*** This trip is now full ***
Explore Franconia Notch
4 Days/3 nights of day hiking the summits and exploring in and around Franconia Notch, one of the premier destination areas of the White Mountains. We will spend one night in the AMC Lonesome Lake Hut after hiking North and South Kinsman Mountain, then two nights in a very nice hostel. This trip is for advanced hikers. The itinerary also includes the classic Franconia Ridge Loop.


This was a three day traverse of the Presidential Range that included all of the peaks in the range. After hiking Mount Madison on day 1, we spent the night in the newly renovated Madison Springs hut. On day two we hiked the northern Presidential range including Mt Adams, Mt Jefferson, Mount Clay (a 5000 footer but not officially
A smaller group of 6 hiked Owl’s Head from Lincoln Woods on day three of our White Mountains trip while the others opted for a relaxing day down in the valley. Owl’s Head is the longest standard route to one of the New Hampshire 4000 footers, although we did cut a couple of miles off and avoid a tricky water crossing by bushwhacking both ways near Black Pond.
Day 2 of our Whites trip featured a circuit of the Hancocks (Mount Hancock and South Hancock). The weather was a little more humid and not as clear as the previous day in the Tripyramids, but remained dry and was still a nice day to hike.
Hiked Starr King and Waumbek with David. It was one of the best rainy day hikes ever…partly because it didn’t rain. The snowshoe track was obvious, but it had a few inches of new snow and sleet covering it that had only just finished falling. It was a fairly warm day (but without rain) and snow balling on the snowshoes was an issue, but manageable. Thought there would be no views, but visibility was excellent under the clouds. 
As part of an extended pre-Labor Day hiking trip in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, I took the group up Mt. Carrigain via the Signal Ridge trail. From the trailhead on Sawyer River Road this hike is about 10.6 miles and 3300 feet of elevation gain. In the winter, the road is closed and you should plan on this hike being several miles longer. 