Bob Jensen's Favorite Mountain Pictures of Mt. Lafayette 10 Miles Distant
With nine pages quoted from Bill Bryson's traumatic climb up Mt. Lafayette
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (Anchor Books, 2007)
 

Bob Jensen at Trinity University 

My long-time friend Dick Pettway recommended that I read the following book:
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (Anchor Books, 2007)
The book is about a professional writer's experience walking the Appalachian Trail. This most famous trail in North America begins in Georgia and terminates at the Knife's Edge of Mt. Katahdin in Maine. The 2,100-mile trail crosses peaks of mountains in a number of Eastern ranges including the Blue Ridge, Smokies, Cumberlands, Green Mountains of Vermont, and the White Mountains of New Hampshire and Maine. At the time Bill Bryson and his family lived in a small town in New Hampshire. Only in New England do trail hikers climb above timberline to reach the tops of usually cold and windy mountain tops. Above timberline the trail is marked with piles of plentiful stones. Parts of the trail are closed in the winter, particularly those parts in the Green and White Mountain Ranges.

Part  the Appalachian Trail. crosses Mt. Lafayette that can be viewed from our living room. It is in the Kinsman Range about 10 miles from our cottage as the crow flies. Franconia Notch is a mountain pass between Mt. Lafayette and Cannon Mountain in the Kinsman Range of the White Mountains. Whereas Cannon Mountain has over 60 ski trails, there's no development on the higher Mt. Lafayette or its neighbor Mount Lincoln. The only exception is part way up the Appalachian Mountain Club's primitive hut part way up the Greenleaf Trail that leads from the parking lot of Cannon Mountain to the summit of Mt. Lafayette. There are also trails on other sides of this solid granite mountain.

 

This picture was taken beside our pond garden

I took this picture of Mt. Lafayette (center) from my desk inside the cottage

Erika bringing in the mail bag with Mt. Lafayette in the background

 

Part  the Appalachian Trail. crosses Mt. Washington that can be viewed from our living room. It is in the Presidential  Range about 30 miles from our cottage as the crow flies.

 

In the summertime, Mt. Washington's weather station, restaurant, and huge lookout platform can be reached by either hiking the Appalachian Trail, climbing by car, or by taking the famous Cog Railroad to the summit ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/CogRailroad/History1/CogRailroadHistory.htm
Cannon Mountain can be reached by a tram or chair lifts:

White Mountains

Set 1 --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Mountains/Set01/MountainsSet01.htm   

Set 2 --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Mountains/Set02/MountainsSet02.htm    
              This set includes White Mountain hiking trail photographs

But Mt. Lafayette can be reached only by a rather difficult climb on foot.

Mt. Lafayette Summit

Little Haystack Mountain on the trail to Mt. Lafayette

 

Beginning on Page 317 of the book A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (Anchor Books, 2007), Bill Bryson begins his account of his climb to the summit of  Mt. Lafayette.

 

 

 

Continued in A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (Anchor Books, 2007)

Mt. Lafayette as seen from my desk

Two zoomed pictures of Mt. Lafayette

In the summer months we watch gliders from our living room (the camera was zoomed for this shot)

In lupine season we wish tourists would not walk among the lupine in front of your cottage

A sudden storm cloud in front of my desk

I will drink to this view of Mt. Lafayette

 

For your "bucket list":

 

More of Bob Jensen's Pictures and Stories
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm

Bob Jensen's photo set on White Mountain Hiking Trails ---
www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/HikingTrails/Set01/HikingTrailsSet01.htm

Long Trail Photographs (the Green Mountains of Vermont)
http://cdi.uvm.edu/collections/getCollection.xql?title=Long Trail Photographs 
Oldest Long Distance Hiking Trail in the United States

On May 14, 2006 I retired from Trinity University after a long and wonderful career as an accounting professor in four universities. I was generously granted "Emeritus" status by the Trustees of Trinity University. My wife and I now live in a cottage in the White Mountains of New Hampshire ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm

Bob Jensen's Blogs --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/JensenBlogs.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called New Bookmarks --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Tidbits --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Fraud Updates --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
Bob Jensen's past presentations and lectures --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/resume.htm#Presentations   

Our address is 190 Sunset Hill Road, Sugar Hill, New Hampshire
Our cottage was known as the Brayton Cottage in the early 1900s
Sunset Hill is a ridge overlooking with New Hampshire's White Mountains to the East
and Vermont's Green Mountains to the West

 

 

Bob Jensen's Threads --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm

Bob Jensen's Home Page --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/