Starting location: Lincoln, NH
Ending location: Garfield Ridge Shelter
State: NH
Miles today: 10.2
Miles total: 1,816.7
A taxi picked us up at Chet's house at 7:30am and dropped us off at the trail head on the base of Franconia Ridge. Yesterday we showed you a picture of Lonesome Lake with Franconia Ridge in the background. The mountains in the whites often look a bit daunting when you see them off in the distance. The climb up Franconia Ridge was a steep and steady for several hours. As we climbed and began to approach the top of the ridge we noticed that the trees began to get shorter and shorter until they became bushes. The weather in the whites is so harsh that it is very difficult for plant life to live in the higher elevations. That is why many of the mountain tops in the whites are what is called "above treeline" meaning there are no trees and hikers are totally exposed to the elements. This is what makes the whites dangerous because there is no way to shelter yourself from bad weather on the exposed ridges.
Franconia Ridge consists of three different mountains Little Haystack Mountain, Mt Lincoln, and Mt Lafayette. Once on top of the ridge it was above treeline hiking for 5 miles. To put it simply it was nothing Kristen and I have ever seen our of lives. It was just ridiculous. We had lunch on top of Mt Lincoln for quite awhile just to enjoy the scenary.
After only 10 miles, we pulled into camp around 6pm. It is hard to plan our days now that we are in the Whites because they are so difficult. Tomorrow we will stay in our first hut and really looking forward to it.
Franconia Ridge
Looking up at Mt Lincoln
Lunch on Mt Lincoln
Conan + Backwards
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