Anniversary Trip Recap, Part 2

(Read part 1 of the recap here.)

The next morning M and I woke up bright and early.  We had planned on a nine-ish mile hike and we weren't sure how long it would take us, so we wanted to err on the side of getting an early start.  We had our powdered eggs and "meat cake" breakfast (inside joke there... I mean sausage) at the Comfort Inn, sucked down some coffee, and were on the trail by about 7:30 AM.

It's a good thing the selfie was invented between our honeymoon trip and now, because we have way more pictures of ourselves on this trip than we do of that trip.  Actually, I take that back... I think we do have one selfie of our honeymoon trip...

Yep, there it is!  While we were hiking Lafayette, I thought a lot about our honeymoon to the Italian Alps, particularly a difficult hike we did on that trip.  There are so many ways in which hiking is a microcosm of marriage.  There are some really tough spots and you never know what's coming around the next corner, but if you support one another, and laugh and talk along the way, it makes everything easier and more beautiful.  Deep thoughts. 

But I digress...

We took the Old Bridal Path, which we thought would be the steeper side of the loop up the mountain, so we could tackle it in the morning while we were fresh.

It actually didn't seem that bad, steepness-wise, and we talked quite a bit as we walked, about lots of things.  We did some reminiscing about other hikes we've done-- the hike up Mount Greylock when M proposed, our honeymoon hike in Italy, a hike up Mount Washington when I pregnant with N but didn't know it yet, a hike up Mount Major with C in my belly and L strapped to my back while M carried N in the frame pack.  We talked about how, when we left Grandma's house L was sobbing, and although it was hard to leave, it made us feel good that we're her number one people, and we want to enjoy that while it lasts.  (She got over being sad very quickly, by the way, and had an amazing week at Grandma's.)

We enjoyed lots of beautiful views on the way up, as the trail quickly shot us up above tree line and we were on the west side of a bowl looking east at the peaks we were about to climb. 

We reached the Greenleaf Hut (last bathroom stop until the end of the hike!) about 10 AM, and then hiked the last steep mile. We summited Mount Lafayette just before 11 AM, riiiiiiiight as a cloud promptly settled over the peak and blocked all visibility beyond about 20 feet. 

Summit Selfie; breathtaking view of a cloud in the background :(

We stopped to eat our packed lunch at the summit.  We didn't take long, however, because there was a rain chance in the forecast after 1 PM, and we knew that the next 1.5 miles of our hike was along a ridge, extremely exposed to weather and wind.  Around 11:20 we were on our way again.

As we hiked the ridge towards the next peak, the wind picked up a bit and gigantic wisps of cloud were blowing over and around us.  It was extremely cool-- and even a bit unsettling-- to watch them racing up the side of the mountain beside us and swirling into the air over our heads... almost like the fingers of God.

The clouds went in and out and sometimes we were able to get a great view.

A through-hiker stopped to chat and offered to take our picture (this stretch of ridge is part of the Appalachian Trail).

A gust of wind blew up just as he snapped the pic.  Nice hair!

It was when we were hiking the ridge between Lincoln and Little Haystack that I had a bit of a panic moment.  There was a gigantic boulder the size of a small house that obviously could not have been moved off the trail, and so the blazes instructed us to climb up over it.  We had to sort of rock-climb up the side of the boulder (it took me several minutes just to work up the courage to do that).  We got to the top, which was of course wide and flat and completely safe, but nevertheless very high up in the air, and a gust of wind suddenly blew over us.  I gave a little whimper and crouched down on all fours.  M smiled and watched as I scooted across the top of the boulder on hands and knees and then carefully lowered myself, crab-style, down the other side.

We looked it up later on, and although there have been people who have perished on this hike, nobody has ever been blown off the mountain, even in much higher winds than we experienced that day.  Just a little FYI for you.

Let's just say that, although the view was amazing and I was enjoying it, my heart was beating a bit faster and I was quickening my step a wee bit from that point until we were safely below the tree line and I felt a little less exposed.

We took the Falling Waters trail back around the other side of the loop, which hugged a series of cascading waterfalls down the mountain, hence the name.  There were many crossings over a babbling or sometimes roaring mountain stream with little or nothing to hang on to.  In this video, look for the blue blaze next to the place where we had just crossed (turn your volume down... the water is loud!)

But hey, crossing a mountain stream multiple times and descending steep slippery rocks was nothing to me compared with the ridge walking we had just done, in terms of fear factor.  Nailed it!!

M of course handled this entire thing like it was a walk in the park.  He did, however, slip once on a slippery rock.  I did not.  Ha!  Not that we're competing or anything... ahem...

The scenery as we descended was quite rewarding!

It really was beautiful.  What a rare treat, in our busy lives, to get to enjoy this for a while!

After crossing that rivulet what seemed like twenty times, we finally reached the bridge where the paths had diverged originally, and that brought us to the end of the loop.

Sweaty.  Tired.  Happy.

We took the short walk to the car from that bridge, second-guessing ourselves several times as to whether we were on the correct trail back to the parking lot.  You know how you feel like you have no brain cells left after extreme physical exertion?

Back to the hotel.  Dumbly take off our hiking shoes.

Drink coffee to revive oneself (after re-hydrating with lots of water, of course).

Shower.  Put on fancy clothes for dinner.

{For some reason we look like cardboard cutouts in this mirror picture.  Sorry.}

Paint toenails all fancy-like.

Board the dinner train!

Enjoy amazing scenery out the window.

Have a drink

*cough* or two *cough*

Enjoy amazing food and dessert.

Followed by more coffee of course.

Drive around the corner back to our hotel (it was quite convenient to everything)!

Wow.  What a day.  It will stand out in my memory as one of the most mind-blowing, fun, peaceful, amazing days ever.

There's another day yet to come; can you believe it?  The awesomeness continues.  Stay tuned.

(Hop on over to part 3 here.)