| Summary | |
| Owner | MITOC Gallery Administrator |
| Creation Date | 2006-04-22 15:54:29 UTC-0400 |
| Description | Franconia Ridge: 4/22/06
Franconia Ridge has been taunting me for some time now. I've been meaning to hike it for the past several months, but something always came-up or the weather turned insane. I have several recent ridge pics from other trips in the area, including from the Kinsmans last weekend when the "rainy day" dissolved and Lafayette popped-out to spite me. Despite having no other takers for an early snow-seeking hike this weekend, I drove up and crashed in the woods at Camelot on Friday night. Four hours later I was stuffing my bag and heading up to the notch. It was a clear night but some high clouds started appearing early making most of the day overcast, but not socked-in (for once). Leaving the car at 6am (objective #1) I saw only one other hiker. We had a quick chat about what gear we were bringing, then he headed up OBP and I took Falling Waters. Although I've hiked the ridge several times in the (not so recent) past, I had never done this classic loop. I quickly learned, however, that the trail was named "Falling Waters" for a reason. Up higher I nearly fell on frozen water in a few places, so I strapped on my crampons (objective #2) and pushed upwards. There were some awesome views of Cannon and the Kinsmans as the trail climbed upwards. My biggest problem was managing moisture. It was not too cold, but there was a good wind that kept me constantly re-evaluating my choice of clothing. The top of FW was pretty icy making crampons a wise choice. Stabilicers would have worked in the rest of the wooded sections, but I personally prefer the rugged masculinity of my G10s. That said, I ditched the crampons at treeline on Little Haystack and barebooted it across the ridge. Washington was out in its full snow-capped glory (once again mocking me see rant on that here) and the wind was fairly tame by Franconia standards. I took my time crossing the ridge to soak-in the mountain goodness that just doesnt seem to find its way into my office (read: closet) back in Cambridge. OBP above Greenleaf was a little hairy, but I made it down in one piece and ran into the guy from the parking lot again. After a little food I started down towards the car passing a million people on their way up including MITOCer Marie Anne & company. It was really funny to observe how differently prepared the other hikers were as they came up the trail. There were a few folks with full frame packs and winter gear (crampons, axes, etc.) and then there were others in jeans, sweatshirts, and sneakers carrying only bottles of Gatorade. OBP drops-off pretty quickly below Greenleaf and the snow disappeared just as fast. From there is was a quick three-mile cruise back to the car. I left my watch in Cambridge, and I was shocked to see that it was well before noon when I got back to I-93. I was glad to finally have hit the ridge this spring, and with a satisfied grin I changed in the parking lot and headed back to Boston to get some work done (sadly, objective #3). - Mike Kokko |