Franconia Ridge Loop

Had a break in my commitments at school and figured it'd be good to get up north for an adventure before things pick up again. I'd been eyeing the Franconia Ridge loop as an easy day trip that I hadn't made before. While my training has been relatively consistent compared to years past, I wasn't quite ready to go full bore on a mountain run. Instead, I set the goal of moving quickly but comfortably. I asked Ginger if she'd be willing to pace me for the loop and she enthusiastically agreed.

The weather forecast was sunny in the valley, but called for cooler temps and lingering fog at elevation. Wishful thinking had me hoping that things would clear up, but in reality I knew I was likely going to miss the views. The bonus was, it'd be much more comfortable than the 90F heat we've been having recently!

I opted for the counterclockwise loop, heading up Falling Water and descending via Greenleaf and Old Bridle Path, figuring this was the most practical route based on terrain features. The trails were busy, but not crowded, and I was able to move efficiently without too much delay, adding in periodic breaks for Ginger to grab water and for photos. As expected, not much for views, but was fun nonetheless. Certainly lots of room for improvement on the round trip time.

Franconia Ridge Loop
Splits:
Little Haystack 1:23
Lafayette 1:59
Greenleaf Hut 2:25
Trailhead 3:26

After a break this week, I'm planning to get more structured with my training, which will hopefully enable a few more northern running objectives before transitioning to ski season.

Bay Area

I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to spend a month rotating out at Stanford this summer. And while being away from the family was miserable, my temporary bachelor lifestyle did leave some room for exploring the Bay Area.

The Dish

This was my go-to local running spot. Since I was for the most part vehicle-less, the Dish offered a decent hilled run close to where I was staying. It's about 3.5 miles, and climbs 500' above Palo Alto. Working in a couple of laps gave me an OK climb and some good distance, in addition to plenty of vitamin D given it's complete lack of shade. Occasionally, I even saw some wildlife.

Castle Rock State Park

My PICs for the month and I finagled to all have a day off at the same time, and with a borrowed car headed up to Castle Rock to check the place out. We hiked out the Saratoga Gap Trail to Loghry, which traverses along the ridgeline, then back along the Skyline. Views of the surrounding hills and ocean in the distance were impressive.

Big Basin Redwoods State Park

Jason and I were able to secure a car for a second day, and headed out to Big Basin. This actually abuts Castle Rock and can be connected in a traverse if one has the time. Since we were under the gun to get back before sign-out to return the car (thanks Patrick!), we stuck local. Big Basin is a real gem. Trails through the redwood forest bring you up to the ridgeline, which allows for more spectacular views of the hills and ocean in the distance. While were relaxing on our day off, the trails here would make for some good running. There's definitely another visit in my future.

A few other miscellaneous shots from around campus:

Late Season Scores

The 2015-2016 will go down as the winter that wasn't. A serious lack of snow combined with increased family and school commitments had me left with only the occasional morning resort laps. While those certainly made the weekdays more tolerable, I was ready to get out into the backcountry. Fortunately, my schedule lined up with Huff's enough to get in a weekday trip up to Mt. Washington. Despite it being well into spring, winter had made a comeback in the Whites, and the weather forecast held a high of 30F and wind. Combined with a bit of recent snow and wind loading, we weren't exactly sure what we'd find, but decided to get out and take a look for ourselves.

Hillman's from a distance

We left home after sunrise, and were hiking in our trail runners by a leisurely 9AM. After ascending into the bowl, we were able to get a better sense of the snow conditions. There was some minor wind deposit in and around the established bumps on the trail, but navigating around it seemed reasonable. 

Huff

Since neither of us had sharps, we resolved to kicking steps into the frozen crust. We hiked up to about the choke point of the gully, and made a decision to quit while we were ahead. The ski down was more survival than anything, crust and stiff wind buff. Not exactly ideal skiing, but at least we were able to get out there and enjoy the remaining snow.

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A couple weeks later, I had another window open up in my schedule. This time around, the weather was forecast for a more spring-like 60s in the valley and 30s up high, much nicer than our previous wintery experience. Since my usual partners weren't available, I had planned to go up solo, but shot a last minute email to JShefftz to see if he'd be roaming around up there as he so often is. Sure enough, he had plans to lap the NE snowfield before heading to Tuck's to catch LG on the way down. We decided to try for a rendezvous on the mountain.

My day trip schedule had me rising at 0300 to get an early departure from the Pinkham lot. Since I had to be back for daycare pickup in the evening, I knew I had to move fast. Luckily, I was on trail by 0730 and chugged my way up the TRT and Lion Head. Aside from a few choice photo ops, I kept moving in order to get as much in and still make my strict deadline.

View from LH (NE snowfields on the far right)

LG

Hillman's

Just before the transition to skins, I caught up to JS (guess I was moving fast), and we skinned over to the NE snowfields together. The snowfields were in excellent condition, with almost the entire potential run still in. It had snowed a few days earlier, and with the solar gain and reasonable temps, we caught perfect corn laps. After a few laps, I let Jonathan spin one more as I set to repairing an unfortunate equipment malfunction - my CAMP pack had torn at the bottom and required some McGuiver-like tape mending.

JS

"One good run deserves another!"

We traversed on skis back over to the top of the bowl, then hike around to LG. Somehow we beat the numerous hikers coming from the bottom and scored first tracks down the gully. Jonathan of course knew a crew climbing the bowl, and we stopped to briefly chat before enjoying the soft bumps to the bottom. Reminded of my need to get home for daycare, I booked it downhill, leaving my partner for the day to enjoy a few more laps of corny goodness. Somehow I beat my cut-off time and got on the road with almost 30 minutes to spare. Unfortunately even the best laid plans can be completely derailed by I-95 traffic. Luckily, daycare was very understanding!

Ouch.

Ollie decided to help me with
my post-tour stretching.