Hiking Trip (9/8/07)

• A group from ICNL went on a hiking trip to Mt. Lafayette, NH

• Trip started on Friday Sep 7 at about 7:00 pm, we reached the pre-reserved cabin at about 11:00 pm, it was a nice 3 bedroom cottage. Although we knew that we will have a hick of a hike the next day (specially for those of us first timers), Br Kadri insisted on not letting us sleep until about 2:30 am :-)
• The next morning about 8:30, and after a delicious breakfast at a local restaurant the trip started.
• The plan was to use the Old Bridle Path towards the Greenleaf Hut and then to Mt. Lafayette then Mount Lincoln and finally toward Little Haystack then heading back using Falling Waters Trail which is a very steep trail. Click Here for details about this route. In summary: Mount Lafayette, located just east of I-93 (aka Franconia Notch Parkway) in Franconia Notch, is the highest peak in New Hampshire's White Mountains outside of the Presidential Range (6th highest overall). This is one of the most popular hiking peaks in the White Mountains because: (1) there is a popular 8.9 mile loop hike that is all class 1, (2) the summit is above treeline, (3) the mountain is right off of a major Interstate, and (4) as such, it is only about a 2 hour drive from Boston. This is as opposed to Mount Washington which can be class 2 near the top and often reached via the much slower NH SR-16 (about a 3 hour drive from Boston). On a clear day, you will have excellent views of Mount Washington and the Presidential Range looking east from the summit.

• The hike was about 9 hours, we passed by wonderful sceneries, had a wonderful time, the weather wasn't perfect clear, but was great, until the end of the trail when it started to rain (10 minutes before we reach the car :-) we still had a great time.

• By the time we were ready to head the steep path heading back around the mountain, Br Yusuf had a little incident where he managed to revive an old injury from his twisted ankle, but he managed to make it through Alhamdolellah.

• When we arrived the cottage (about 8:00 pm), the rain has stopped already. As soon as Br Kadri and Sami started the BBQ, the smell made us forget all the pain we had along the way :-)

• The next day Sunday about 10:00 am we headed back to Groton, Alhamdolellah.

• I think I can safely say, it was a memorable day.

• Apologies to all the brothers, sisters who were not able to make it. We will organize another trip with a little more head of time to announce insha'Allah.

• By the time we reached Groton, we made sure that there will be no stories about the bear that attacked Ahmed while Kadri knocked it down with his bare hands :-) also nothing about the moose that came running towards us from nowhere and sat down at the feet of Mongi. No eagles came down and attacked Br Abdesalam's backbag, and we didn't have to eat tree leaves out of hunger :-) and just a note that the mountain height wasn't 2 million feet :-) it was 5,260 ft (It is the 6th highest overall)