Mount Lafayette, Lincoln, Little Haystack

Date of hike: 9/26/09

Old Bridle Path: 2.9 miles
Greenleaf Trail: 1.1 miles
Franconia Ridge Trail: 1.7 miles
Falling Waters Trail: 3.2 miles
Total Miles: 8.9 (3,900 elevation gain)

Trip Report:
- Solo hike, left RI at 5:30am on trail at 8am, summited Lafayette at 10am, Little Haystack at 11:15, finished at 12:45

- Hiked at quick pace (3,550 elevation gain in 2 hours) to beat the crowds but more importantly get back home to RI before 5pm to take care of the dog!

- Temps 35 degrees at start warmed up to 50's on the ridge and around 60 descending. Clear day with 100 plus miles visibility and absolutely no wind!
- The early start on the trail had me well ahead of the traffic of everyone taking advantage of a perfect weather day. Only passed about 12 people on way up Old Bridal Path (1 coming down) not many people on the ridge either, around a dozen or so. Once I got to Little Haystack it turned into a zoo! lost count somewhere around 200 people when coming down Falling Waters trail

-The Franconia Ridge from Lafayette, Lincoln, and Little Haystack is still one of my favorite hikes.

- Forgot how awesome the views are hiking up Bridle Path and Greenleaf trail

- Would have hiked the whole Franconia Ridge and down Flume Slide trail but with no one to look after my dog I had to book it back home

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Mount Lafayette Trailhead

Greenleaf Hut and Mount Lafayette

Greenleaf Trail

Franconia Ridge to Mount Lincoln

Mount Liberty and Flume from Lincoln Summit

Mount Washington and Monroe (Huntington Ravine up, Boot Spur Trail down)

Date of hike: 9/20/09

Tuckerman Ravine Trail: 1.3 miles
Huntington Ravine Trail: 2.4 miles
Nelson Crag Trail: .8 miles
Crawford Path: 1.5 miles
Mount Monroe Loop: .5 miles
Crawford Path: .5 miles
Camel Trail: .7 miles
Davis Path: .7 miles
Boot Spur Trail: 3.4 miles
Tuckerman Ravine Trail: .4 miles
Total Miles: 12.2 (elevation gain 5,100)

Trip Report:
- After taking a beating the previous day in winter conditions I was going to skip out on this hike and do an easier hike (Osceola's). However I decided to check myself into a motel (Moose Brook in Gorham) stuff my face with food, drink a few cheep beers, take a hot shower, and watch hours of college football (Go ND!). The next day I awoke to summer conditions and decided to tackle Huntinington Ravine eventhough my knees were still aching from the hike above treeline and the two annoying falls coming down howker ridge yesterday
- Left motel around 7:30am, drive down Route 16 to Pinkham Notch was great, not a car on the road, not a cloud in the sky and already 50 degrees.
- On trail at 8am, finished at 4:15, temps below treeline and in the ravines mid 60's, temps above ravines high 40's to mid 50's, 30-45 mph wind. Not a cloud in the sky, visibility 125 miles plus
- Before I reached the fan (huge open boulder field below the headwall) I ran into a group of 8 people who for .2 miles would not let me pass them, when they finally did they wouldn't get out of the trail forcing me to tippy-toe my way around them, I was thankful that I didn't have to deal with them or watch them on rock scrambles
- The first rock scramble up the steep and smooth slope of the main gully now has two routes. The original route is to follow the arrows, however about 2/3 the way up if conditions are dry and you trust your balance you can slowly walk across the exposed slopping ledge to the scrub on the other side and bypass the last steep section that goes up and to the right. However the bypass across the sloping ledge has no hand-holds so you can't crawl across making it pretty tough
- There seems to be another option on the second major scramble as well but it's best to follow the arrows
- The 3rd major scramble I thought had another way around so i took it, got 15 feet up the 20 foot scramble and was screwed, had to go back down by crawling, clawing, and cutting myself up. It's easy to pull yourself up with handholds and jamming your foot in a small space between rocks and lifting yourself over but when you have to go down those options are gone and gravity is on your side in the bad way. If you lean forward the weight from your pack makes things unnerving unless you're an experienced rock climber which I am not, so I went into safety mode until I was down to a safe area
- When I was a teenager I had no issues on Huntington, took Teddy the dog up this trail about 3 times with my dad, now that all seems impossible. Hiking solo for me seems to make the tough parts more difficult, if I was with people I think it's be much easier for some odd reason
- On the final scramble I cought up with a group of 3 people, two young guys in their 20's and an older man in his 50's, the older man was bleeding from his mouth and his face was cut up. He was in good spirits and was not hurting, just roughed up when his face didn't agree with an overhanging rock!
- Once above the ravine headwall I ran into a couple coming down the Nelson Crag trail heading to Huntington to go down it, I told them that's not such a good idea, hopefully they took the alpine garden to Lion Head or Tuckerman
- Hiked on tracks again the last .2 miles to summit, arrived at 11:15, left at 12 when the cog arrived with annoying fat tourists!
- Hike on Crawford Path to Lakes was great, could see every mountain in the Whites south of me
- Hike down boot spur had some great views of Wildcat, Carter range, and a close up view into Tuckerman Ravine, I'd imagine with the nice weather there were hundreds of people all over Tuckerman Ravine

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Looking up into Huntington Ravine

First rock scramble follow the arrows carefully Jefferson, Adams, Madison from Washington Summit Lakes of the Clouds and Mount Monroe Lakes and Washington from Monroe Loop Cross cairn on Monroe Loop looking south Washington from Boot Spur

Mount Jefferson, Mount Adams, Mount Madison Loop

Date of Hike: 9/19/09

The link: 6.0 miles
Castle Trail: 1.5 miles
Jefferson Loop Trail: .3 miles
Gulfside Trail: 1.5 miles
Lowe's Path: .3 miles
Star Lake Trail: 1.0 miles
Osgood Trail: .8 miles
Howker Ridge Trail: 3.5 miles
Sylvan Way: 1.0 miles
Maple Walk: .2 miles
Total Miles: 16.1 (elevation gain 6,100)

Trip Report:
- Solo hike, left Johnny 5's house in CT at 4:30am on trail at 8:45am finished at 5:30pm
- Weather started out at 45 degrees and fell to low/mid 30's (wind chill mid teens to low 20's). Consistent 40 plus mph wind above tree line with gust up to 70 mph. Higher elevations clouded in until early afternoon, lower elevations clear skies
- Hiked link in tshirt with long sleeve shirt on and fall gloves on. Added fleece pullover at start of Castle Trail. Put on Winter Hat, gloves, neck warmer just before first castle. Put on Winter wind and rain resistant jacket on at The Cornice Junction sign and kept it on until Howker Ridge Trail. Full winter conditions (minus traction)
- Frost on trees above 3750 feet that would fall off fern branches and into the trail
- Rime ice on all rocks and trail last mile on Castle trail to Jefferson summit. Rime ice a constant all around the trail but not on it the rest of the way until descending Mount Adams
- Wind was out of the North/Northwest and would blow you around a few feet
- Howker Ridge Tail is a poor man's version of the Garfield Ridge Trail, lots of ups and downs, not as severe but at the end of a long hike a royal pain in the butt, better yet a royal pain in the knees
- New hiking boots came in handy, beat the crap out of them!

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Hiking up to the first Castle
Castle Trail

Mount Jefferson Summit
Gulfside Trail Star Lake and Mount Madison Summit
Mount Washington

Video:

Rime Ice on last mile of Castle Trail

High winds on Mount Adams

"Trips White" Mount Waumbek, Moriah, and Carrigain in One Day for Completion of the NH White Mountains 48 - 4000's

Date of Hike: 9/6/09

Mount Waumbek
Starr King Trail: 7.2 miles (2,500 elevation gain)
Mount Moriah
Cater Moriah Trail: 9.0 miles (3,400 elevation gain)
Mount Carrigain
Signal Ridge Trail: 10 miles (3,250 elevation gain)
Total Miles: 26.2 (9,150 elevation gain)

Trip Report:
- Solo hike, clear skies, no wind, 75+ mile visibility, temps 45-65 degrees, all trails in great shape
- AT through-hikers on Moriah summit going north to south
- Met a couple on Cater Moriah Trail who were geocaching (People use a GPS to hide and seek containers and find burried treasures) this couple told me they just found some money
- Traffic for Mount Washington Auto Road backed up on Route 16, you could see the sun reflecting off the cars that were at a stand still all the way up to the summit
- Great views from observation tower on Mount Carrigain summit, pretty sure I could see at least 42 of the 48-4000 footers
- First mile down from Carrigain summit was excruciating, ran out of adrenaline and worn down, then caught a 2nd or in this case probably an 8th wind and descended at a good pace
- I've learned this summer on hikes over 20+ miles that stepping in the soft/packed mud that sinks only about a 1/2 inch to an inch is easy on your feet and quite delightful!
- This hike marks the completion of the 48 - 4000 foot mountains of NH

Splits/Temps/Milage:
- Starr King Trailhead 6:10am (211.5 miles) on trail 6:20/summited 7:25/finished 8:50 (temps 45-50)
- Carter Moriah Trailhead 9:10am (18.5 miles) on trail 9:20/summited 11:20/finished 1:00 pm (temps 55-60)
- Signal Ridge Trailhead 2:00pm (34.5 miles) on trail 2:10/summited 4:30/finished 6:50 (temps 50-65)
- 211.5 miles to Mount Waumbek, 53 miles between Waumbek-Moriah-Carrigain, 218 miles home, 482.5 total miles driven
- Left RI at 3am back home at midnight

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View from from summit of Mount Starr King

Northern Presidentials from Mount Moriah summit

Looking north from Mount Carrigain Summit
Pemigewasset Wilderness
Signal Ridge
Presidential Range