One Step at a Time
Franconia Ridge, White Mountains, New Hampshire
Three hundred and eighty million years ago, during the geologic period of the Acadian Orogeny, what is now called North America collided with Africa. As the two continental plates rammed into each other, their surfaces buckled and bulged and folded. Hellishly hot lava belched up from deep within the bowels of the earth, cooling just before the surface to form granite – a solid rock mixture composed mostly of quartz, feldspar, and mica.
Then the two continents receded, leaving behind the damage we see today as many of the White Mountain peaks in New Hampshire. Since then these mountains have continued to be shaped by wind, water, and ice. As late as only ten thousand years ago, the Laurentide Ice Sheet – a mile-thick glacier that covered the eastern US – sculpted the most recent features on these mountains. The glacier moved more rock around, softened some of the jagged peaks, and reformed many of the steep V-shaped valleys into hollow U-shaped ones.
But creation is not done yet. Today we see just a glimpse of the process that is taking eons to finish. These mountains that once could rival the relatively new Himalayas will one day be nothing more than rolling hills.
A couple days before the above photo, I took two of my daughters Erin and Bridget on a hike up to and along part of Franconia Ridge. I had a topographic map of the area with me, but no trail guide. Why would I need one? I thought. I knew how to read a map and follow the trails that were clearly marked on it. So, early that morning we embarked on the Old Bridle Path, just off NH Rt. 3 near the state campground, with Mt. Lafayette as our initial goal.
I was in fairly good shape, but there was a point part way up the mountain where my legs felt like they were burning with every step. Breathing was like trying to suck lungfuls of air through a tiny straw. Even the kids seemed to have hit a “wall” the same time I had. Then it all went away. The remainder of our trip was tiring, but manageable.
Eventually we reached the summit of Mt. Lafayette (5260 foot elevation, just left of center in photo). Then we followed the Franconia Ridge Trail over Mt. Lincoln (5089 ft., the peak in a cloud shadow), and onto Little Haystack (4780 ft., rightmost peak in photo) before descending by the Falling Waters Trail. The next day I bought a trail guide and discovered the source of our pain the day before. There is a section of the Old Bridle Path that is unofficially, but aptly, named “Agony Ridge.”
Bridget and Erin on Franconia Ridge, July 2005
A not-too-happy Bridget complaining that I was taking her on a “death march” that day in 2005 has now become an avid hiker. The next photo shows us during a recent sunrise hike on Mt. Wachusett. The only difference between 2005 and 2021 is that now I am usually far behind her and trying to keep up!
Start them young.
Bridget is making hot chocolate during a hiking snack break, October 2001.