be in the high 40's to low 50's but it felt much warmer in that sun. The only blemish was the ugly smoke you could see coming from the Cog railway heading up Washington. Luckily i took my pictures of that area before it became noticable. The people we shared the summit with were all in good spirits and due to the early hour still, there weren't too many there. After relaxing for nearly an hour and a half and eating up lunch we tore ourselves away to head back down around noon.
The trip down was beyond words are capable of describing. I got into a "zone" and really moved down the trail taking in the smell of Balsam Firs before being brought to a stop by the viberant colors of fall. The sun was now hitting all the leaves at the right angle to bring out the best these trees had to offer. I was almost taking pictures every 5 mins from this point on.
In the end we made it back to the parking lot around 2:24 making the total was 5 hrs to cover a total of 10 miles. Book time up was 4 hrs and we made it in 2 and a half.....can't complain about that. Now comes the preparation for the cold snap and snow to arrive. Is everyone ready for that?
Pictures
Me and grouseking left Lebanon around 6 and took 118 to 25 to get to 93. On 118 we found a nice viewspot that had frost, sunrise colors and the setting full moon all together. We had to stop and get a picture or 2 before continuing on. Temps fluctuated between upper 20's to 30's along the way before settling just below 30 at the trailhead. We met up with grouse's father and off we went at 8:12. Was a little cold so i had to start with 4 layers that after a couple of miles went down to 2. The stream crossings across the Spruce Brook were easy to manage long as you picked the right spot. I did my traditional dunking of my head into the first stream that despite the small ice cream headache felt really invigorating. All around early there were nice views of sun hitting the now colored leaves that made the setting so peaceful. The trail itself for the most part was very easy-going so me and grouse's dad cruised along making it to Garfield Ridge in 2 hrs 10 mins.
After a 10 min rest, grouse caught up to us and we pushed ahead for the final 2 tenths of a mile. This was the hardest part and felt i did the most work. Along the way there was one spot of ice, mainly off trail. Won't be much longer before it'll all be snow up here. Before i knew it we were there. I couldn't take my eyes off the Franconia Brook valley that had patches of color and the whole north side had mostly reds that looked so good. All around there was no clouds anywhere i could see. The skies had a deep blue and the sun did its job warming us up after being in the cool shade all morning. Temps had to be in the high 40's to low 50's but it felt much warmer in that sun. The only blemish was the ugly smoke you could see coming from the Cog railway heading up Washington. Luckily i took my pictures of that area before it became noticable. The people we shared the summit with were all in good spirits and due to the early hour still, there weren't too many there. After relaxing for nearly an hour and a half and eating up lunch we tore ourselves away to head back down around noon.
The trip down was beyond words are capable of describing. I got into a "zone" and really moved down the trail taking in the smell of Balsam Firs before being brought to a stop by the viberant colors of fall. The sun was now hitting all the leaves at the right angle to bring out the best these trees had to offer. I was almost taking pictures every 5 mins from this point on.
In the end we made it back to the parking lot around 2:24 making the total was 5 hrs to cover a total of 10 miles. Book time up was 4 hrs and we made it in 2 and a half.....can't complain about that. Now comes the preparation for the cold snap and snow to arrive. Is everyone ready for that?
Pictures
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