JacobH
Active member
Saturday night I was still looking for plans for the weekend. None of my regular friends that I drag out hiking with me have winter gear. At least, not that involve going uphill. 
Before I went out partying on New Year's Eve, I noticed damselfly had posted on the T&E forum about a Franconia Ridge loop. I had recently applied to the AMC volunteer program to adopt the Falling Waters trail so I figured, what better way to kick off the year then a little scouting. Damselfly and I exchanged emails and a phone call, and we planned to meet at the OBP trailhead around 7:30. We geared up and shortly were on the trail. The conditions were unseasonably warm. The recent rain had left a solid coating of ice, so we put on microspikes in the parking lot and didn't remove them until we were far down off the ridge (some of us left them on until we arrived back at the lot). We made good time, stopping to shed a layer around the first water crossing on the FW trial. Everyone was in good spirits and we laughed and chatted as we gained elevation and took in the scenery around us.
The rain had caused rivulets of water to cascade down the rocks, which then froze and frosted over, creating a really cool pattern.
Cloudland falls looked more like it was coming out of a spring thaw as opposed to early January.
After the water crossings, we kept a good pace, stopping to take a few snack breaks and sneak views through the trees behind us. Cannon's cliffs were hidden at times by a few clouds, and eventually as we got higher up the clouds started getting thicker behind us. Then we hit tree line.
Looking back to Lonesome Lake.
Pano from Little Haystack
With temps in the 30's, wind in the single digits, and views like this, needless to say we took our time!
As the clouds started lapping at the summit pyramid of Lincoln, we continued on.
On trail between Little Haystack and Lincoln.
Just before the summit of Lincoln, we were suddenly in a cloud.
It didn't last long though, we dropped down below the summit and had a break, layered up a bit, and started moving on. Here is where we started running into other people. Someone doing a solo loop in the other direction. Most people were wearing full crampons. All in all I think we figured we ran into about 15-20 total throughout the day. After about 15 minutes of being socked in, we were again treated to an undercast.
Approaching Lafayette
The rime was beautiful.
Dragon Spine.
cont'd
Before I went out partying on New Year's Eve, I noticed damselfly had posted on the T&E forum about a Franconia Ridge loop. I had recently applied to the AMC volunteer program to adopt the Falling Waters trail so I figured, what better way to kick off the year then a little scouting. Damselfly and I exchanged emails and a phone call, and we planned to meet at the OBP trailhead around 7:30. We geared up and shortly were on the trail. The conditions were unseasonably warm. The recent rain had left a solid coating of ice, so we put on microspikes in the parking lot and didn't remove them until we were far down off the ridge (some of us left them on until we arrived back at the lot). We made good time, stopping to shed a layer around the first water crossing on the FW trial. Everyone was in good spirits and we laughed and chatted as we gained elevation and took in the scenery around us.The rain had caused rivulets of water to cascade down the rocks, which then froze and frosted over, creating a really cool pattern.
Cloudland falls looked more like it was coming out of a spring thaw as opposed to early January.
After the water crossings, we kept a good pace, stopping to take a few snack breaks and sneak views through the trees behind us. Cannon's cliffs were hidden at times by a few clouds, and eventually as we got higher up the clouds started getting thicker behind us. Then we hit tree line.
Looking back to Lonesome Lake.
Pano from Little Haystack
With temps in the 30's, wind in the single digits, and views like this, needless to say we took our time!
As the clouds started lapping at the summit pyramid of Lincoln, we continued on.
On trail between Little Haystack and Lincoln.
Just before the summit of Lincoln, we were suddenly in a cloud.
It didn't last long though, we dropped down below the summit and had a break, layered up a bit, and started moving on. Here is where we started running into other people. Someone doing a solo loop in the other direction. Most people were wearing full crampons. All in all I think we figured we ran into about 15-20 total throughout the day. After about 15 minutes of being socked in, we were again treated to an undercast.
Approaching Lafayette
The rime was beautiful.
Dragon Spine.
cont'd
