Mt. Lafayette (5266)
Trail: Falling Waters, to Franconia Ridge trail
(Part of the Appalachian Trail) to The Old Bridle path.
Date: Sunday, June 13’th 2004
Attending: The Awesome Threesome, (Gabe, Simone & John)
Miles: 8.9-mile loop Time: 7.5 hours, Little Haystack (4700), Lincoln (5089)
AMC huts, / shelters / camping site: Greenleaf hut
Weather: Sunny, 70 to 75
Another great day for another great hike. Life is always changing for the Chicoine family and adapting to the impact on our world is sometimes a bit of a challenge. Gabes’ getting older now and his life is filling up with responsibilities of his own. He needs a job to keep his car fed and save a little bit for college. His school work for his Junior year has been taking a bit more time and focus. He’s got the pressure of SAT’s and ACT’s, finding and applying to a college, and trying to figure out what to pick for a major. With Simone working so many weekends at Cushing and with Gabe’s and my Royal Ranger weekend commitments our schedules are finding fewer and fewer connections. I’m glad for every opportunity we get to spend another day together.
This particular loop is a getting to be big investment for me; It’s definitely one I need the best of conditions for. This was our third time for this loop for us. The hike up Falling Waters is steep and relentless. We were under a bit of a deadline today, (We had to have Gabe home early enough to complete a major homework assignment.) so Simone and I did our best to keep the pace up. We sumitted Mt. Haystack in 2hrs 30 minutes (30 minutes under book time) and enjoyed a 30 minute lunch. The trek from Haystack to Lincoln took 35 minutes and from Lincoln to Lafayette another 40 minutes. It had been a tough hike for me to keep up this pace to get to that point in that time. (The combination of the hard miles and trying to “step up the pace” had made this hard work.) When I finally sat down on the Summit of Laffayett, I just melted into the rocks. Simone on the other hand was her usual self, pointing out various peaks we’ve been on, or even worse, (at that particular moment) pointing out various peaks we’ve yet to be on but are sure to get to someday. I must have been “one with the rocks” for about 20 minutes before we had to move on. Gabe wanted to see how fast he could get from the summit to the hut, (1.1 miles); so he bugged out on us leaving us to hobble along. His time was 20 minutes, ours was 42. It was obvious that we weren’t going to get back to the car by my intended 4:00 deadline; we were just leaving the hut at 2:30 and the book time said 2hrs 40 minutes back to the parking lot. The wind had stopped and the temps warmed up a bit for the last couple of hours. We kept up our pace as best as we could and managed to complete this last leg down the Bridal Path in 2 hours including a 5 minute stop to splash in the brook at the bottom. Now I really was beat and the drive home seemed endless.
There were lots of people on the ridge this weekend, if I had to guess at least 100 or so. There were lots of people in their 60’s (not unusual but they have my respect for sure). There was even one couple that brought a very young baby (3 or 4 months) in a Kelty Kid carrier. The Green Leaf hut looked full up for the night. Every time we hike this loop we can think of several friends that haven’t done this one yet that we know we just have to get them up here. The waterfalls on the Falling Waters trail are some of the best in the Whites, and for just an hour or more of hiking (app. 1 mile) it would be worth the trip up here for any avid shutter bug. I sure wish things had worked out with several of the people I invited to come along with us this time; then I could be assured that I wouldn’t have to hike the loop again soon. Nice as it is, I have to admit it just costs me too much in effort and pain to complete the loop. It took me a day to recover from this trip. If I could just loose about 50 lbs I’m sure that this one would be an annual hike. But, I don’t doubt that I’ll find my feet walking the Franconia Ridge at least a few more times in my life regardless of my weight.
Sad note: Between the last time we hiked this and now, a husband and wife from Massachusetts were traped in unexpected white out conditions above the treeline. These were very experienced hikers and well within their comfort level. They were rescued from the top after 2 days of a very difficlut time hunkered down in snow caves, but not in time to save the wife. It’s a risk most of us know exists, we plan, we pick our hikes according to our physical limitations and our experience/skill level, but the unexpected happens.
Boston News: Brenda and Russell Cox were married outdoors in the Vermont mountains seven years ago with a layer of new-fallen snow around them. Last Monday night, after the couple took shelter from a storm in a mountaintop cave in New Hampshire, Russell Cox reached for his wife, and felt that she had stopped shivering and her skin was cold. “Brenda died doing what she loved to do, and I think that that makes me happy,” Cox said Monday at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he’s been since rescuers found him last Tuesday outside the snowy cave where his wife died in the night.
My family wishes to extend our heart felt sorrows to this young man.
People that don’t hike don’t understand why or how anybody would invest this type of effort and accept these types of risks.
We keep hiking.
See ya at the top,
and May God Bless.