Partway down the trail to the Greenleaf hut, we came across some antique but functional crampons near a rock cairn. We decided to leave them in place, in case an owner above us was returning back down via the same route. Still, I took a picture, and if you recognize your crampons, you know where they are (use the locator map function of the image to get a co-ordinate value).
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Greenleaf hut and cliffs
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Old lost crampons?
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A bit of clumsiness
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Flattening out
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Getting closer to the hut
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Out descent ridge
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We arrived at the [closed] Greenleaf hut around 3pm, and again cruised right by in the interest of time. The descent down the spur ridge towards the trailhead was straightforward, although soft, so we kept our snowshoes on. A few places were amenable to some glissading, which Luke found gave a refreshing break to his sore knees.
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Luke near the hut
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Posing at the hut
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Our descent ridge
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As we descended, we noticed some high-level clouds starting to drift in from the west. The forecast for the weekend had been clear and sunny the whole time, so these were a little unexpected. I was glad we'd chosen Saturday, then, if the weather was about to change for the worst.
As we neared the bottom of the ridge, I ran ahead with the car keys and shuttled the car around to the northbound parking lot, allowing us to shave off a bit of time on the start of the drive home.
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Approaching Wisps
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Looks Lenticular
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Luke and basin
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Interactive Trackmap & Photo Points - Franconia Ridge Loop - Click map to expand
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Hike Data Summary
Start Time: |
8:22AM
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Start Elevation: |
1789ft
(545m)
* |
End Time: |
4:37PM
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Max Elevation: |
5263ft
(1604m)
* |
Duration: |
8h15m
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Min Elevation: |
1784ft
(544m)
* |
Distance: |
13.61 km
(8.46 mi)
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End Elevation: |
1784ft
(544m)
* |
Average Speed: |
1.6 km/hr
(1.0 mph)
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* : +/ 75 feet |
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Elevation Profile over Distance
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Elevation Profile over Time
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(last message posted on Wed Dec 12, 22:15 EST 2007 by Andrew)
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