Ever since our failed attempt at bagging Mt. Lincoln while hiking Mt. Lafayette last September, the mountain has been calling our names to complete it. Lincoln was the last of the four Franconia ridge mountains that we had to complete (Lafayette, Liberty, and Flume being the others), so we decided that it would be a good choice for our 25th mountain. Finally my buddy Foster was going to join us on a hike, so Paloma, Foster, and myself set off on Saturday morning towards Franconia Notch to finally bag Lincoln.
We arrived at the Falling Waters trail-head at around 9:15 AM. Despite the forecast calling for clouds and showers, the weather at the base was a beautiful 45 degrees with minimal clouds in the sky. Things were looking good. We made our final preparations and were on the trail at 9:30 AM. There was still a ton of snow on the ground, I estimated about three feet or so, but luckily the trail was pretty well packed down and easy to follow.
The frozen cascades
Our route for the day was to hike up the Falling Waters trail to the top of Little Haystack, then traverse the ridge to the summit of Lincoln and return the same way, a total distance of 7.8 miles. The lower portion of the Falling Waters trail is relatively mild, gaining elevation gradually. Since there was so much snow, we had little issues with any of the water crossings as they were completely covered - sometimes we didn't even realize we were over a river bed. Within only a few minutes we reached what we assumed was the cascades that this trail is famous for, though they were completely covered in snow and frozen so there wasn't much to see. In a few spots you could see some flowing water - I bet this trail is beautiful when the snow is gone.
Falling Waters - Appropriate Name!
As soon as we passed through the open river bed area the climbing truly began. The trail was still packed down relatively well but only about one foot in width - stepping off to either the left or the right would cause your legs to post-hole down about three feet. It was actually quite funny as every few seconds one of us would let out a "damn" or an "oof" as our legs broke through the snow and plummeted downward. We eventually caught up to a group of three which we would end up leap frogging the rest of the way to the top. By this point the trail was climbing steadily towards the summit of Little Haystack, which stands at about 4800' but unfortunately doesn't count due to the difference in height of it to the ridge which it is a part of (read the AMC 4000' "rules" here). Our hearts were racing and our legs were burning. This was a difficult section. We stopped for a quick snack break of Raisinets and clementines to refuel our bodies before the final push.
Lunch on Little Haystack
We finally broke through the trees and reached the top of Little Haystack at 11:50AM. Now here is where I must admit we encountered a bit of confusion. In reading about the route prior to our hike, I had read that you would reach the top of Little Haystack and then continue on the ridge to Lincoln, though I didn't realize that Lincoln completely blocks the view of Lafayette from here, and it looks like there are no mountains beyond it. Stupid me thought that we must be at the top of Lincoln since I knew the order of the mountains on the ridge and couldn't see Lafayette. This lead to me proclaiming that we were at the top, and we ended up taking premature summit photos and eating lunch. Luckily, an older gentleman asked us about our route of the day and I told him we were just hiking Lincoln so we would be turning and heading back down after we ate. Thankfully he questioned whether we had already been over to Lincoln which caused me to realize that we hadn't reached the summit yet! Whoops! I would have been devastated if we turned back and figured out we had only hiked Little Haystack! Nevertheless, the top of Little Haystack was beautiful and gave us great views. We had a nice spot hunkered down between some boulders which shielded us from the wind as we ate.
Paloma and I at the summit of Lincoln
Realizing that we still had some work to do, we packed up our things and headed across the ridge to the real Mt. Lincoln at 12:20PM. It was beautiful along the ridge, and it was neat watching the clouds whip by, engulfing us for a moment, then disappearing completely. Just goes to show you the ever changing weather in the White Mountains. We reached the summit of Lincoln at 12:45 PM, where Mt. Lafayette was revealed to us. Now it made sense! From the top of Lincoln we were treated to great views of the ridge and across to Cannon Mt. Since we had already eaten, we took a few snap shots at the summit then headed back across the ridge to Little Haystack to begin our descent.
Men.
The word "hilarious" describes our descent nearly perfectly. A steep trail + melting snow + gravity and inertia = three hikers completely out of control for much of the descent. I don't think I have laughed for such an extended period of time in my life as I did during our hike down. It was nearly impossible to hike slowly which caused us to have to basically jog down. This was all good until one of us would hit a soft spot and post hole one or both of our legs into the snow and stop dead in our tracks and face plant. I'd estimate that about once every five minutes one of us would be tumbling down the trail in some awkward movement. Thankfully the amount of snow made every landing soft, so we were able to laugh at each other rather than have concern for each other's well being. I am just hoping that no kids were nearby to hear the variety of questionable language that was coming out of our mouths each time wiped out!
By this point we were all soaking wet and tired, but were having a blast, so we decided to engage in what many winter hikers rave about - butt-sledding. Yes, sliding down the trail on nothing but your ass. The first spot we decided to give it a whirl was at a steep hairpin turn on the trail. It looked like others had the same idea, and a human ice-luge shortcut was made. It was too perfect to pass up. We all cruised down the 60' slide on our asses. It was quite fun. We continued to slide down all of the remaining steep spots we could find as we made our way back to the base.
We arrived at the lot at 3:10 PM - though we were sore and exhausted, we continued to talk about how awesome the hike was as we changed into dry clothes and packed up the car for the ride home. This really was a great, challenging hike. The Falling Waters trail is definitely one I will revisit at some point as I would love to see the cascades in action!
Public Service Announcement: If you ever plan to hike with Foster, bring eye protection and a helmet. He has a nasty habit of sling-shotting all branches he passes into your face. I am thankful that I still have vision in both eyes.
Hike Stats Trails: Falling Waters Trail, Franconia Ridge Total Time (Including Breaks): 5:40 Distance: 7.8 Miles Elevation Gain: 3400'
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