Franconia Ridge Loop hike

Franconia Ridge Loop hike – Lafayette, Lincoln, Little Haystack

Saturday, July 30^th - New Hampshire

** Updated with pictures (photo credits Neal C.)

Neal along the Franconia Ridge between Lincoln and Little Haystack

Nilesh along the Franconia Ridge between Lincoln and Little Haystack

Nice waterfall coming down the aptly named Falling Waters trail

Leisurely drove up late morning on a pleasant Saturday with Neal to find the parking lot full, had to put the car up on a grassy embankment to park. Turns out lots of other hikers were doing the same. The temperature at the base was a warm low 70s but the day was overcast and misty up in the mountains, probably mid-50s. The plan was for us to hike up the Old Bridle Path trail to the Greenleaf hut then continue on the Greenleaf trail to the summit of Lafayette and then along the Franconia Ridge to summit Lincoln and Little Haystack, then come down the Falling Waters trail back to the trail head/parking area.

The stats: 8.9 miles, 3,900 ft. elevation gain, 6:25 book time. Our total hike time was 5:24 - though unlike previous hikes, I really had no idea how far, how much elevation gain, or how long this hike should have taken overall. Just enjoyed myself out there and only looked up the book stats later post-hike.

We kept a steady pace up to the Greenleaf hut and filled water bottles there. Silly me, I carried far too much water and Gatorade than I really needed, but hey better to have too much than to run out. Spent about 25 minutes for lunch at the Greenleaf hut where I enjoyed my pasta, bean and tofu salad mix that I picked up from Whole Foods in Boston before driving up that morning, yum.

The hut was pretty full of hikers as were the trails throughout the day. Couldn’t see too far in terms of views during the early part of the hike, but finally caught some nice outlooks after we summited Lafayette and made our way along the Franconia Ridge above treeline. In particular the valley to the left (east) of the ridge was quite breathtaking, specifically Owl’s Head as well as Liberty and Flume in front of us. Pretty sweet lush green shadowed views down the sides of the ridge into the valley between the mountains. Also encountered lots of water crossings and pretty views of waterfalls coming down the Falling Waters trails. So nice.

We completed the hike comfortably in a total time of 5:24 which included lunch at the hut and a few other relaxing stops along the way. Came off the trail a little banged up, but all in all it was a great day to be up in the mountains and to get some fresh air. Not to mention that I got to summit Lincoln, the last 5k footer for me to hit on the NH 48 4000+ footers list. That makes 14 out of the 48 summited, still a long way to go on that list...