Franconia Ridge

(note: trip taken on November 12, 2011)

It was a long drive up to Franconia notch in New Hampshire. Matt and I dressed warmly while still violating the rule ... cotton kills. Armed with backpack, camera, water, trail mix, and subway subs, we headed up. I love waterfalls and the first part of this trip had waterfall after waterfall. We continued to climb and found ourselves lost. Yep. That's right. You read it correctly. Somehow we were lost. After 15 minutes of backtracking through light snow, we found our way to a trail marker. It is only coincidence that I was in the lead when we got lost ... truly ... just a remarkable coincidence. I have a feeling you don't believe me. Yeah, neither did Matthew and that was the last time I led for the rest of the hike!

The pictures below barely represent the incredible beauty of that day. As we marched upwards, the waterfalls turned into ice ... literally ... ice ... thick and hard and slippery. The trees became covered with white frost. The wind picked up and several times almost knocked us over. At the start the temps was 37 but by the time we were up top, it was under 30. Soon we were above the treeline and trudging toward the peaks of the mountains. We took pictures of the incredible views but often stood in awe of the vistas. As we reached the top of Franconia ridge, 3 mountains actually (Little Haystack, Lincoln, and Lafayette), we looked down through the chill of the air and saw a wonderful sight ... a hut. A place where we could get out from the bitter elements. A place where we could eat our lunch without gloves on. A place of potential warmth but even if they don't have a wood stove, a place where we could sit at a table and take a rest.


With renewed vigor, we began our trip down. Matt got a bit ahead of me though were were both motoring pretty quickly. I watched a young man run passed me ... wearing only gym shorts ... no shirt ... just gym shorts. I wondered if he was crazy and then I remembered that some of you might look at these pictures and wonder if  I am crazy. Let me answer that question for you ... yep, crazy as a loon. So, I guess the guy without the shirt and only gym shorts was crazy. Perfect logic.


We approached the hut with glee in our eyes and a brightness of step only to find that it was boarded up ... closed. People milled around as if they were waiting for it to open but it wasn't going to. The gym shorts guy was already gone.

A breeze curled around us like a vulture eyes a dying rabbit ... a bone-deep chill struck me and Matt and I moved on. We hurried to get our body heat going again. As we descended, the ice turned to water and we sloshed through. Each of us took turns slipping and falling. Matt hurt his knee and ignored it while I re-broke my foot and whined like a hyena and eventually slowed down. 


This was one of those trips where I worked my ass off. By the time we had gone approximately 9 miles (2,500 ft elevation) and most of that was either up or down, I was extremely happy to see my car in the parking lot. My legs were numb, not from cold but from exhaustion. They shook lightly as we drove to Truant's Tavern in Lincoln, NH. 


I'm looking forward to another hike with Matt and anyone else we can drag along!


Please enjoy the pictures below and I would enjoy it if you found the time to leave a comment!

Stunning Waterfall

Flowing broadly across the rocks

Not too cold but the water was cold

Trees became snow covered. Matt climbs like a  billy goat.

Higher elevation and the colder air ... frozen waterfall.

Stunning vistas abound

How to describe ... frozen tundra?

The exposed ridge we hiked. At this time, I was about done but there were many miles to go before I sleep ....

Mount Washington in the distance. Matt said, "let's go there," and I almost became a murderer at that moment.

I'm sure when Kathy returns to New England, I'll be in trouble for this!

We literally hid behind a grouping of rocks to get out of the cold whipping wind. My nautical guess is 40 knots.

There is the hut ... more like a cabin awaiting our arrival for lunch! How excited we were!

It took a while but we're getting closer! A break from the wind and a nice seat at a table may await us yet!

What the hell?? Boarded up?

At least we still have the stunning vistas

Almost down ...