Lincoln NH to Garfield Ridge campsite - 10.1 miles hiked today - 1830.1 total AT miles hiked to date
What an exhausting, exhilarating, and wonderful day. We continued our journey through the Whites scaling several key mountains and climbing a combined 5500 feet of elevation. Our trek took us up to the ridge line, above the tree line and into the Alpine zone.
By mid morning we had climbed up and over Little Haystack Mountain, past Liberty Springs where were we resupplied with water. By lunchtime we had reached our first Presidential, Mount Lincoln , the first of the Franconia Ridge. The temperatures were on the cool side, hovering in the 50s and 60s, depending on if you were in the wind or not. The views were spectacular, as we had a rare day where visibility was clear for miles. By far the best views of the entire trip.
From there, we continued on the ridge, up and down over Mt. Lafayette, several smaller mounts, and ultimately Mt. Garfield. We ended up covering just over 10 miles in 12 hours of hiking. The Alpine Zone was mostly bare of vegetation, but whenever we dipped back into the trees, it was like walking through a Christmas tree lot in both look and smell.
Instead of while blazes on trees to guide our path, there were cairns (stacks of rocks) to help folks stay on the path when fog or snow made it difficult.
Tomorrow we will do shorter mileage as the terrain continues to increase in difficulty, and there is more rain in the forecast.
Until next time…
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