Taking Flight

When I went to 13 Falls two weeks ago, I had a thought. Dragonfly was trying to earn a waterfalls patch, and people spoke highly of Franconia Falls. If we took our bikes down the Lincoln Woods trail, we could then do a half mile hike into Franconia Falls. Dragonfly thought it sounded like a good idea, so we set August 27 as the date for it. I know that Dragonfly is not a fast mover, so we set 10 AM as our target time to get there. I had quite a bit to do in the morning, as I had to attach the bike rack to my car, pick up my bike from my apartment and Dragonfly's bike from my storage unit, and then drive two hours over the Kancamagus Highway to the Lincoln Woods trailhead. Being me, I got there at 9:30 AM. As expected, I had to park on the road, though I didn't mind too much because it saved me parking fees. I ate a sandwich and began prepping the bikes as I waited for Dragonfly. My bike has two saddlebags that we could carry everything in. I brought my packable daypack with me...

Sometimes you just need a pick me up. This has been a rough summer. It started with a bunch of grand plans about all the places that I was going to go hike. However, gas prices quickly foiled that, as driving to New Hampshire is expensive at the moment. Temperatures then made the situation worse, as the mid-summer heat wave this year made hiking fall somewhere between unpleasant and impossible. As a result, I have been stuck at home for most of the summer, unable to do any real adventuring besides occasional bike rides. Thus, the need for a pick me up. The weather forecast for this past weekend looked great, with Jefferson, NH, showing highs around 70 and a low of 45, which is perfect hiking weather. It has been a long time since I have gotten out backpacking, so I decided to do a backpacking trip. I didn't feel like doing any serious mountain climbing, so I wanted to pick out a route that would be long but gradual. I also wanted to stay off the Appalachian Trail, as the bubble sho...