I'm Dreaming of a Winter Hike in Franconia Notch

I have done this hike in the Fall but never thought about doing it in the winter until now. I would love to do the OLD BRIDLE PATH to Greenleaf AMC Hut. At the same time see Eagle Lakes. The trail is 2.9 miles, but it's not a hard trail and there are MANY beautiful views along the way. Seeing these beautiful views this fall has been making me wonder what those views look like in the winter months. I think it would be awesome to use snowshoes when going up this trail, but last time I went hiking there wasn't enough snow to use them. This winter has been lacking snow in the White Mountains. Though winter hiking in just with boots has been easy due to little snow. Has anyone done this trail in the winter months?

The Franconia Ridge -BucketList- crossed off Part1

The Franconia Ridge

I have always wanted to hike the Ridge for years. I think my first hike up one of the mountains (Little Haystack) back in 2004 and saw the ridge. From then on, I wanted to hike across this beautiful ridge, but I didn't want to go alone. This year I made friends with someone who wanted to hike this Ridge as well, and we had planned for a month now that we were going to hike this ridge before winter set in. On Oct. 10th, we we set to this adventure in the white mountains. I was so excited that I missed Lafayette Place parking, I had to go all the way around to try again, this time not missing the turn. 

We headed up a path that lead to this sign:

This sign is at the head of the Trail we started up .2miles which then splits by a small bridge. We went up the Old Bridle Path to get to GreenLeaf Hut. GreenLeaf Hut was 2.7 miles after the split near a small bridge.

Heading up the Old Bridge Path was easy at the start for about a mile or so, then after you make the corner near the Walker Cascades it starts to become a steeper hike. Though I would say that I found this trail to be a nice trail to hike up, very open and not rocky. After another .7 miles is when we could start seeing views. There were many stops along the way to the Hut where we found ourselves stopping and taking pictures. Here are a few of those pictures:

 Our first view on the Trail...I loved seeing the clouds roll over the mountains

 I had to take a picture of the Ridge we were going up,
the green arrow is the way

we are going to get to the Hut

 The view of Cannon Mountain (Cliff) from the Trail

I love this picture. This group was always near us along our adventure.

We called them the sixteen candles,
for the group had sixteen people and theblasted through the trails.
What a great view to stop and take a break at though:)

After trailing the Old Bridle Path for more then two hours, we came upon the GreenLeaf Hut. It was near a lake called Eagle Lake. This is the hut as we came upon it:

Happy Hiking

Next Blog: The GreenLeaf Hut, Greenleaf Trail and Mt. Lafayette