NewEnglandTrailConditions.com
NewEnglandTrailConditions.com:
MA
|
ME
|
NH
|
RI/CT
|
VT
|
Ski
Hiking Trail Conditions Report
Peaks
Peaks Mt. Lincoln, Little Haystack Mountain, NH
Trails
Trails: Bushwhack, Franconia Ridge Trail, Falling Waters Trail
Date of Hike
Date of Hike: Sunday, February 28, 2021
Parking/Access Road Notes
Parking/Access Road Notes:  
Surface Conditions
Surface Conditions: Ice - Blue, Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Ice - Breakable Crust, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow - Drifts, Snow - Wet/Sticky 
Recommended Equipment
Recommended Equipment: Snowshoes, Traction, Ice Axe 
Water Crossing Notes
Water Crossing Notes:  
Trail Maintenance Notes
Trail Maintenance Notes:  
Dog-Related Notes
Dog-Related Notes:  
Bugs
Bugs:  
Lost and Found
Lost and Found:  
 
Comments
Comments: I bushwhacked Mt. Lincoln, entering the woods directly from the Lafayette Place parking lot and eschewing all trails for the ascent. My route followed Lincoln’s western spur ridge, named “Carpenter’s Ridge” after Frank O. Carpenter, who cut a trail up it in 1897. I didn’t find any vestigial sections of the old trail, as it had been obliterated by logging in the early 1900s. My notes from the trip, broken down by elevation:

1780ft - 2740ft: Open hardwood forest leading to the base of Carpenter’s Ridge; slow going on snowshoes due to warming snow and unsupportive crust.

2740 - 3400ft: Mixed forest, now with more conifers and blowdown. Still sinking in 8-10” and worried about warming snow, especially as my pack is 35lbs. Ridgeline is well-defined and easy to follow.

3400 - 4200ft: More supportive crust, but thicker forest with snow-caked spruces; goggles on and hood up. Passed by the site of a downed NOAA weather balloon that I found up here a few seasons ago.

4200 - 4600ft: Ledge bands and spruce traps, average slope angle 35-40 degrees. Took me 45 minutes to travel 0.17 miles, mostly by pulling myself up by tree branches. There’s an open section of blowdowns with really nice views into the Dry Brook Amphitheater.

4600 - 5089ft: The Alpine Zone! Since all of the fragile vegetation was buried under hardpack snow, there were no ethical concerns with being here. This section of the ridge is summed up nicely in Frank Carpenter’s “Guide Book to the Franconia Notch and the Pemigewasset Valley”, published in 1898:

“Beyond the spring the path soon rises above the tree line through a steep scramble and climbs up the knife edge of the west spur of Lincoln. The slopes fall sharply on either hand to the tremendous ravines far below. These crags must be climbed with much care as stones are loose and the cliffs are very abrupt.”

Here I switched to crampons and ice axe and carefully ascended the arete; surface conditions varied from “dust on crust” to larger drifts on top of hardpack. There was a class three scramble at ca. 4900ft that was definitely hands-on, if there had been more ice then ice tools would have been preferred.

I topped out on Lincoln’s summit after the five-hour whack and descended via Falling Waters Trail. All in all, this was a great day in the mountains and a very memorable trip!  
Name
Name: timbercamp 
E-Mail
E-Mail:  
Date Submitted
Date Submitted: 2021-02-28 
Link
Link: https:// 
Bookmark and Share Disclaimer: Reports are not verified - conditions may vary. Use at own risk. Always be prepared when hiking. Observe all signs. Trail conditions reports are not substitutes for weather reports or common sense.

Copyright 2009-2024, All Rights Reserved