NH High Points: Omelette Man and Franconia Ridge

It’s been an interesting couple of weeks since Kaya left.

I’ve continued to meet all sorts of interesting people, but two of them especially stand out in my mind.

A few days ago I met the Crawford family. They are a family of seven (two adults and five kids) thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail this year. The youngest of the kids is still in diapers. The other kids are being home-schooled and as I followed them up a mountain I noticed that one of the kids was practicing their ABCs by writing the alphabet on rocks in chalk one letter at a time every 20 to 30 yards.

I’ve had all sorts of other amazing moments, including crossing over the White River one afternoon in 94-degree heat and discovering the most idyllic swimming hole just when I needed it most.

But the highlight of my entire hike so far came two days ago.

I hiked across the Franconia Ridge in the White Mountains and it was a life-changing experience. This is an eight-mile traverse across three mountain peaks, all connected by a ridge with four to five miles of it above tree line. The day was supposed to be clear but unfortunately when I hit the first summit I was in clouds with no view. As I was hiking off the first summit the sky started to clear and within a couple of seconds it was like the sky opened up. It was an incredibly memorable moment I won’t forget.