Date: 2003-09-08
From: Franconia Notch

To: Mt. Garfield northern ridge
Miles today: 11.5

Wow!! What a completely glorious day on Franconia Ridge!! Blue skies & forever visibility made for an incredible day of hiking in the awesome White Mountains.We started our day with an early wake-up @ the Roberts' log cabin (thanks again to Jim Roberts of Birmingham for his generosity), very well-rested after 2 and 1/2 days off the trail -- likely the last significant break of our journey to Katahdin.Loaded up our packs with all our winter gear and enough food for 4 nights, 5 days -- we're very excited to be heading out into the Whites for an extended period of hiking. Jere Peabody, a local real estate broker, one of only 12 former caretakers of New Hampshire's recently departed "old man of the mountain" and good friend of Mr. Roberts, picked us up this morning & gave us a lift back to the trail. Thanks for all your help, Jere.Started hiking @ about 8:40am, climbing & rock-scrambling our way into the Franconia Range. Began our hike in Franconia Notch (1450'). Hiked up Liberty Mtn for about 3 miles until 4250' (its summit @ 4459'is not on the AT), then continued along the Franconia Ridge another couple miles to the summit of Little Haystack Mtn (4760'). The views were amazing!! We looked back to the south @ Mt. Kinsman (4358'), Moosilauke (4802'), Smarts Mtn (3240'), mtns we'd already climbed -- and we looked north @ what awaits us -- it was very exciting to see Mt. Washington (6288') looming large less than 35 hiking miles away (it sure did appear much closer -- it's often said that distances in the Whites fool your eyes, but not your legs).The Franconia Ridge is mostly above treeline, which is about 4000' in the Whites, & considered by many to be the most scenic section on the entire AT. Also, as we learned last week, while rock scrambling down Moosilauke & up Kinsman, miles in the Whites take some serious time -- as much as 1 hour per mile -- gone are the 15 to 20 mile days, as we now work even harder to bang out 10 to 12 miles per day.From Haystack, we climbed another 7/10 of a mile up the ridge to Mt. Lincoln (5089') for some more amazing views & then another mile to the summit of Mt. Lafayette (5249'). It took us a whopping 5 hours to hike these 6.4 miles (although we did take tons of breaks to admire the views).In addition to more amazing views from Lafayette, we were treated to a summit surprise when we were reunited with our trail buddies, Sleepy Floyd, Pipes & Phlegm, Superman & Torch, Blip, & Iron Chef -- very cool. We had pulled a bit ahead of the gang, but our double zero in Franconia helped bring us all back together. We ate lunch atop Lafayette and then began the descent and subsequent climb up Mt. Garfield (4488'). We reached the summit of Garfield after 3 and 1/2 miles, including some more good, fun rock scrambling. Enjoyed a break and more wonderful views, then continued north until about 6:15pm, when Moo found us the perfect, little stealth tent site north of the Garfield summit, down in the trees (the rest of the gang headed for Galehead Hut to spend the night). We set up camp, ate a delicious meal of Lipton cheddar broccoli, Gatorade & oreos & were in the tent by about 7:30, just as darkness was setting in. We were bundled up in anticipation of a 40 degree night.Overall, today ranked up there with our most beautiful and awe-inspiring days on the trail.