Stream X-ing Question, Lincoln Woods Trail

Does anyone know if the stream crossing along the Lincoln Woods Trail is difficult? The area I'm talking about is over the Franconia Brook near the junction of the East Branch Pemigewasset River (close to the Franconia Falls). I'd like to take that trail en route to the Wilderness Trail and the Bondcliff trail up to the Bonds this weekend. Thanks!

"Does anyone know if the stream crossing along the Lincoln Woods Trail is difficult? The area I'm talking about is over the Franconia Brook near the junction of the East Branch Pemigewasset River (close to the Franconia Falls). I'd like to take that trail en route to the Wilderness Trail and the Bondcliff trail........"

If you mean the Wilderness Trail, which begins at Lincoln Woods on the Kanc, there is huge bridge across Franconia Brook about 2.9 miles in; another 2 miles or so on the WT brings you the Bond Cliff Trail.....

The difficult stream crossings this time of year are farther up Franconia Brook Trail and the Lincoln Brook Trail on the way to Owls Head, where there are no bridges.

Bridges

Franconia Brook is bridged so I'm not sure where you are referring to. If you intend to cross the Pemi from Franconia Brook to get to the campground. That part of the river is running very high. In the summer, the USFS people arrange stepping rocks so that you can usually get across unwashed. But that takes pretty low flows. The only other crossing that I can think of on the Lincoln Woods Trail is just before the Camp 16 site where the Bondcliff Trail leaves. That is bridged also and of course the old Covered Bridge Trestle ruin is still there. There is a minor stream coming in at another location but that is usually never a problem.

Clarification

I'm looking at my map, and there are two trails that run along the E. Branch Pemi river: The Lincoln Woods Trail to the west, and the Pemi East Side Trail to the east.

According to my map. the Lincoln Woods trail crosses the Franconia Brook, near the junction where it dumps into the East Branch Pemi River. No bridge is marked here.

My map does show the bridges near the Lincoln Woods visitor center and where the Wilderness Trail meets with the East Side trail further up, but I'd rather not go that route.

Does that make sense?

"I'm looking at my map, and there are two trails that run along the E. Branch Pemi river: The Lincoln Woods Trail to the west, and the Pemi East Side Trail to the east.

According to my map. the Lincoln Woods trail crosses the Franconia Brook, near the junction where it dumps into the East Branch Pemi River. No bridge is marked here.

My map does show the bridges near the Lincoln Woods visitor center and where the Wilderness Trail meets with the East Side trail further up, but I'd rather not go that route."

Not sure what map you are using, but yes there are trails on opposite sides of the East Branch north of the Kanc (Rt. 112). Your "Lincoln Woods Trail" is my "Wilderness Trail" on the west side of the East Branch. There is a substantial bridge on the WT that crosses Franconia Brook where it enters from the north into the East Branch 2.9 miles from the Kanc. The only bridges across the East Branch are next to the Lincoln Woods parking lot on the Kanc and at 5.5 miles upstream, about 0.7 miles above where the Bond Cliff Trail exits north (both are suspension bridges). But, if your intent is to climb Bond Cliff, the only bridges that matter are the first suspension bridge to access the WT (your Lincoln Woods Trail) and the fixed span bridge across Franconia Brook at 2.9 miles; other than those, all streams crossings are smaller without bridges. Good luck; Bond Cliff is one of the finest places to visit in the Whites, IMHO.

It may not be on your map, but THIS helps a lot

Bob

To put it in very simple terms:
1. Park at Lincoln woods.
2. Cross the Pemi to the west side on the suspension bridge
3. Walk the Lincoln Woods Tr (new name, old name: Pemi Wilderness Tr) to the woden bridge at Franconia Brook (shown in Bob's picture).
4. Cross wooden bridge. Continue on trail (now called Pemi Wilderness) to junction with Bondcliff Tr.

The entire route is an old rail bed.
No stream crossings--all bridged.
The entire route parallels the Pemi.

I hope this clears any possible confusion.

Doug

Yup, that clears it up a lot. Thanks all! It sounds like the map I was looking at is a bit outdated. But now it's full steam ahead. Thanks again.

What happened was that the USFS wanted to distinguish the portion of the trail inside the wilderness boundary (right next to the Franconia Brook crossing) from the portion outside the boundary back to the parking area. Thus, the "Wilderness Trail" lost its 3 miles on the end to the name "Lincoln Woods Trail".

However, as of the 26th edition of the White Mountain Guide, "since the name of Wilderness Trail for the entire trail is very firmly established among the hiking public, and thus it seems unlikely that popular usage will also change, this guide will continue to refer to the entire trail from the Kancamagus Highway to Stillwater Junction as the Wilderness Trail in the hope of minimizing confusion."

Unfortunately, your confusion wasn't minimized.

Interesting info, MichaelJ. Yes, no wonder I was confused.

I may save this trip for Memorial Day Weekend though, and opt to do Galehead and Garfield this weekend instead.