Date: 2005-09-11
From: Liberty Springs Tentsite

To: Garfield Hut
Miles today: 10.4

9 ¢ 11!Had a good night. I awoke to pee and had a view of the stars through the trees. Got up at 4:30AM, so that I could get a 6:00AM start on the trail in anticipation of a long and hard day. As I climbed up to the Franconia Ridge Trail, I met with Cave Man coming down from having spent the night on the summit of Mount Liberty. He told me that he had had a great view of the Aurora Borealis ¢ the Northern Lights. I of course had missed the whole show, tenting below in the conifers.   Once on the ridge, the first part of the hike is still in the trees and it was relatively easy going for the first mile or so, then as I climbed up to Little Haystack Mountain, I broke out above the tree line and started on my magical trek of the Franconia Ridge. I had realy been looking forward to this and I was not disappointed!   The sun was hidden behind a bank of clouds and a stiff wind prompted me to don my wind jacket, as I climbed on up. The views were incredible. Mountains surrounded me row upon row, with the early morning mist still lying like a white cloud down in the valleys. As I climbed up over Mount Lincoln the sun burst through the clouds and the wind died down. It was the stuff of pure magic up there, no sound but the crunch of my boots on the trail and the still silence of the majestic mountain surrounding and speaking to me. Some steep rocky ramparts forced the use of both hands and feet to scramble up some pretty exposed ledges with an overview of the entire valley. I could see Mount Lafayette in the distance, but it looked so close in the clear mountain air, that it felt like I could reach out and touch it.   I was on top of Mount Lafayette by 9:00AM and already there were people up there. I could see Greenleaf Hut down below on the shoulder of the mountain, and even Lonesome Lake far off in the distance. A USFS/AMC volunteer on the summit told me that over 500 people visited the summit yesterday,   The trail then descends down off of Lafayette and back into the spruce forest. It was still difficult going with lots of rocky up and down scrambles before the true ascent of Mount Garfield began. Again it was a very tough climb up out of the trees, but I timed my arrival on the top to coincide with the flying of the American flag from the summit, in memory of 9-11.   Cave Man had told me about this last evening. They fly the American flag every 9-11 from the top of all the mountains that are over 4,000 feet high. Since there are 48 mountains, they call it ¢48 [flags] over 48 [mountains]¢   It was an indescribable feeling standing there, watching the flag fluttering in the breeze. The team that had erected the flag pointed out the other flags flying on the other peaks, all flying from noon to 2:00PM. A truly memorial moment!   A difficult descent from Garfield brought me to the spring at Garfield Ridge Campsite and some ¢cool and refreshing¢ water, after a long and hot and hard eight miles on the ridge. The day ended with a continuously difficult descent with much sliding down the steeper bits on my behind. This is a long and tough hike and I was glad that I had started out early so that I had a few extra hours of sunlight in my back pocket, if needed.   As I approached the hut two of the teams that had flown their flags from the top of Garfield and Twin Mountain, came down the trail. I spoke with both of them and thanked them for a great job well done.   So now I am here at Garfield Hut, famous for being handicapped accessible on the top of a mountain that is anything but! Cruise Control and two other hikers are here on work for stay and there are several other guests here also.   Today was a great day. The hike along Franconia Ridge was everything that I thought it would be ¢ and more. The sight of the 9-11 memorial flags was an added bonus.   It was very hard going however. It took me the full 10 hours to cover the distance and my knees were complaining on the last descent down from Mount Garfield. I am sure that I will sleep well tonight. I took a lot of photos during the day, but I know that none of them will do true justice to the reality of the hike itself.   I am still hiking on the stray sod!Thought for Today ¢      Everything is Beautiful!