Franconia Falls (8/27/22)
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, the one that I haven't used since Owl's Head a year and a half ago. I was excited to find another use for it.
When Dragonfly arrived, she made sure that she honked at me as she drove by so that I would know she was there. She actually ended up parking closer to the trailhead than I did, because we came from opposite directions, and her side of the road had fewer cars parked on it. After she walked over to me, we put her stuff in my saddlebags and we peddled off down the road.
Of course, before we could start our bike trip, we had to stop by the Lincoln Woods Visitor Center for bathrooms. While waiting, I met a family of two parents and three young kids who were about to leave for a camping trip. The kids each had their own packs, and the two parents had packs that were absolutely massive. The mother literally had three sleeping bags hanging from her pack, in addition to everything that was inside it. The father's pack was almost as big as the mother's. I hoped that they were just planning on doing something simple without much elevation gain, or they might have a difficult time.
We got on trail, and I took the lead with Dragonfly behind. There were two advantages to this. First, my bike has a mirror, so I could look back and monitor how she was doing. Second, I would hit rough terrain first, so she would be forewarned. I did lose her at one point when she did as she does and stopped to take a picture, but for the most part she kept right up with me.
The trail was a little rougher than we expected. Lincoln Woods is a very easy trail on foot, but all the little rocks that aren't a problem for hikers become much more difficult for bikers. On the plus side, all the mud puddles from the previous night's rainstorm weren't a problem for bikes. We just sloshed right through them without getting dirty.
About two miles into the three mile trail, we came to a bridge that was out. This particular bridge has been out for quite a while. There was a rock hop option available, but doing so meant carrying the bikes. This would be a unique challenge. I picked mine up first and carefully rock hopped across the stream with it. Then I came back across the stream, picked up Dragonfly's, which was thankfully lighter than mine, and carried it across the stream. We were now safely on the other side.
The last mile to the Franconia Falls trailhead wasn't too hard, and we covered it quickly. There was a boy scout troop there, and Dragonfly volunteered to take a picture for them while I secured the bikes. I took out my chain, tied the bikes to the trailhead sign, and then realized I had made a big mistake.
When I was sitting in my car waiting for Dragonfly way back at the beginning of the hike, I had gone through and left anything that I wasn't going to need in the car. I normally don't need my keys while hiking, so they got left in the car. Unfortunately, two seconds after I clicked the bike lock, I remembered that the keys that were in the car had the key that unlocked the bike lock.
I explained my stupid mistake to Dragonfly, and we realized that there was only one possible course of action. I would have to speed hike the more than three miles back to the car, get the key, and then hike back to the bikes. Dragonfly wouldn't be able to keep up with the pace I had to go, so she would complete the original hike and go to Franconia Falls.
We split up, and I headed back down the trail. I kept a blistering pace, faster than I have ever hiked for that much distance. I clocked it at 4.2 miles per hour. At that speed, I was able to make it back to the car, grab the keys and a drink, and then head back to the bikes, six and a half miles in total, all in a timespan of an hour and a half. I was worried about keeping Dragonfly waiting, but she decided to wander down trail, and so she met up with me on my way back, and we hiked the last half mile or so together.
Dragonfly told me that there were a lot of people at Franconia Falls, which was less a waterfall and more a series of cascades and pools. Her description reminded me of the area around 13 Falls, which makes sense, given that they are only a few miles from each other.
We hung out at the end of Lincoln Woods Trail, where I used an old wall as a table and grabbed a few snacks from my saddlebags to replenish my calories after the hard hiking. I pointed out that the footbridge that we were looking at was on supports that were entirely too massive to be for a footbridge, and I speculated that it had once been an old railroad bridge. I explained to Dragonfly that the entire Lincoln Woods Trail used to be a railroad.
I never did get to go use my daypack or go to Franconia Falls, but that was okay. I was definitely feeling my mad dash hiking, and didn't want to add on more miles. Once snack time was over, we got back on our bikes and we pedaled back. The trip back was pretty easy, and we covered it quickly. I think Dragonfly said that AllTrails told her that we were covering a mile every six minutes, which would have put us on a pace of 10 mph or so, which is not bad on trail-type terrain.
Overall, despite the hiccup with the bike lock, the trip went well. Dragonfly hadn't biked in many years before the last couple weeks, and so how well she has been doing has been very impressive to me. I look forward to doing many more bikes trips in the future, and they will have a spot here next to my hiking blogs. Always remember, you can't take flight until you spread your wings (unless there's an alien in your bike basket).
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