Mount Lincoln & Mount Lafayette NH Hike Guide
Mount Lincoln & Mount Lafayette are a pair of 4,000 foot mountains located in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It is common to hike these mountains together via the Franconia Ridge trail as they form a nice loop that start and end in the same parking area. Trail conditions range from packed dirt to waterfalls to minor rock scrambling. This is a moderate hike, but one I would recommend to anyone with enough time on their hands as its one of the best that New Hampshire has to offer. Hiking up the Falling Waters trail before Mount Lincoln offers some of the most beautiful waterfall views in all of the Granite State.
Mount Lincoln & Mount Lafayette Quick Facts
Virtual Trail Guide: Mount Lincoln & Mount Lafayette
Mount Lincoln & Mount Lafayette Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5 Stars)
Distance: 9.3 miles RT (4.25 miles to Mount Lincoln, 1.4 Miles to Mount Lafayette, 3.5 miles to TH)
Elevation Start: 1,642ft
Highest Point: 5,089ft – Mount Lincoln, Mount Lafayette 5,249ft
Total Elevation Gain: 3,816ft
Estimated Time to Complete: 5-7 Hours RT
Difficulty: Moderate What does this mean?
Class: High Class 2 / Low 3- What does this mean?
Season: May – December (expect snow outside of this period)
Directions to Mount Lincoln & Mt Lafayette
Trailhead: Franconia Notch/Old Bridal Path
Getting Here: From 93, navigate to the Franconia Notch exit. If you are traveling from the north, you will have to navigate south to get to the exit. You can enter Old Bridal Path Trailhead into your favorite navigational device.
Fees: Free
Parking: Parking for Mount Lincoln & Mount Lafayette is pretty easy as the lot is MASSIVE. On extremely nice days or holiday weekends, the lot can fill up but there is a free shuttle that runs from nearby Cannon Mountain, read more about that here. The lot does have 2 non-plumbing bathrooms about 50 yards from the middle of the parking area.
Summary
Camping: There are a handful of options for camping while hiking Mount Lincoln & Mount Lafayette. If you want to camp near the trailhead, there are a variety of campgrounds to choose from, just do a quick Google. If you want to take advantage of dispersed of backcountry camping, here is a complete list of rules and locations for dispersed camping. If you want to camp in the Greenleaf Hut you can read more about that here.
Dogs: Mount Lincoln & Mount Lafayette is a dog friendly hike, but they must be kept on a leash. If you plan on bringing your dog, be prepared for them to get muddy and wet. If your dog doesn’t have experience with rock scrambling, I wouldn’t recommend this hike. Bring a long leash as there are several sections where you will need it.
Make it a Loop: Mount Lincoln & Mount Lafayette is a loop. If you want to extend your hike, there are limitless options in the area including a much longer hike, the Pemi loop.
Trail X Factors: Waterfalls Galore!
Several years ago, I hiked Mount Lincoln & Mount Lafayette but it has been a long time. I forgot how beautiful the hike up to Little Haystack Mountain and Mount Lincoln was. The Falling Waters trail up to Mount Haystack and then Mount Lincoln weaves by several beautiful waterfalls that are worth your time in their own right. These falls are best in the spring and early summer when snowmelt and rains fuel them. Bring a camera, a tripod and give yourself some extra time to enjoy nature’s beauty.
Hike Tip: In my opinion, the best way to hike Mount Lincoln & Mount Lafayette would be to ascend Mount Lincoln then traverse over to Mount Lafayette. I love starting off the hike with the amazing waterfalls of the Falling Waters trail and ending the hike with tremendous views of the entire loop you just hiked while coming down the Old Bridal Path. If you do the hike this way, you get all of your elevation gain out of the way in the first half of the hike and in my opinion it’s more mellow than doing it the other way.
Best Views: Mount Lincoln & Mount Lafayette have so many good views, it’s hard to keep track of. If I had to choose my two favorite spots it would be the waterfalls on The Falling Waters trail and the views of the ridge on the Old Bridal Path.
Mount Lincoln to Mount Lafayette Hike Route
Gear Needed
- Men’s Trail Runners – waterproof is helpful
- Women’s Trail Runners – waterproof is helpful
- La Sportiva Trango Hiking Boots (Men’s)
- La Sportiva Trango Hiking Boots (Women’s)
- Backpack (Winter)
- Backpack (Summer)
- Food & Water
- Bug spray / bug net
- Optional: Garmin inReach
- Optional: Hiking Poles – 120CM
- Optional: Headlamp
- Optional: Garmin Fenix Watch
- Optional: GoPro, Joby Tripod, GoPro 360
- Optional: Drone
- *Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you.
My Trip to Mount Lincoln & Mount Lafayette: July 2018
My time in New Hampshire was coming to an end and I wanted to get one more hike in before we headed back to Colorado. I thought about doing Huntington Ravine on Mt Washington, but figured that I would have lots of time on Class 3 hikes in Colorado when we returned home. I settled on Mount Lincoln & Mount Lafayette, a hike I had done about 10 years ago. When Juno and I arrived to the parking lot around 7:30AM, there were other cars, but it was not swamped. It was the day before July 4th and the highs were supposed to be in the 90’s. Hiking in New Hampshire is awesome, but boy do I not love the high temperatures and humidity, even when hiking its highest peaks.
I packed up my bag, hit the bathroom and then continued up the trail. My plan was to hike up Little Haystack and Mount Lincoln first and then head over to Mount Lafayette. I figured if the weather was looking bad after Mount Lincoln, we could easily descend and at least nab two peaks. We started up the Falling Waters trail and I forgot how beautiful this portion of the hike. Juno and I passed by at least 5 amazing waterfalls with raging waters in the early summer months. I stopped at nearly every single one of them to take pictures and actually enjoy the scenery on a hike instead of flying by it. After about a mile and a half of hiking, we finally left the brook and entered the dense forest.
Immediately upon leaving the creek, I could feel the high humidity and heat that had not reached the cool canyon. I was in shorts and a t shirt but still dripping sweat. I couldn’t imagine how Juno felt with the dog’s version of a down jacket on. I felt awful for her and made sure to stop for several water breaks along the way up Mount Lincoln & Mount Lafayette. After hiking for about 3 miles, I realized the trail report I had read was wrong again. We were supposed to be on the summit of Little Haystack Mountain by now, but still had about 800 feet of elevation to gain. In my video guide, I joked that we would need a ladder to the top to gain this kind of elevation in such a short distance. Mother nature smiled her smug face at me and immediately after making the comment, we reached a steep rock “staircase” that we took all the way to the summit of Little Haystack Mountain.
For the third trip in a row, my views on the summit of a mountain in New Hampshire were awful. Although slightly better than my hike up Mount Eisenhower & Mount Pierce, visibility from the summit of Little Haystack was not great. I took a look at the clouds and while they were everywhere, none looked “angry”. Juno and I re-hydrated and continued on our way towards Mount Lincoln. I didn’t remember all of my previous hike up Mount Lincoln & Mount Lafayette, but I did remember the views of Mount Lincoln’s ridge, it was beautiful.
After some short scrambles and about ¾ of a mile of hiking, we reached the summit of Mount Lincoln. We were greeted with grey in all directions. In fact, the views were so bad, I didn’t even bother stopping for more than 2 minutes and took no pictures. We continued on towards Mount Lafayette and could see some of the traverse, but even if Mount Lafayette reached out its hand and punched me in the face, I wouldn’t have been able to see it. Though the views were complete shit, I was happy to at least have cooler temperatures because of the slight breeze and cloud cover. If the clouds could hold on to their rain, the weather would have been pretty good considering the circumstances.
Near the summit of Mount Lafayette, we started to feel drops of rain and I thought that was it. I kept hiking, but fully expected to store all of my gear in my waterproof bag. Luckily, the rains held off and we reached the summit of Mount Lafayette a few minutes later. I loved how easy the ridge line from Mount Lincoln to Mount Lafayette was. In Colorado, we are used to traverses that involve several hundred feet of elevation gain/loss on most peaks. Juno and I had a snack, drank some water and tried to enjoy our time on Mount Lafayette even though we had no views. I don’t know if this is a “thing” on Mount Lafayette, but there were small flies all over the summit that quickly annoyed me so I decided to move on.
I am not sure why, but my knees had been really sore so the hike down Mount Lafayette was not fun for me. Between Juno pulling me, the large steps in the rock and steep terrain, I was about to scream. Luckily, the weather decided to play nice and all of the clouds that had covered the summit of Mount Lincoln & Mount Lafayette 30 minutes before suddenly were blown away by the wind. We were about 2 miles from the trailhead and could see the beautiful ridge line and the east faces of both Mount Lincoln & Mount Lafayette. I took some mental and actual pictures of the ridge while giving Juno some more water.
The passing of the clouds brought hot temperatures so right before Juno and I reached the parking area, I decided to let us both cool off in one of the streams. The water was ice cold which felt great on my sore body. Juno lapped up her share and waded in the chilly mountain water. The creek felt like nature’s version of air conditioning and was the perfect way to end the hike for both Juno and myself. Feeling rejuvenated, we reached the car shortly after happy with what we had accomplished.
Although I haven’t hiked all 48 4,000 footers in New Hampshire, Mount Lincoln & Mount Lafayette may be my favorite hike in the state. Besides Mount Katahdin in Maine, I can’t think of any one hike that I have enjoyed more in New England. The hike up both peaks is taxing but you are rewarded with so many views along the way, you start to forget the constant aching coming from your legs. I would highly recommend Mount Lincoln & Mount Lafayette to any intermediate hiker or someone who is in decent enough shape.
