Appalachian Trail: Franconia Notch State Park to Zealand Notch

To start this hike, you can park right at the trailhead in a parking lot off of 93. This is a hike up a mountain so the entire hike is pretty challenging. There is a total elevation gain of 3900 feet in about 4.5 miles. A couple miles in you break through the treeline and then from there the views are incredible. There is a ridgeline to walk along and you have a great view of the summit of Lafa...

Falling Waters Trail takes you up to the summit of Little Haystack Mountain, and Mount Lincoln and Mount Lafayette if you continue to the Franconia Ridge Trail / Appalachian Trail, then over to Old Bridle Path. Also along Falling Waters Trail are stunning waterfalls. The most popular one is Cloudland Waterfall at an 80 foot height, this waterfall is a fan-type horsetail. The beauty of this wat...

Starting from the parking lot, the two trails initially begin together. Less than a mile in the trails split into Old Bridle Path to the left, and Falling Waters Trail to the right. Most people choose to go up and down on the same trail. To those doing the loop, most choose to hike up Falling Waters, and down Old Bridle. (I recommend the opposite.) Old Bridle has magnificent views which start ...

To hike to the Appalachian Mountain Club's Greenleaf Hut, the best route for a day hike there and back is the Old Bridle Path. This hike is certainly doable in a day if you're interested in just hiking to the Greenleaf Hut. You have a lot of options when hiking this trail. I am going to focus specifically on just hiking the Old Bridle Path to the Greenleaf Hut and continuing on to the summit of...

This is a multi-day backpacking loop in Franconia Notch State Park, New Hampshire (located in the the White Mountains). Leave the car at the Lafayette Place Campground, (about 1700' elevation), then head up 1.4mi to Lonesome Lake. If you start hiking in the evening, as the sun is setting, you can stop here to set up hammocks a couple hundred feet off the trail, and hunker in for the night. In...

The best place to park when doing this hike in the winter is at the Lafayette Campground. The campground and parking lot are typically empty in the cold winter months, aside from occasional cross-country skiers on the Pemigewasset bike path. The Lafayette campground parking lot is directly accessible by I-93 north and south. To start the hike, walk through the campground and follow the signs th...