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<p>The tip of my hiking pole would be way closer to a rattlesnake than I ever want to be. My heart rate monitor would burst into flames. Fortunately, the only wildlife I encountered on my hike was a pine martin and bunch of French Canadians during cocktail hour at the AMC Hut.</p>
<p>I’m back. Survived my two-day hike (which was off the charts). I’d say it’s 50/50 on whether I’ll be able to walk tomorrow, </p>
<p>MOWC, as resistant to taking advice as she is, it’s nonetheless incredibly courageous for her to take off her last year of med school to pursue a pro opportunity. There’s probably a connection somewhere between her stubbornness and the successes she has achieved racing. 
It must be a generational thing about “doing things” their own way. My son just put up the beginnings of his website for his nascent law practice and its theme is that who do you want for a lawyer, a stuffed starched collar or a lawyer who owns an indie record label and competes in Brazilian Ju Juitsu lol.</p>
<p>Best wishes to your daughter for much success.</p>
<p>It’s not my daughter- it’s my son’s girlfriend. She’s in Phila at Jefferson. My daughter did some tris this summer building up to Okympic distance. She did great, but she’s in awe of her brother and his girlfriend. I hope Kona goes well. </p>
<p>Omg, MOfWC! So sorry that things went wrong. Fingers crossed for Kona. I hope you were able to find an alternative to the “fallen through” accommodations. </p>
<p>Thanks, BB. I did. Since the replacement involved a sofa bed for the young couple, which was less than desirable, I added another unit for the 2 nights before and 1 night after the race. I’ll pay for that, and it will let us all spread out a little. The woman who was helping us gave me a break and waived the 7 night minimum because of what happened with the unit we were supposed to have. Everyone has been so nice. </p>
<p>Garmin sez 11 miles, 4100 feet of elevation gain (and, for my poor quads, 4100 feel of elevation loss). Pack weighed about 26 pounds. </p>
<p>Not a cloud in the sky today for my stroll across a couple miles and three summit of [Franconia</a> Ridge (wiki)](<a href=“http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/AT_-_Franconia_Ridge.JPG]Franconia”>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/AT_-_Franconia_Ridge.JPG)</p>
<p>MomWC, that’s too bad about WC’s gf. On the bright side, I’m betting she’ll kick up the mechanical know-how PDQ given what it just cost her.</p>
<p>Mch collects watches and is a Mac head from way back. I should get him the I watch, though the notion as a fitness tracker is hilarious. He’d likely use it instead during arguments to show me his BP ;)</p>
<p>Idad, if I actually wore a heart monitor, I’m sure it would ave burst into flames. </p>
<p>Those French Canadians can be a little wiley…but glad that was your only adventurous encounter on your hike :)</p>
<p>I admit I went a little slower and hummed a lot on the trail yesterday. Warning: human approaching! I also took the phone just in case, though statistically speaking, I shouldn’t see the snake again for about two years…</p>
<p>Glad you’re home safe and sound iDad! </p>
<p>Another successful hike by iDad. Tell us how sore you are today!</p>
<p>3 miles this morning. This is the time of year that it starts getting really tough to get out of bed. It isn’t dark when I leave the house to run, but it isn’t like the summer months when it’s nice and bright and I wake up easily. I think I may try a return to hot yoga tomorrow at lunch. I think the ribs might be OK if I’m careful.</p>
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<p>Not too bad. I was able to walk up and down the stairs without holding the bannister or shuffling one step at a time this morning, so that’s something! LIttle stiff, little creaky, moving a little slow. Gotta hit some of my warm up stretches, but I can’t complain. I hiked down the same trail from the ridge that crippled me for two days a few weeks ago, so that’s progress. I had a heavier pack this time (sleeping bag, stove & coffee stuff, extra clothes…). I can see why the trail is a notorious leg killer. It is a mile of steep, rocky, jumbled mess, stepping carefully from one rock down to the next. Think walking down flights of stairs, but skipping every other step.</p>
<p>I wised up and used my 100 foot elevation alerts to make myself stop and stretch my legs on the way down. Just 60 seconds of unweighting and swinging each leg makes a difference I think. It’s easy to just keep going non-stop, but the constantly loaded bent legs without relief are a recipe for soreness. I am really lucky that my knees are OK.</p>
<p>I’m still trying to digest it. Staying at the hut was awesome. Saw moonrise and sunrise over the mountain. The crew at the hut was a College Confidential dream: a Pomona math major grad and two Dartmouth students. Near capacity with the group of 30 French Canadians, an assortment of others like me, and a couple of Appalachian Trail through-hikers. Food was “against my dietary religion”, but quite good, including a fresh green salad with dinner and bacon with breakfast. I had a piece of cake for dessert and some oatmeal and coffee cake at breakfast for a veritable carb binge. I had my own fresh brewed gourmet coffee (no half n’ half) and I took along a 3 ounce nalgene bottle of Lagavulin single malt scotch, so I enjoyed cocktail hour at the high hut along with the French Canadians.</p>
<p>And the combination of the hike and postcard perfect weather yesterday was figuratively and literally breathtaking.</p>
<p>Wow. A moonrise and a sunrise! What a great place. </p>
<p>Too much adventure for me, but two young hikers rolled into the hut about 9 am. They had left the parking lot at 3:00 am and climbed to the ridge before sunrise. Walking along the north-south knife edge ridge for 2 miles, they watched the sunrise rising over the horizon to the east and the moon setting over the horizon to the west. They were beaming! Pretty cool and the wind was whipping, but a completely cloudless sky for dawn with a full moon.</p>
<p>Another great idad adventure! Your basement exercise is really paying off where it counts–out on the beautiful hikes. </p>
<p>Glad to hear you’re getting back to better running, mowc!</p>
<p>And kmc, nice sighting of the rattlesnake! It sounds similar to our dusky pygmy rattlesnakes. I’m always on the lookout for them, having almost stepped on one several times. Beautiful, from a safe distance (more than ski-pole length)!</p>
<p>I walked maybe 1.5 or two miles this morning, and then ran 3 this afternoon, on the treadmill. Yesterday I tried to run outside in the AM. I lasted for 1.5 miles in the already 82 degree and very humid air, and bailed. So much better to stick to the air conditioned gym. </p>
<p>Dividing this hike into two videos. Here’s Part 1.</p>
<p>[YouTube:</a> Franconia Ridge (part 1)](<a href=“Franconia Ridge (part 1) - YouTube”>Franconia Ridge (part 1) - YouTube)</p>
<p>High def, full-screen for big photos!</p>
<p>This is THE hike I’ve had on my bucket list from day 1 of perusing White Mountain hiking guides – a loop hike of Franconia Ridge. Everyone who drives up I-93 through Franconia Notch stares at this hike – a knife edge ridge line, connecting two of NH’s highest peaks, all above tree line, with steep drop offs on either side spectacular views if the Pemi Wilderness to the east and Franconia Notch/Cannon Mnt to the west. The problem (and I knew it) was the distance and elevation was too much hike for me. I’ve done parts of it several times, but I knew spending the night at the AMC Greenleaf hut would make it do-able. I did one side of the testing hike last summer when I hiked up and back tot he hut. Then, after working on distance hikes this summer, I did the second side of the testing hikes with my jaunt up Falling Waters Trail and back. Knowing I could do both of those, I figured that linking them together would be possible. So, when I saw a spectacular weather forecast AND a vacancy at the hut, I jumped. It definitely met my expectations. Wow.</p>
<p>The hike is officially 8.9 miles by the book, but measuring on the slope, my GPS clocked 11 miles. 4200 feet of elevation gain. I did the loop clockwise, hiking 3.5 miles (2400 feet) up Old Bridle Path to the AMC hut the first afternoon. Then, the second day, 7.5 miles up to the summit of Lafayette, across Franconia Ridge Trail to Lincoln and Little Haystack and back down Falling Waters Trail to the parking lot.</p>
<p>Part 1 covers the hike up Old Bridal path and overnight at the hut including moonrise, sunrise, and leaving for the second day of hiking. It’s unbelievable to me that horses once carried people up this trail. When the hut was built in 1930, the materials were ferried up the trail (“Agony Ridge”) by a team of 40 burros imported from Roswell, NM. The video features a bit of the flavor of the rocky trail, the views from a series of overlooks, my bunk at hut the French Canadian group, plus moonrise and sunrise (with “undercast” fog in the valley).</p>
<p>Now, the hut workers carry the day to day supplies on their backs, supplemented by helicopter drops of propane tanks. They have well water, composting toilets, and refrigeration powered by solar panels. No heat. Bunks for 48. Family style dinner and breakfast. The hut is perched at 4200 feet, a spectacular setting with Mt. Lafayette looming directly above. All, in all, a very fun and interesting lodging experience. Old Bridal Path is the shortest, “easiest” way to get to the hut, which is visited throughout the day by people doing the loop as a day hike as well as overnight guests. This time of year, the 2014 Appalachian Trail through hikers have reached NH after starting in Georgia. I saw them both at the hut and all day along Franconia Ridge (which is one of the classic postcard stretches of the AT). They really lucked out on the weather, as did I. It was sunny hiking up. Just a few clouds in the evening, but crystal clear by sunrise and then not a cloud in the sky for the rest of day. Warmed up fast in the sunshine. Breezy, but not bad as these summits go. </p>
<p>That was terrific. Love your purple shirt, too. What a great video. The sky is gorgeous.</p>
<p>A half-price long sleeve purple Patagonia running shirt! Day two was a clothing challenge. It was low 40s and windy at dawn, very windy on the ridge, but warming up in the sunshine. I went from long sleeves to windbreaker, to sleeves rolled up, to unzipping the legs off my hiking pants once I got off the ridge and headed down. I never broke out the gloves, but it was close.</p>
<p>Working on Part 2 tonight. Part 1 was just the warm up band… </p>
<p>I could really get a sense of how steep the climbing was, idad. Yikes–lots of foot-eating rocks in those hills! </p>
<p>Yeah. What happens to the girl’s foot at 3:22 is the reason I don’t hike in low-cut trail runners or hiking shoes. I kept coming home with bruised and scraped ankles. The old guy just before her was moving slowly, but it’s just crazy how steep those stretches look from above. And, the rock in that section is polished glass smooth. Makes you very careful with each step. To go fast, you have to throw caution to the wind. I leave that for the young 'uns.</p>
<p>Ol’ Bridle Path is considered the easier way to descend. Falling Waters is steeper, rougher, and more sustained tiring descent.</p>
<p>That was great, idad. Rocks + that grade would kill me. And that was some “hut”! Not what I had pictured at all. Can you tell me the song you used for the soundtrack? That was great. Thanks.</p>
<p>Ran 1.5 hours at 127 HR. Slowwww Pace. Hope I start seeing incremental progress. On a positive note it is probably the longest TIME I’ve ever spent on my feet. </p>
![http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/AT_-_Franconia_Ridge.JPG]Franconia](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/AT_-_Franconia_Ridge.JPG%5DFranconia){kind=link}
