Lincoln/Lafayette Franconia Ridge loop hike

[Addicted]

We had an incredible day on the ridge! I'm so glad we decided to do this hike and glad we did the loop. We couldn't have asked for better weather! We headed up the Falling Waters Tr and it was great. We did have to work to get to the summit of Little Haystack, but it was worth it. It was only the last mile or so that was a real climb, and the rocks along the waterfalls.

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It was nice that the scrub just spit us above tree line and on the summit of Little Haystack. We had views in every direction! I took a lot of pictures and then we added a longsleeve and headed across the ridge. It wasn't cold by any means, but there was enough of a breeze that an extra layer was nice. The trip over to Lincoln was fairly easy, scrambling over some rocks, but there were great views down into the slides and back down to the Notch, Cannon, and Owl's Head and the Bonds on the other side.

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We summited Lincoln but didn't stay too long. We wanted to wait till Lafayette to take a nice long break. It was cool to look ahead and see the long ridge and the mountain waiting.

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We made it over to Lafayette, pretty tired but excited to make it. It was loaded with people, as I knew it would be on a day as perfect as today! We saw a silent 'glider' plane doing loops around the summits which was cool. Freaky cause it didn't make a sound and then all of a sudden it would be right over our heads. At times it was down below us even. There was a guy sleeping in his sleeping bag on the summit, and a hiker in a kilt. Lots to look at and watch. I took lots of pics, took a break, then we headed on down to the Hut.

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There was a long line of hikers heading to the hut, and a long decent of rocks. It was nice that they were in 'step' form, so it was like a hike down a really long flight of stairs with great views!
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We made it to the hut and were ready for another break. Still lots of great views from here. Glad we did the loop CCW, as I think the views would have been different (and maybe dishearting at this point!)

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I took a last couple of shots of the Greenleaf Hut and the mountains looming behind/above it.

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We headed down over the lumps, our knees starting to feel the pain. There were some tough rock sections on the way down (especially with bad knees) but the Old Bridle Path was really nice in the end, which is when we really needed a break from the rocks. Our knees slowed us down a lot,and we were passed by just about everyone we saw on the trip that day.
Although we were in a lot of pain coming off the trail, it was still an amazing trip and I'm sure I'll be back again. I couldn't stop taking pics and stopping to take in the views. Had I done this as a solo hike I'm sure I could have turned it into a 12 hour adventure.