I have been up and over the Franconia Range many times, and have a few nice pics from those trips. But weather and timing never allowed me to attain an image, worthy of my primary gallery wall. And spending the last ten years or so heavily involved with caring for my parents, combined with the demands of owning a retail business, I had not been on the Ridge in over a decade. But the planets, schedule, health, and weather, all aligned for me to attempt the hike this past week…

I took an early evening siesta on the couch, and set my alarm for 9:30pm, to have some time to properly stretch, eat, and load the car. I headed out around 10:30pm, driving up over Bear Notch to the Kanc, arriving at the trail head around 11:30pm, and was on the Bridle Path Trail by headlamp shortly thereafter.

I had forgotten that the Bridle Path up to Mt. Lafayette, is pretty much ten thousand granite steps the entire way, ugh. And the lower egress has tons of trail work done, while currently being worked on, increasing the number of those steps lol. It took me much longer than my good ole days, when I used to summit in less than 2 hours. I didn’t push to make time in the dark, rested when I could, and was soon looking at the night sky from the ledges just below the Greenleaf Hut. I took a solid long rest here, enjoying the night sky, then pushed on past the hut, and finally up the last pitch before arriving on the summit around 3:30am.

There was a very light breeze on the summit, with temps in the high 40’s. The skies were crystal clear ( I prefer some clouds for color, but hey no complaints) in the direction of Mt. Washington, with a bright crescent moon, and millions of stars in the clear night sky:). After sitting silently alone enjoying the view in the dark, I pulled out my gear, set up my tripod and took a few pre-sunrise images of the Presidential Range in the distance, just as the sky started to gain some color. I took a couple pics just as the sun poked over the horizon, creating the standard star effect, but I like this subdued image better.

Just after the sun rose, I switched positions and angles to get the main image I had in my mind, of the view looking down the Ridge path, from Mt. Lafayette to My. Lincoln. The sun warmed the East facing ledges, and there was just enough hazy low cloud cover, to offer some sunrise colors in the sky, above the muted blues of the mountainous terrain below. I took a few pics and then just sat for another half hour taking in the view, before packing up for the long 4 mile trip back down.

I met the first person I saw just leaving the Greenleaf Hut, and passed a few more coming up the Bridle Path, finally reaching my car at the trailhead around 8:00am. Just in time to drive back and staff the gallery. It was wonderful being high once again on a big mountain for sunrise, but man was it an effort compared to my younger years. Hope you enjoy the images:)