Ascent of Mount Lafayette on 2014-06-07| Date: | Saturday, June 7, 2014 | | Ascent Type: | Successful Summit Attained | | Motorized Transport to Trailhead: | Car | | Peak: | Mount Lafayette | | Location: | USA-New Hampshire | | Elevation: | 5240 ft / 1597 m |
Ascent Trip ReportDecided to do Franconia Ridge as part of my honeymoon with my wife. We went up Falling Waters, across the ridge to Lafayette, and down Old Bridle Path with many stops including Greenleaf Hut. It was a very crowded day on the mountain - I would estimate 150-200 hikers we passed throughout the day.
We started at 7:30am and made our way up Falling Waters. There was no ice or snow anywhere (as one would hope in June), but many of the rocks were slick from recent rainfall. We took a short detour to Shining Rock and back before going the rest of the way to the summit of Little Haystack. At this point, it was partly cloudy and the very top of Lincoln was obscured by clouds. We ran into around 20 other hikers up there and ate a quick lunch.
As we made our way towards Lincoln, the sky cleared up and we were lucky to have stunning views in every direction. The wind shifted between a slight breeze to moderate gusts but the weather was overall pleasant. We tagged Lincoln and Truman and made our way up Lafayette. The sky remained clear and I would estimate 40 or so other hikers at the top of Lafayette.
By the time we began our descent on the Old Bridle Path, it was downright hot outside and the exposed rocky trail was unforgiving. We descended for what seemed like forever down to the Greenleaf Hut where we enjoyed coffee, lemonade, and toilets. They had beef barley soup and were preparing a turkey dinner with biscuits. As we descended further, we passed other hikers coming up the other way with food including a girl with a pork loin fastened to her backpack! We continued back down to our car.
The entire hike took 11 hours and I regret not using any trekking poles. I saw flies on the trail but my repellent worked fine. A little bit of sunburn and sore legs were well worth the gorgeous hike on the ridge. |
| Summary Total Data | | Route Conditions: | Maintained Trail, Scramble | | Weather: | Pleasant, Windy, Partly Cloudy | | Ascent Statistics | | Route: | Falling Waters / Franconia Ridge | | Time: | 6 Hours | | Descent Statistics | | Route: | Old Bridle Path | | Time: | 5 Hours | Ascent Part of Trip: Franconia Ridge
Complete Trip Sequence:
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