But for the first big trip of the summer, I'm trying to put together a plan to hike three major peaks in the Franconia Range, all of which are among the highest in the White Mountains, and New England at large. The mountains I want to do in this day trip are specifically Mounts Lafayette, Lincoln, and Liberty, though Mount Flume, at the end of the range, is also a 4,000 footer. It's just a bit much to do all of them in one day, which I'll get to in a bit.
The Franconias are actually part of a large horseshoe of mountains, most of which are 4,000 footers, surrounding an expanse of forest called the Pemigewasset Wilderness. The Franks link up with Mount Garfield (4,500) at the north edge of the Wilderness, where the ridge continues to the Twins range, with Mounts Galehead (4,024), North Twin (4,761), South Twin (4,902) and Zealand (4,260), after which it curves south to the Bond range, with Mounts West Bond (4,540), Bond (4,698), and Bondcliff (4,265). All of this surrounds Owl's Head (4,025), smack in the middle of the Wilderness, and if you throw in the Franks with Lafayette (5,260), Lincoln (5,089), Liberty (4,459) and Flume (4,328), you're looking at over a quarter of the 4,000 footers in New Hampshire. It's possible to do them all over about a 3-day camping trip, with Huts and Shelters scattered throughout, and it's some of the best hiking you'll do in New England.
Not that that's what I have planned. Really, I just want to hit the high peaks of the Franks, and even with just the three, for a day trip, it's going to be quite a challenge. The first major hurdle is simply logistics.
So far, when planning out peak-bagging trips with Arya, we've either stuck to one mountain, or selected trails that have the same base area so that we do a loop (like with Mount Washington and Mount Monroe). The problem with the Franks is how and where all the major trails are situated: In Franconia Notch.
Much like the Presidential Range with Crawford and Pinkham Notches, the Franks flank one side of Franconia Notch, with Cannon Mountain and the Kinsmans on the other side. Interstate 93 also runs through the notch, so it's easy to get to as it were, though not so easy to hike back from one trailhead to another.
My current plan is to get up at the crack of day (or before it), and take two cars with our group, stashing one at the trailhead for Liberty (to the south) and heading north to the trailhead for Lafayette and starting our day there. We used to do this all the time with my parents when we were kids (including when we did the Franks in 1996). That way we can take the trails that make the most sense for the mountains we want to climb, and not the need to get back to the car.
It's gonna be a long day, though. Assuming an 8:00 start at the trailhead (which in turn assumes a 6:00 departure from the Farm, which prooooobably won't happen), we won't be back to the stashed car until 5:00, and won't be back to the Farm until 7:00. And that's if we stick to book time, which, while certainly within the realm of possibility, isn't a guarantee. So this might be a bit ambitious.
The ridge itself I remember vividly from when we hiked it in 1996; not so much specific parts of it, but more the almost painfully blue sky, and the green of the mountains around us. We really hit it on a perfect day, with not a cloud to be seen, and it remains probably the best aesthetic day of hiking I've ever had (at least, my nearly 20-year-old memories of that day tell me so). You're above treeline the ENTIRE time from Lafayette to Lincoln, which is only actually one mile away, and I don't recall feeling at all tired or worn the whole way down the ridge. The White Mountain Guide tells me that part of the traverse is technically a knife edge, which makes me nervous both for my new-found fear of heights and the fact that I'll have Arya on her extendo-leash, though it is explicit that it's NOT like the infamous one on Katahdin, and I don't really recall having trouble with it before. I bet it's just that the ridge is 10 or 15 feet wide with steep drops on either side (which I DO remember), and I think we can handle that, as long as Arya doesn't see a butterfly she wants to chase.
From the top of Mount Lincoln, though, the day starts to stretch out, and that's what I'm kind of worried about. I remember when we did Monroe and Washington that I really started to hit a wall and just want to be done when we reached the junction with the trails up Mount Clay, and we still had a majority of our descent to go. From Lincoln to Liberty is about 2.5 miles, and from Liberty back to the parking lot it's another 3. So that's not exactly a lark, though with most of that being ridgewalking, I'm hoping that we don't really start to suffer until we're heading down to the car. Additionally, after my knee got messed up on Mount Ellen, I've been especially nervous that something might happen halfway through our day, but I guess there's nothing I can do about that except wear my brace, use my hiking poles, and take some Aleve. We'll see.
In all, especially if the forecast holds, this could be an amazing day. We have a lot of people coming (potentially 12 in all!) and it'll be great to spend the day up there and bag 3 more peaks for Arya. I mean, I'll basically be an invalid on Sunday, but some things are worth it.
Cheers!
-M
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