Lafayette & Lincoln +Little Haystack

Overnight at the Greenleaf Hut

After what felt like forever without hiking, I finally made my way back to the Whites!  Instead of continuing my quest for all 48 4000 footers (currently idle at 30), I took the whole family up for an overnight hike and stay at the Greenleaf Hut.  Due to some unexpected traffic, we ended up getting a pretty late start, but still made it in time to wash up and dry out a bit before dinner.  The food was decent, and I especially liked the tomato basil soup they provided.  After dinner we took a few pictures and my girls worked on some junior ranger type of activity to earn a Greenleaf Hut Pin.

Afterwards, we all headed to the bunk room to get settled for the night.  The Hut sleeps 48, but I'm guessing the occupancy rate for the night was in the neighborhood of 30.  Lots of little kids were present, which I'm sure helped my daughters feel a bit more at ease as this was our first time staying in a AMC Hut.  We did enjoy it, and it certainly lessened the burden of the hike, breaking it out over two days.

Veronica Hamming it up climbing up to her bunk!

After a good nights sleep, the view below is what awaited us.  There were some clouds hanging around the entire Franconia Ridge, which was kind of a drag, but I was hopeful that the clouds would break as we approached the summits.

The whole family!

As we progressed up to the summit of Lafayette, we had some pretty neat views towards Cannon Mountain and the Hut.

Working our way towards the summit.

Veronica soaking it all in.

A slight pause for a group shot!

Not really sure what was going on with the trekking poles??

Success!  Here are my girls Taylor and Veronica relaxing and posing on the summit of Mount Lafayette.  As soon as we arrived, the girls both asked..."Daddy, where is the marker"?  Unfortunately, visibility was only about a 100 feet or so.

Working our way across the ridge towards Mount Lincoln, the clouds started to break.

As we crossed Mount Truman, the clouds continued to be thick, but did break occasionally.  Here are my girls celebrating their 3rd 4000 footer.  For my wife Kathy, this is her 5th!  Way to go honey!! :)

Our last summit of the day was Little Haystack.  Below Taylor was satisfied with her accomplishment, and found a nice spot to chill for a bit before we headed back down to our car.

And here's Veronica....doing some kind of pose!

We encountered quite a few other hikers on the summit of Little Haystack, and the haze returned.

The hike down was pretty smooth other than one wipe out...I won't mention any names! :)  We rested at a couple of the water crossings that we encountered along the way

And had one last snack.

Overall, it was an absolutely great hike and we are already discussing when to go hiking again, and which hut to stay at next time.

Thanks to the entire family for a great time!