Mt. Lafayette (5,260 ft) 9-12-15

Distance: 8.12 mi.
Elevation: 3,440 ft (overall) 3,663 ft (total)
Time: 2:25 (Hut) 3:39 (Summit) 4:20 (Hut) 5:52 (Total)
Trails: Old Bridle Path, Greenleaf Trail

For Flags on the 48 2015, I signed up to hike with the same group of people that I have the last couple of years. It's a good group of people that all enjoy the day and making fun of each other. We would actually be one of two groups hiking today to fly a flag on Mt. Lafayette. Our group leader had been in contact with the other group leader, so we choose to hike up the Old Bridle Path based on their plans and some of their hikers spending the night at the Greenleaf Hut.

We all met at the trail head parking lot at 7:30 am. We would be minus a couple hikers due to unexpected events and not feeling well. Before long, we were headed up the trail with Jim carrying his potato cannon flag pole. This trail is a very popular route, but it was early enough there weren't many hikers out yet. We were making good time over the worn down and sometimes rocky trail.

Brian holding the flag pole on the way over the Agonies

We took our first break before a ways before the Agonies. Jim was getting more winded than normal, so Brian took the flagpole from here to the hut. After a nice break and some snacks/drinks, we headed out again keeping a good pace until the view points on the Agonies. We took a couple short breaks here, but mostly continued on at a good pace. We made good time to the hut and met up with most of the other group there.

We took a nice break here and chatted with our fellow hikers. The weather was nice so far, so now heading up above tree line wouldn't be an issue. From the hut, the trail stays in the trees for a short distance before going and out of some shorter trees. It's then all above tree line for a good distance all the way to the summit. Shortly before the summit though, I needed to take a break while the rest of the group headed on. I don't think I had been drinking enough fluids and my left leg was starting to cramp up. I found a great spot to sit on a flat rock in a small shady area. I made sure to drink more while resting before heading up the last push to the summit.

A short steep section of trail

Nearing the summit

I was bummed I had to drop back from the group, but I was at the summit with them again before we started setting up the flag. We got the flag up quickly and easily. Once we had it secured, we helped the other group with their flag. We had both flags up well before noon. We then started looking around at the other summits to see which flags we could make out in the distance. It was nice to finally have a year with good weather after the last 3 years have had limited to no views.

Attaching the flag

Our flag is flying

The other groups flags are up too

Eventually we could spot around a dozen other flags on nearby summits, including a couple without open areas at the high point. The weather stayed nice for the entire time at the summit with just higher level clouds coming in later on. While we didn't get any flybys from the military this year (they were busy with other tasks), we did have a couple of gliders that came very close to our summit and others around Franconia Notch.

One of the gliders flying today

The flag on Mt. Lincoln

West Bond flag

Great weather for the event

After packing up, we headed down the trail and into the parade of hikers that were on this route today. A number of others were still heading up, and plenty were also heading down. It was hard to get into the pace we normally would have with so much traffic. Everything went fine for us on the decent though and soon enough we were sitting down at a local restaurant for supper.

the parade of hikers as we head down the mountain

For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE