Weekends are for Hiking

Yosemite is just a few weeks away so we decided we needed to do a tough hike as our last prep.  We decided on Mt. Lincoln and Mr. Lafayette via the Franconia Ridge because it's nine miles, 3,000+ vertical, and the trail quality is challenging to say the least.  It's a pretty long hike so we headed up the night before and got up early.  It was pretty fun to be on a "mission" and I hope I feel that way when we get up at 4:00 am in Yosemite.

We did this hike once before and I was pretty much miserable for the entire thing.  The trail quality sucks.  There's no good way to say it.  You will be climbing up and over rocks for most of the ascent and descent.  The ridge is pretty good but last time I was so wiped from the trip up that I couldn't enjoy any of the views.  This time was much, much different.  I always do better when I know what to expect from a hike. We also had stunning weather for this kind of hike.

We started by hiking the 2.9 miles up to the Greenleaf Hut run by the AMC.  It's a beautiful hut where you can use clean facilities and get snacks and hot drinks.  Their peanut butter chocolate bars are insanely good and I'm still sad that the extra one we bought melted in my bag (even though it really wasn't hot.) 

Then it's another section of going straight up until you reach the summit of Mt. Lafayette.  The winds were pretty strong up here and for the rest of the ridge trail but that made it kind of even more of an adventure so I didn't mind at all.  

The ridge hiking is my favorite part of this trail.  I love being above tree line and the views were just lovely.

Eventually, we made our way across the ridge to Mt. Lincoln before heading down the Falling Waters Trail.  There really isn't anything fun about this trail.  It's steep, it's challenging, and you have to cross the water at least four times (I'm not a fan of water crossings at all.)  That being said, when we did eventually make it down I felt great!