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Bridle Path trail March 2, 2008 |
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This weeks adventure began just trying to get into the trailhead parking area. Since we were coming from Twin Mountain the plan was to park in the Lafayette Campground parking lot on the south side of Rte 93, but as we pulled in with our two friends who only had front wheel drive, we saw several 2 - 3 foot drifts blocking the way. Although we could get through, it was unlikely that our friends could, so we looped around and parked on the northbound side - well eventually that is. We had to push and shovel to get our two friends in, along with Jeff who pulled in behind us and helped with the pushing. Jeff's car was even lower to the ground, so we basically shoveled the entire entrance into the parking lot!!!
After gearing up in a very windy parking lot, we headed up the trail stopping to laugh at the entrance to the out houses. There is a lot of snow in the mountains! A few others had started out just before we did, so the trail was somewhat broken out. Snowshoes were required for the entire day however. Quickly we came to the split of the Bridle Path and Falling Waters trail. Falling Waters looked like it hadn't seen traffic in a while, but in reality it was only due to overnight snow that had filled in the previous path. Bearing left onto the Bridle Path trail we started up through the snow laden trees. Not too much longer and we were warmed up, ready to de-layer. Besides the two of us, we were joined by our new hiking friend Rebecca and Tom, a work buddy of Bob's. This was Tom's very first hike in the White Mountains as well as his first Winter hike. Although we had suggested that Mt Pierce might be a good first hike, Tom wanted to challenge himself, so Lafayette it was. We went shopping with Tom to be sure he had the right clothing and gear, explained about water and snacks, dry clothes, and the importance of not over dressing. Tom may not have fully believed us on the layering thing, but was we all dropped down to either 1 or 2 layers, he did go from 4 to 3 layers - we were sweating just looking at him :> Off we went. The trail is very gentle to start, but soon steepens as you start the first ridge. Here we slowed down as the footing was getting difficult and Tom was feeling his legs. Wanting to keep this fun for all we slowed down, eventually letting Tom go first to set the pace. The peaks were still in the clouds as we traversed the first ridge, but here and there we could get glimpses of the slides on Mt Lincoln, or the rock face of Cannon mountain. We met several others along the way either on the way up, or those that had already gone as far as they wanted and were descending. We could hear the wind blowing hard up on the ridge, and by this time had already decided that the hut would be our goal for the day. One more bump and we were at the hut! Looking up at Lafayette - or at least where it should be, we could only see dark clouds. The hut was surrounded by ice on the ground and covered with rim ice. But a welcome sight which provided a nice wind block. Tom kissed the hut - Geri hugged Tom and congratulated him, and many photos were taken. Looking up we could see Jeff coming down the last section of trail towards the hut. Jeff and one other (Gary) had made the summit - the only 2 out of the 20 people and 3 dogs on the trail. We greeted Jeff with the good news that we had jumper cables in our car, and the bad news that he had left his head lights on :< As we headed out for our descent, the sun started to burn off the clouds providing great views looking north, West towards Cannon and the Kinsmans, Mt Liberty, and Lincoln. At last Tom was seeing why we do this thing called Winter hiking!. The return trip was 50% faster than our ascent and lots of fun - several steep sections of trail that we could glissade down. Returning to the parking lot we found Jeff waiting patiently for us as his battery was dead. Quick jump, change of clothes and were we once again cruising down the highway to the Common Man in Ashland for dinner, drinks, and sharing of fun stories. |
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and our