NH Backpacking trip Report

“Trip Report:

Friday ? Sunday (June 15 ? 17) Franconia Notch in the NH White Mountains. Characters: SirPete, AmyG, MadRiver, Express (my 14 y/o son, who is need of a better trail name) and I.

MadRiver was the host for this hike and we met Friday night on a small clearing on his property in NH. Express and I didn?t get there until nearly 11PM. Mad, who was a great host, had a nice fire going and a welcome sign out. We set up our tent in front of the car with the aid of the car lights. Pete, who had arrived just a little early planned to sleep in the back of his truck. The night was beautiful and the company was fantastic! The sky was cloudless and full of stars, fireflies floated far up into the trees as we sat around the campfire in chairs provided by Mad. Mad left around midnight and the rest of us went to sleep before long.

Mad returned in the morning with coffee and invited us back to his house for Belgian waffles. The waffles were as good as the company and before long all of us had our fill of carbs and were ready for our drive to the trailhead.

We started off on the Whitehouse trail, a pretty flat trail that brought us to the Liberty Springs trail. MadRiver and SirPete zoomed ahead, Amy and Express went next and I brought up the rear. I?d been out backpacking the previous two days on the other side of Franconia notch and had managed to pull a muscle in my left calf.. I started off quite gingerly, stretching my calves out every 100 yards or so.

It was a hot but beautiful day. The shade and the altitude helped take a bit of the edge off the heat. The Liberty Springs trail gets pretty steep after the first mile or so. In all, the trail gains about 2700 feet in roughly 2 ½ miles. Mad, still trying to be an excellent host, was way over packed. He seemed to be carrying everything he thought any of us might need over the weekend, including ice, a bottle of wine, reading materials and a tent large enough to fit all of us in a pinch. As you might expect, he started to fall behind as he struggled to carry a huge load. He did dump the ice he was carrying. After about 3 miles total, I reached the Liberty Springs tent site. Sirpete and my son (Express) were waiting at the tent site when I got there, Amy came soon afterwards. Express was willing to go down and try to help MadRiver carry his load up the mountain. The rest of us set up our tents. Amy and Pete had matching freestanding tents that they assembled almost instantly. My Clip Flashlight was not freestanding, but with the help of a nylon stretch cord I managed to rig it up on the platform.

After Mad arrived and set up his tent, we all got water from the spring and hiked up the last ¼ mile of the Liberty Springs Trail to the Franconia Ridge trail and then slackpacked for another 7 miles (round trip) along the ridge to Mt. Lafayette. We all decided to trust the spring water and did not treat it, so if you see a Giardia thread in a day or so this is why.

Pete, Amy and Express headed over to the peak of Liberty before proceeding to Lafayette. Mad and I ambled directly over to Lafayette. The poor guy was beating himself up for over packing and starting out the trip so tired. He?d stayed up late hosting us, and then got up early to have breakfast and make coffee. He showed incredible spirit and endurance and managed to complete the hike with us, despite the fact that his ?slack? pack weighed about what my full pack did!! Over the course of the trip I was glad to be able to share some of the more esoteric ultra light wisdom and gear tech tips with him, for example I suggested using a zip lock bag instead of a 1.5 liter glass jar to carry dried pasta in. Mad returned the favor by lending letting me use the sun block he was carrying, which saved me from some nasty burns.
Once we were out on the ridge above tree line the views were incredible. The bugs (especially the black flies and green heads) were vicious, one gang of well-armed bug thugs managed to chew up the right side of Amy?s face. I must have missed putting DEET on my triceps?. I?m waiting for the swelling to come down so I can see how much arm I have left.
As the hike progressed my calves felt better and better. We hung out happily on the peak of Lafayette before the bugs chased us back to the campsite. We were all short of water and feeling on the way back. Express had consumed about 90% of the water we were supposed to share. Mad was kind enough to give me a bit of his in preparation for the return hike.
What else??? The spring water was incredibly cold and wonderful when I got back. I drank 2 liters of the stuff while Express and I waited for the rest of the crew to return. Amy arrived, reporting that she had left Pete lying on the trail after being unable to ?rouse him and that Mad was somewhere far behind. Having been revived by the cold spring water and still feeling pretty strong, I filled up bottles of cold spring water and prepared to dash up the mountain to the rescue only to hear that Pete had arrived and that Mad was almost back. We paid our camping fees (6$ per person) and started to settle in. I tried to get someone to come with me to view sunset from the top of Liberty (.6 miles away), but had no takers. The company was great though and the Merlot that Mad brought was that much more delicious due to the effort it took to carry it
We were all off fairly early in the morning. Mad left first, the rest of us left a little later. My son zipped down the mountain and was the only one to make it down before the rain hit. Mad, still the excellent host, let him into his car when he reached the bottom. Thanks to him, my son stayed warm and dry while the rest of us hiked down the mountain. While I hate standing out in the rain, I have no problem backpacking in the rain if it?s warm enough. The trip had been great and I found myself pretty much dancing and singing down the mountain to the tune of James Brown?s ?I feel good? (actually, when I sing, ?tune? is only a figure of speech). Mad had to be off, but the rest of us had a great breakfast at a nearby diner and then hit the road and the horrible traffic.”

“Nice report--I read AmyG's too.
This is not aimed at Mad but when one packs real light and then has to borrow anything (like sun lotion) the attitude can be that if you were not so hell bent to carry nothing you would not have forgotten to bring whatever.”

“Worthwhile point MaryPhyl. I included that detail well aware that it revealed that it is easy to make mistakes both ways (over and under packing) and that extreme underpackers who constantly count on others to bail them out are more of a nuisance by far than the over packers.

I hope that it was a little evident that I was poking fun at myself as much as at Mad when I referred to esoteric advice... and that the exchange of sunblock in that context was meant to be an ironic detail (even a bit of a rebuttal).”

“Nice report, Ped. I'll have to check out Amy's now. Any pics?”

“PedXing...

Great report! Yours nicely compliments Amy's. Thanks for taking the time to include the details. Originally intending to be there myself, I had to cancel because of a graduate class. But I still hope to get to the Whites sometime this summer, and your report makes it all the more enticing.”

“Great job Ped!
Like I said on Amy's report, "I can't wait till September!"”

“Thanks M and 'Dude. I'm looking forward to September too. Mebbe you can make it too M? (BTW: what graduate courses are ya takin?)

Mebbe both of you can make it for September!

Sorry about the split threads... I just pasted my report on a new thread before noticing Amy's.”

“Its cool Ped just another stop along the boardwalk!”

“Great report, Pedxing. I like the name AmyG gave your youngun.
I think that no matter how much you bring, there is often that essential item that is forgotten. AmyG's report was fun too. The bugs were a nuisance, it sounds like. Maybe the Sept. trip will be better as far as bugs go. My family is hoping to go to NH and Maine the end of August. I've written down the places mentioned in case we can get to a little of it. You all sound like a hardy bunch of hikers.”

“Kewl... Where in Maine/NH are you headed to Lyndy???”

“Kewl... Where in Maine/NH are you headed to Lyndy???”

“Kewl... Where in Maine/NH are you headed to Lyndy???”

“Kewl... Where in Maine/NH are you headed to Lyndy???”

“Eeeek I musta had a stuck key!”