Hope Springs Eternal

Date of Hike: 4/21/13

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:

- Every April as the temperatures start to warm and the snow slowly starts to melt I head up and do a quick 'Classic' Franconia Ridge Loop hike.  Conditions are a little whacky in the spring and you still need to bring along the snowshoes as there is lots of snow higher up in the woods where the sun doesn't penetrate.  Luckily on Sunday we only needed to use our microspikes and had a fun hike with killer views!

- We decided to start late since the weather was improving as the day went on. Along the way we passed a bunch of hikers and saw lots of dogs running around in the snow as we made our way up to Greenleaf Hut.  The trail to Greenleaf hut only has one steep section, a short hundred foot burst but other than that is has moderate grades with a few incredible outlooks along the way.

- The Greenleaf Hut is getting a new roof so it was cool to see the progress that has been made and we took a break before hooking onto the Greenleaf Trail.  From the hut to the Mount Lafayette's summit is 1.1 miles and is almost all above treeline exposed to the elements.  The trail becomes a little rougher but still is never too steep.  I went ahead of Alton and Kelsey so I could take a bunch of pictures of Franconia Notch and the Kinsman Ridge.  I made it to the summit pretty quickly and found a spot to hide from the wind as it was pretty cold up above 5,000 feet.

- Next we headed south along the Franconia Ridge Trail and views were phenomenal as they always are between Mount Lafayette and Little Haystack.  It's 1.7 miles of above treeline hiking along one of the most beautiful sections of ridge hiking in the northeast.  We ran into more and more hikers and more and more dogs.  It must have been dog day on the ridge today as they seemed to come from every direction!

- Between Lafayette and Little Haystack you hike over Mount Truman, a sub peak between Lafayette and Lincoln.  Mount Lincoln is another official 4,000 foot mountain and it's above 5,000 feet.  The wind had started to die down around Lincoln but it was still cold enough that we booked it down from the summit and headed to the 'Gargoyles', which is a gothic looking knifes edge off to the side of the trail.  We took a nice long break here and took in the views before heading over to Little Haystack.

- Once we reached Little Haystack we headed down the Falling Waters Trail.  The upper section of the Falling Waters Trail is steep followed by switchbacks, it's 1.5 miles or so of in the woods hiking with nothing too exciting.  However, the rest of the trail is fun and beautiful as the trail descends and snakes around Cloudland Falls, Swifwater Falls, and Stairs Falls.  Cloudland Falls is the highest falls and the most spectacular.

- We took a bunch of pictures at Cloudland Falls and relaxed before we enjoyed the rest of the hike back to the cars.  The weather ended up being perfect for one of the best loop hikes in the White Mountains!

 Trailhead

 Old Bridle Path

 Dogs on Old Bridle Path!

 Old Bridle Path

 Old Bridle Path Outlook (Mount Lincoln in the background)

 Shining Rock

Spring hiking = knee high socks!

 Mount Lincoln

 Alton meets a new friend

 Lonesome Lake and North and South Kinsman

 Greenleaf Hut and Mount Lafayette

 Greenleaf Hut

 Eagle Lake and Mount Lafayette

 Greenleaf Hut

 Greenleaf Trail

 Mount Moosilauke

 Fracnonia Ridge

 Cannon Mountain

 Cannon Mountain Ski Area

 Cannon Mountain

 Greenleaf Trail

 North Lafayette

 Frosted Cairn on the Greenleaf Trail

 Mount Lafayette Summit

 Mount Garfield

 The Twin Range

 Mount Washington

 South Twin and Mount Washington

 Presidential Range

 Franconia Ridge

 The Bonds

 South Twin

 Alton on the Franconia Ridge Trail

 Dogs on Lafayette!

 Alton makes another new buddy

 and another!

 Classic Franconia Ridge shot

 Mount Lafayette

 Mount Lincoln

 Owlie - Owl's Head

 Cliffs of Bond

 South Twin and the Presidential Range

 Mount Washsington and Monroe

Lonesome Lake with North and South Kinsman 

 Last pitch to the summit of Mount Lincoln

Mount Lincoln's Summit 

 Greenleaf Hut

 Hancocks

 Little Haystack, Liberty and Flume Mountains

 Cannon Mountain

 The Bonds

 Hancock's

 Twinway with the Presidential Range

 Mount Lincoln

 Relaxing by the Gargoyles

 Relaxing by the Gargoyles

 Alton and Kelsey with the Pemi Wilderness behind them

 Relaxing!

 Greenleaf Trail

 Cannon Mountain, North and South Kinsmans

 Cannon Mountain and ski area

 Cannon Mountain

 Lonesome Lake with North and South Kinsman

Falling Waters / Franconia Ridge Trail Junction 

 Falling Waters Trail

 small falls above Cloudland Falls

 Kelsey running down the Falling Waters Trail

 Cloudland Falls

 Alton at Cloudland Falls

 Cloudland Falls

 Kelsey enjoying the falls

Stairs Falls

 Kelsey jumping across the Dry Brook