Mount Lafayette

Also on this trip

Trails Used

Old Bridle Path, Greenleaf Trail, Franconia Ridge Trail, Liberty Springs Trail

Trail Conditions

Equipment

Notes

Firm pack of snow below treeline on Old Bridle Path and then it becomes bare and icy on Greenleaf Trail up to the summit of Lafayette. Smooth sailing to Lincoln and Little Haystack before the real challenge begins. From Little Haystack to Liberty, it's an awkward monorail of spring snow, few postholes and blowdowns. Up to Liberty and Flume, snow was soft and down Liberty Springs, mushy snow and then a lot of rock, mud and water.

Parking

Plenty of room when we car-spotted at The Basin and at Old Bridle/Falling Waters.

Water Crossings

Two crossings on Liberty Springs are moving swiftly, but hoppable by rocks, for the most part.

Also on this trip

Trails Used

Franconia Ridge

Trail Conditions

Equipment

Notes

Beautiful day with wind chill around -18°F and predicted winds 25-30mph. Excellent winter trail conditions. Hikers completed either one loop (9 miles) or two loops (18 miles) of the ridge.

Also on this trip

Trails Used

Falling waters, Franconia ridge, green leaf, Old bridle

Trail Conditions

Equipment

Notes

Trails were firm and fast. Minimal ice on FW Greenleaf and old Bridle. Some short areas of ice on Franconia ridge, lots of firm snow and some posthole sections in drifted areas.

Water Crossings

Above the falls a couple were a bit spicy and required some thought. All 3 of us were good with dry feet. When it warms up will be more challenging to stay dry.

Also on this trip

Trails Used

Bike Path, Liberty Springs Trail, Franconia Ridge Trail, Greenleaf Trail, Old Bridle Path, Bike Path

Trail Conditions

Equipment

Notes

Bare boots from the Basin lot to just past Liberty, snow was very grippy even without traction, but I knew I'd need the snowshoes for Liberty->Haystack so put them on after Liberty. Trail is very supportive as long as you stay on the previous path. Back at the junction with Liberty Springs Trail, all signs of previous travel were gone heading towards Haystack. With snowshoes, you could walk anywhere and only sink ~6". I'd give myself a solid A- for navigation...only had to double back once. A couple of times I thought "Surely this isn't the trail." as I squeezed through some waist high gap in the spruce but using GPS, guesswork, and the Force I managed to keep on course. There might be 10' of snow in places, and this trail is very lightly used in winter so not very consolidated...it would be foolish to attempt this section without snowshoes. Bundled up at the top of the ladder approaching Haystack, which is good because the wind was ripping once out of the trees. Decided to switch to Hillsounds a couple of 100 yds past Haystack, but in retrospect I wish I'd left the snowshoes on, there is pretty consistently 6"-1' of snow on the ridge with some icy patches mixed in for fun. It looked like 3 other people crossed the ridge today, all bare boot, so the trail is a bit chopped up for now in places. The trail from Lafayette to the hut is more packed but still lumpy, and OBP gets less lumpy the lower you go. The bike path from Lafayette Place back to the Basin lot still has decent snow coverage but bare boots were fine...(it looks like it's been a while since snowmobiles have used it)

Parking

Parked at the Basin lot on SB side, loads of space and I was the only car there.

Water Crossings

The only crossings of note are on Liberty Springs Trail and were easily rock hoppable.

Wildlife

No bugs, but I did see a vole near the summit of Mt. Lincoln running around on the ice...I think the wind chill was -30...the Chuck Norris of Voles...and I learned a new term just now, the Subnivean Zone, which is the thin zone between the snow pack and the frozen ground where they normally hang out. This guy must have wanted to stretch his legs.

Also on this trip

Trails Used

Falling Waters Trail, Franconia Ridge Trail, Greenleaf Trail, Old Bridle Path

Trail Conditions

Equipment

Notes

Tough day! Broke trail heading up Falling Waters until the middle of the descent of Lafayette. Until I hit the ridge, it was very manageable: 5-7" of light snow, easily handled with showshoes. The Cloudland Falls section was tough - crampons would be wise there. I had a tough time with snowshoes. On the ridge it was very difficult to see the ground. Used my poles best I could to find rocks to avoid sinking into drifts. Mixed success there. Struggled to surmount some of the big boulder technical sections before Lincoln. Switched to spikes here for the rest of the hike (I prefer descending in spikes). The drifts got more serious closer to Lafayette and also on the exposed section of the descent before the hut (which is closed. After the hut, I jogged down most of Old Bridle, which had been broken out and is nice and mellow with some packed snow on it. Anyway, the loop is broken out for now.

Water Crossings

Water was fairly low. Crossings not difficult with poles.

Trails Used

Old Bridle Path, Greenleaf Trail

Trail Conditions

Equipment

Notes

Used spikes out and back, old bridal to greenleaf summited Lafayette. Spikes the entire trip. Few inches of snow before 215 pm on sun, 3/22 but it was still snowing. Exposed greenleaf has sections of deeper snow. Watch out for covered post holes and snow covered ice in places. While the monorail was stable today it was incredibly narrow and required good concentration to not fall off in some locations. A good hike experiencing adverse weather safely with a group of experienced/ prepared hikers.