After my 'There and back to see how far it is' run last weekend I was itching to get back for a hike. Karen was busy but Lisa was keen to go. I also heard that Alison, who used to work with us, was going to be home for a week before heading back to Kent State. Alison's home is in Manchester NH so it was decided. We would drive by and pick her up for a reunion meet and hike. Now all we needed was for the weather to co-operate.

We watched the forecast and it kept promising scattered thunderstorms. I called Lisa the night before and she said she was game to go no matter what the weather so at 6:30am she arrives and we set off. A little after 7am Karen calls and we tell her it's not too late for us to turn around and go fetch her, but she has commitments and decides she should honor them

A couple of hours or so later and we follow Alison's excellent directions to find her sitting on her front door steps. After hugs and 'Hi's' we hit the road again and head for Franconia Notch. Hike options at this point are The Greenleaf trail to the hut, Cannon Mountain from the Notch or the Coppermine Trail to Bridal Veil Falls. On the highway up we hit some serious storms and torrential rain punctuated by periods of bright sunshine. Mountain weather is very fickle.

We stop for a potty break at the Flume Gorge visitors center and it starts to pour again. We get a close encounter with a moose and a chance to pick up some leaflets before heading off again. The rain goes as quickly as it came and we stop at the Old Man viewing area to check out the mountains. There is no rain but the cloud base is low on the mountains. We decide against the high trails and head for the Coppermine Trail.

The Coppermine Trail is on the outer edge of the mountains and the prevailing winds coming from that direction are carrying away most of the clouds. It's not raining so we hoist up our backpacks and hit the trail!