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Once
on top of Little Haystack, I removed my crampons because most
of the snow had melted off the rocks. I had lunch on the summit
with great views of Mt
Washington and Presidentials, the Pemigewasset Wilderness, Mt Flume,
Mt Liberty, Cannon Mtn,
and the Kinsmans.
I took out my compass and was able to identify
Owl’s Head and the Bonds.
The
sky was as blue and clear as I'd ever seen it. The trail, which
was marked with cairns, wound over the rocks toward Mts Lincoln
and Lafayette, which looked deceptively close.
After
lunch, I started off toward Mt Lincoln on the Franconia Ridge
Trail. The trail looked easier than it turned out to be. It was
rocky with patches of snow, and I could hear melting snow running
under the snow cover. The sun was hotter than I expected. I had
to take off my jacket and fleece, and occasionally cool myself
off with handfuls of snow. There were some interesting reddish
Alpine plants growing among the rocks.
I
knew I went over Lincoln, but from up there, it was hard to tell
where the actual summit was. On the east side of Lincoln, I stepped
into a spruce trap and sank up to my waist. I didn’t think that
there would be snow that deep around the krummholz; there may
have been a crevice in the rock. On the north side of Lincoln,
I sat down for a short rest and got a new bottle of water out
of my backpack. Unfortunately, I forgot to buckle my sternum strap,
which had been holding my camera. When I finally got to the top
of Lafayette and was ready to rest, I noticed my camera was missing.
I had to go all the way back to the low point between Lincoln
and Lafayette before I found it.
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Little
Haystack Mtn summit and trail signs. From here, the Franconia
Ridge Trail climbs north to Mts Lincoln and Lafayette, or heads
south toward Mts Liberty and Flume. |
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