| Franconia Range | |
| Range | |
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Franconia Ridge viewed from Mount Lincoln, with the sharp peaks of Mount Flume (left) and Mount Liberty (right) visible behind the ridge.
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| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | New Hampshire |
| Part of | White Mountains, Appalachian Mountains |
| Borders on | Twin Range, Kinsman Ridge |
| Highest point | Mount Lafayette |
| - elevation | 5,249 ft (1,600 m) |
| - coordinates | |
The Franconia Range is a mountain range located in the White Mountains of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. It is the second-highest range of peaks (after the Presidential Range) in the White Mountains.
Franconia Ridge is a prominent ridge which forms the backbone of the range, stringing together all of its major summits.
Contents |
From north to south, the highest summits of the range include:
| • Mount Lafayette | 5,249 feet (1,600 m) * | |
| • Mount Truman[1] | 5,000 feet (1,500 m) | |
| • Mount Lincoln | 5,089 feet (1,551 m) * | |
| • Little Haystack Mountain | 4,780 feet (1,460 m) | |
| • Mount Liberty | 4,459 feet (1,359 m) * | |
| • Mount Flume | 4,328 feet (1,319 m) * |
The summits marked with an asterisk (*) are included on the Appalachian Mountain Club's peak-bagging list of "Four-thousand footers" in New Hampshire.
The Franconia Range hosts the third largest connected area of alpine tundra in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, only surpassed by the Presidential Range and the Katahdin massif.[2]
Approximately 2.5 miles (4.0 km) along the crest of the ridge is in the alpine zone. This area runs from the treeline just below the summit of Little Haystack all the way to the treeline north of Mount Lafayette, and affords constant 360-degree views of the White Mountains. To the east of the ridge lies the immense beauty of the Pemigewasset Wilderness.
While Mount Liberty and Mount Flume are almost entirely forested, their summits rise just above the treeline, and provide spectacular views.
The Franconia Ridge Trail, which coincides with the Appalachian Trail from Mount Lafayette to Mount Liberty, traverses the ridge over all the aforementioned mountains.
An extremely popular hike dubbed the Franconia Ridge Loop is an 8.9 miles (14.3 km) loop which includes the majority of the above-treeline portion of the ridge. This loop is very strenuous, with a cumulative gain of over 3,900 feet (1,200 m), but extremely rewarding in good weather as it traverses the rocky cones of Little Haystack Mountain, Mount Lincoln, and Mount Lafayette. This loop involves the Falling Waters Trail, the Franconia Ridge Trail, the Greenleaf Trail, and the Old Bridle Path.
The exposed nature of the ridge and the changeable weather of the White Mountains make it a more dangerous hike than it may appear. Injuries and even fatalities from falls and exposure are not uncommon; most recently, one man died after he and a companion were trapped February 11, 2008 by fast-moving winter weather.[3]