NH Appalachian Trail: Mt. Lincoln, Lafayette, and Garfield

Trees along the Franconia Ridge knocked over by storms

I got a rather lazy start in the morning (but still earlier than most of the college students, it would seem) and ambled back to the top of Franconia Ridge. But this time I turned left and headed north along the ridge towards Lafayette, excited to reach the timberline and walk along the ridge.

Monarch on some species of goldenrod

It was a very pleasant stroll along the forested ridgeline for about a mile or so, mostly level, and I only saw one hiker. A lot of trees appeared to have been hit with a big wind from the east at some point, which is not the prevailing wind direction, so it was probably a nor'easter or hurricane. Although it was in the trees, you could sense the land dropping off sharply on either side.

At the top of the ladder facing Liberty & Flume

After a spell, the land started rising again, and a ladder lead to the top of a rock with dramatic views to the south. Two matched peaks stood out: Mt. Liberty and Mt. Flume. Their profile would help orient me at future overlooks.

Bearberry

The next few miles were in the alpine zone and I had a lot of trouble making progress because I kept stopping to admire the unfamiliar plants. And the views, of course, always the views. There was lots of Bearberry, a plant I'm familiar with only because I purchased some for a native species garden, and the plant slowly died over the years. But it thrived up here, and was covered with berries. I'm going to assume bear eat these berries.

Alpine Bilberry

Another widespread low shrub with big blue berries was  (I believe) Alpine Bilberry, also known as Bog Blueberry, Northern Bilberry. This was a hard one to find any natural history on, because the Internet tubes and wires were clogged with the therapeutic uses for of bilberry.

Little Haystack

I kept heading uphill and arrived at a peak around 9:15 am. I thought it was Mt. Lincoln, but it turns out it was just Little Haystack. This peak barely even shows up as a peak on maps or profiles, but while hiking the ridge, it does feel like one. No sign indicated the peak, but a trail sign for Falling Waters Trail placed me on the map. Up head was another peak: Mt. Lincoln. 

Mt Lincoln up ahead

These peaks along the ridgeline always looked closer than they were. It looks like it should take twenty minutes to get there, but it was closer to 45 minutes. Granted, I stopped frequently for photos.

The weather had been most pleasant so far, but suddenly a gust came out of nowhere, and if I didn't have my trekking poles I'm pretty sure I would have been completely knocked over. There were a growing number of day hikers on this section and they were donning their jackets.

Pretend this is Old Man in the Mountain or something

The Old Man of the Mountain used to be located across the Notch from this area before it fell apart, and I could see how these rocks would form a face.

View across Franconia Notch: Kinsman peaks & Lonesome Lake

The wind died down quickly and the sun was quite warm due to the higher elevation. Day hikers were wearing shorts and no-sleave shirts, and sweating. Nearing elevation 5,000 ft, I bet it was even hotter down at the bottom of the valley.

Day hikers on Mt. Lincoln

Mt. Lincoln (elev. 5089 ft) was bustling with backpackers, some of them from Liberty Spring. I don't think they were thru hikers, but I'm not sure. A lot of people go on shorter backpacking trips in this area.   Seemed like a lot of college kids.

Mt Lafayette directly ahead, Garfield beyond. Nice landslide. 

Mt. Lafayette first became visible from the summit of Mt. Lincoln. It looked really close, but took longer than expected to reach. By this time, I was starting to see a lot of day hikers in very good shape.

Mt. Lafeyette summit

I climbed up onto the somewhat crowded summit around 11:15. Top of the world! At elevation 5260 ft, Lafayette is just twenty feet short of one mile high, and is the highest point on my route between Long Island Sound and the Canadian border. What a great feeling!

Looking north across the gentle Connecticut River Valley

I did not realize it at the time, but the air is a bit thinner up here for those of us who live near sea level. At 5,000 ft, there are reportedly 7% fewer oxygen molecule in every breath of air you take in. So I think I can say that 7% of my gasping up the hills was due to thin air, right?

Mt. Lafayette summit

All in all, the weather was really nice for the ridge line and about as good as one could expect, though at the time I found the sun quite intense and the uphills hot and tiring.  I was wishing for some of that cold breeze to return. I was also concerned about sunburn in case I missed a spot with the sunscreen. The thin air seemed to make the sun's rays stronger.

Meet my friend, the Majestic Longhorned Beetle

Hanging out at the summit, a big dramatic beetle flew in and landed on my boot. It crawled around  on my boot for a couple of minutes, then on the rocks.  Looking it up later, I found it's called the Majestic Longhorned Beetle.

Heading down Lafayette with Mt. Garfield directly ahead. 

I didn't stay at the top very long as it was pretty busy up there, but started down the north shoulder of Lafayette. The trail suddenly got very quiet here, with just a trickle of backpackers. I passed a woman having lunch on a boulder. "Nice and peaceful here," I said. "Exactly!" she laughed. A bit further on, still above treeline, I did the same thing. Lunch time. It was gorgeous.

Mt. Garfield ahead. It doesn't look like very much from up above heh heh

I picked my way down the rocky hill, in no particular hurry, with the trail gradually circling to the East off of the Franconia Range and onward towards Mt. Garfield and the Twin Range (or Ridge). Had a nice conversation with a woman who had backpacked in with her dog, set up camp on the back side of Garfield Pond, and day hiked up to the top of Lafayette. Said she did it every year, and said there was plenty more room near the pond there. I thought about it. But when I got to the pond it was only 2:45 pm. Lots of daylight left, and I wanted to get closer to Zealand.

Garfield Pond

My water was getting low. I started with 2.5 liters, but with the heat and maybe the thinner air, I only had about half a liter left. I halfheartedly tried to get some from the pond, but the mud was so deep along the shore it didn't seem worth it. Later I heard from a number of thru-hikers who were completely out of water and did manage to refill at the pond.

Heading up Garfield

Garfield kicked my butt. By this time I was probably dehydrated, not to mention hot and tired, and the air was a bit thinner. The uphill was relentless, about 800 feet, and thru-hikers started speeding past me. I was actually getting shaky and light-headed, probably from dehydration. The afternoon sun was beating down on the west-facing slope and my thighs burned. But eventually I made it near the top to a great overlook.

Near the top of Garfield, looking back at Flume, Liberty, Lincoln, and Lafayette

Just a bit further was the summit. I didn't stay long, since there was a group of loud thru-hikers monopolizing the top.

Mt. Garfield summit

There was a great view of the Pemigewasset Wilderness down below, basically a broad valley with prominent hill in the middle called Owl's Head, not to be confused with the Owl's Head peak on Cherry Mountain. The Pemi Wilderness is 45,000 acres surrounded on three sides by the Franconia, Twin, and Bond Ranges. It reminded me a giant volcanic caldera.

The Pemi Wilderness from Mt. Garfield. 

It was a short but rather steep downhill to the Garfield Ridge campsite. The camp is located up a spur trail at a spring, and that noisy group of thru-hikers was there. After filling up a couple bottles (I drank the first so fast I got a brain freeze from the cold spring water), I headed up the spur and asked the caretaker for a quiet spot away from the noisy hikers that were coming up behind me. He brought me down to the farthest platform, which was wonderful, and I set up the tent.

The Caretaker Tent

The young thru-hikers were making a lot of noise, so I head back down to the spring to wash up and get some more water. An older thru hiker was waiting for a friend there at the spring. He said he was hiking southbound. He'd down the first half of the trail northbound, then drove on up to Maine and started southbound. This is an option a number of people do who want more time, especially retired people. That was interesting. On our last hike, we had passed some AT thru hikers heading south, and wondered how that worked. 

Overlook rock on the way back to the spring

Back in the camp, there is a common area near the bear boxes where everyone is asked to cook and eat their food, so any bears will look there and not sniff around the tents. This was the big hang out location for what I'm guessing are the so-called "Mayflies." Those are thru hikers who start late in May and then have to rush up the trail trying to get to Katahdin before winter. Someone just graduating from college, for example, can't start until classes end, typically in May.

I grabbed my supplies and cooked up some dinner while listening to the thru-hikers. They all knew each other pretty well it seemed and there were a lot of running jokes. As I was heading towards the cooking area, the caretaker had brought down another hiker to set up a tent next to mine on the same platform. I never got a chance to talk to her. I was eating my food when she came up to the cooking area, and was warmly greeted by her fellow through hikers. There was basically one big circle of thru hikers having a conversation that I didn't want to intrude upon, so I did like an anthropologist and just listened to this species of hiker.

Three bear boxes and a shelter

After dinner, I headed back to the tent. It was dusk, so I retired. My platform-mate didn't come down for another half hour or so, heading straight into her tend. So that was a little weird. She was very nice a quiet, and I tried to be the same.