A Week of Wilderness

 We started at the Lincoln Woods Visitor Center. The green line shows our actual route (18.2 miles in all). The red line shows our intended route over the Franconia Ridge. The two paths diverge at the Greenleaf Hut (labeled blue dot). Peaks are not to scale.

Over the week of July 4^th, my family embarked on our most ambitious backpacking trip to date, and our first of 2013. Normally, my husband, three boys, and I go out for three days and two nights, and we spend both nights at the same campsite because it takes us so long to pack everything up each morning (the boys – now 3, 5, and 7 but obviously at least a year younger on previous trips – traditionally have hindered rather than helped the packing process). By the time we get hiking after packing up camp, it's often nearly lunchtime! Last year the two older boys asked to go on a longer trip – maybe for a week – and promised to learn to pack up their own sleeping bags and hammocks.

We probably should have chosen a less challenging route for our first week-long foray into the wilderness, but we picked a loop starting at the Lincoln Woods Visitor Center off the Kancamagus Scenic Highway (Rt. 112) through New Hampshire's White Mountains. Our initial path is shown in green on the map above. We planned to hike around Owl's Head Mtn., up Mt. Garfield, and along the Garfield Ridge to Mt. Lafayette (elevation 5,249 feet above sea level) and then spend the fourth night at the Appalachian Mountain Club's Greenleaf Hut (labeled blue dot on the map), which is 1.1 miles down the other side of Mt. Lafayette. From the hut, we intended to hike across the breathtaking Franconia Ridge (which my husband and I have hiked a couple of times without kids) and end up back at the Lincoln Woods Visitor Center and our car.

The boys (and our springer spaniel) 1.4 miles
into our trip at the junction of the Osseo trail
(by which we would have returned if we
had completed our loop) and the
Lincoln Woods Trail, which we were following.

As usual, we got off to a later start than we intended, despite the fact that we'd spent the previous day (Saturday) packing. We thus didn't make quite as much progress the first day as we would have liked, but things weren't that far off track. We started by crossing a bridge over the East Branch Pemigewasset River and following the Lincoln Woods Trail and then the Franconia Brook Trail around the base of Owl's Head Mtn. We had a little rain during our hike and overnight on Sunday, but it was nothing too troublesome. As we neared our stopping point Monday night (still just a little behind schedule), however, the rain worsened, and our sleeping bags, hammocks, and clothes all got wet as we set up sleeping quarters. During the night, it poured as hard as I have ever heard it pour, and by the next morning our trail had turned into a running stream. The water level in the multiple rivers and brooks we had to cross along the way had risen to the point that the usual crossings were submerged; in one case, there was no choice but for my husband and me to plunge through knee-high water (in a strong current) with our hiking boots on (but at least the water wasn't thigh high, as fellow hikers heading in the reverse direction reported it had been just hours earlier). My husband carried our kids, their packs, and our dog (who wouldn't have been able to swim against the current) to the other side.

One of the lower-water-level brook crossings. We laid this log across the brook
and used it as a balance beam. Our dog watched my husband ferry gear across
so many times that she thought she'd try walking the log, too.
She got much farther than we expected her to, actually – on one attempt
I think she made it a couple of feet with all four paws on the log!

Needless to say, it was slow going, and we got severely behind schedule. It rained every night, so our gear never properly dried out, although we did spend one morning hanging things over a fire instead of making progress on the trail (I think we traveled less than 2 miles that day). On Wednesday night, we faced climbing the dreaded waterfall we'd heard had given other hikers so much trouble. Fortunately, by the time we reached it, torrents of water were no longer rushing over the falls, so it was possible for us to stay on the trail rather than bushwhacking around the sides as those before us had had to do. Nonetheless, it was definitely a challenging climb for little kids, not to mention for me (my fear of heights paralyzed me at a particularly vertical part close to the top, but my husband took my pack, and I managed to keep going). By that evening, the night of our hut reservation, we had only made it just below the top of Mt. Garfield. We sent word with another hiker (who, unencumbered by small children, would be making it to the Greenleaf Hut that day) that the hut staff was free to give our spots to other hikers and that we'd be showing up in the next couple of days.

The boys peeking out from behind a windbreak at the top
of Mt. Lafayette.

The daytime weather on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday was much improved. On Thursday, after a steep but short climb to the top of Mt. Garfield (where the clouds momentarily let up and we got a nice view), we finally got to drier conditions on the other side of the mountain. Bridges, always popular with our boys (and particularly with my 3-year-old, who made me recount The Three Billy Goats Gruff and hunt for mountain trolls for the vast majority of the trip), lined the trail around Garfield Pond, which lies along the ridge from Mt. Garfield to Mt. Lafayette. We camped just below tree line on Mt. Lafayette Thursday night, and on Friday we made it out of camp in record time and had climbed to the summit of Mt.

My two older boys descending the rocky trail
from the top of Mt. Lafayette to the Greenleaf
Hut, which is a small white speck at the left edge
of the picture (just below the bare rock on
the distant mountain).

Lafayette by 10:00. Again the clouds cooperated and afforded us a magnificent view of the rolling White Mountains extending in all directions. After a snack break at the top, we descended the rocky 1.1 miles (see picture) to the Greenleaf Hut, where we arrived in time to purchase lunch. Unfortunately, despite the messages we'd sent ahead with other hikers, the staff would not transfer our reservation, but at least they had space for us to spend the night.

After all our ordeals (and the parental worry over how long our food supply would last given that we were behind schedule), it was wonderful to relax at the hut, chat with other hikers, and have someone else do the cooking (and the food, by the way, was phenomenal – despite the fact that we were off the grid high in the White Mountains and that hut staff have to pack all supplies up and down the 2.7 miles from Lafayette Campground below). It of course rained again in the afternoon, and everyone had to hurry inside for a while, but we were rewarded by a magnificent double rainbow spanning the mountains once the showers let up (my picture below does not do it justice!). This was our first time staying at an AMC hut, but it probably won't be our last.

A portion of the double rainbow we saw from the hut.

On Saturday, because we had run out of time and almost run out of food, we descended by the Old Bridle Path to Lafayette Campground off Rt. 93 rather than traversing the Franconia Ridge and attempting to make it back to our car. Once descended, we called a hikers' taxi service and got a ride to our vehicle.

Although we didn't complete our intended route, and although we were all tired and waterlogged (you don't even want to know what happens to feet that have been walking in soggy boots for days), we felt very accomplished. If the adults had known ahead of time what trail conditions we would encounter – if we had known about the high-water river crossings, the stream-trail, the waterfall scaling, the downpours – we would certainly have thought our kids, accomplished hikers though they are, would not be up for the task. They surprised and amazed us with their stamina, positive attitudes, and resilience. And although we certainly faced some challenges and miserable conditions, we also had some fun times playing in mountain streams, taking in magnificent views, eating like royalty at the hut, and yes, even hunting for trolls (but I hope not to have to tell the story of the Billy Goats Gruff again for a long, long time).

Picture Gallery

My 3-year-old having a snack on the trail. His mother (who is that irresponsible woman?) decided against buying him a lightweight, backpacking-appropriate rain coat because he already has a perfectly good (although quite heavy) raincoat, so he wore this emergency rain poncho. It ripped in several places during the trip and had to be tied around him in knots.

My two older boys underneath some tree roots we passed on our descent out of the mountains. We were trying to figure out how the tree ended up like this.