Back to Franconia Notch

Another weekend, another trip up Franconia Ridge. This weekend, Lon and I hiked Little Haystack via the Falling Waters trail. This is a 3.2 mile trail that climbs 3000’, passing several waterfalls at the bottom before a fairly steep final ascent going up above treeline. It was colder and windier than my last hike a couple weeks ago but we were well prepared with lots of warm clothing. From the parking lot, the peaks all appeared to be covered in clouds though this would pass as the day went on until it was quite sunny. We got lucky with the weather yet again.

We started out from the Lafayette Place trailhead (the same place as my previous hike) just around 9am. We made decent time up the first mile or so, shedding clothing from time to time as we got too hot from exertion. The trail was clear and there was little snow or ice even off the trail. However, there was a lot more ice around the many river crossings as we expected. About halfway through the crossings, the trail finally became covered with snow. It would remain snowy the rest of the way up. There’s a really pleasant gently sloping section near the end of the crossings that was a lot of fun to hike through.

After that pleasant part, the trail started to get a lot more steep as it straightened out for the last mile. We stopped to put on our crampons at this point because we were starting to slip more often. The snow got deeper and deeper as we approached the alpine zone but it was still relatively warm (okay, so it was still below freezing but I was feeling quite warm) and the wind was calm. After another half mile or so, the trail became very steep for the last pitch up to the summit. At this point, it also breaks out of the trees and goes in a direct line to the top. Here is where we got blasted with a very cold wind coming from the west across the bare summit.

We got to the top to celebrate but quickly hunkered down behind a rock to hide from the wind. Extra jackets went on to keep the wind out, extremely quick pictures were taken, and food was eaten with great difficulty because of the mittens. Lon’s fingers almost froze when he took the mittens off to get out his food. I was wishing I had a second pair and something to cover my face. We had originally thought about hiking the whole ridge like we did earlier this year, but one look over at Liberty and we both knew we didn’t have that much in us for today. The decision was made easier by the fact that it had taken three hours to hike 3.2 miles, and doing the whole ridge would involve another 1000’ of climbing and three extra miles.

It was beautiful up there looking over to the snow covered Washington, down into the bare Pemigewasset Wilderness, and out west into northern Vermont. However, it was difficult to stay put for too long since you get colder as you don’t move. We picked up our crampons and scrambled back down off the summit until we could get shelter behind a large boulder. There, we geared back up and headed down.

The descent is always less interesting than the ascent, especially on these up-and-back hikes. However we had a pretty good time playing the temperature control game, knocking ice off rocks, and breaking in the new crampons. We met a fair number of people heading up as we were heading down, which made us feel better about our speed. At around 3pm, we got back to the trailhead exhausted but satisfied with the hike. Soon, we were off to the traditional post-hike meal at the Common Man in Ashland.

This winter hiking thing is going pretty well so far. My gear is working out, though it’s going to need reinforcements if we go for the really big hikes in the dead of winter. It’s certainly a lot tougher than summer hiking.