Hard, 8.7 mi loop
3,944 ft elevation gain
Hiked 8/6/25
A fantastic hike with amazing views when not clouded in, this is another prime example of good east coast hiking. Some nice waterfalls on the way up to the ridge and then a well traveled and wide ridge line. A lot of elevation to deal with, but the worst of it has been broken into (giant) steps.
View of the ridge with rock Cairns leading the way.
An interesting formation as the trail follows along a steep edge. Would be nice to see the valley below from here.
Steep trail with steps made from boulders gets you to the peak of Mt Lafayette. The steps all along this trail are just big enough to really get the quads going.
Nice photos! Two questions on the waterfall: did you hand hold and did you use a ND filter? When I was a lot earlier in my photography journey I shot some auto sports and looking back realized I was at teeny tiny apertures for a lot of the shots. I’ve always wondered how others approach longer exposures in the sun, especially when you don’t know what your light will be. Do you bring multiple ND filters and swap them, do you try to bring one Goldilocks, … ?
Yes to the handhold (i’ve got a canon r8 that does a good job of stabilizing as long as I don’t go too long on the exposure), but I’ll also break out the tripod if Imm doing more than a couple quick shots and moving on. No for the ND filters on this shot. I carry nd filters with me, but this was shaded enough that I didn’t break anything out. I’ve got variable one’s for each of my lenses that I’ll bring along that I like so you can adjust in the fly. Sometimes you’ll see the rotating filters on the extreme ends though.