McPolack's Believe it or Not

This picture was taken on Saturday afternoon.

I hiked the Falling Waters/Franconia Ridge/Old Bridle Path loop with JoyceFrances and her friend J on Saturday. It was still summer as far as the calendar was concerned. As far as the tops of Little Haystack, Lincoln, and Lafayette are concerned, winter is fast a-comin'.

The hike was fantastic, if a bit French-Canadian. It was like there was a convention or something. I've done this hike maybe a half-dozen times and never have I heard so much Francais. Unfortunately, most of them were rude. Much of the trail is very narrow, and the ridge trail is true to its name -- there are deadly steep drops on either side. Common courtesy calls for one person to step aside and the other to say thank you.

This did not happen much with the F-Cs.

One group of three sat next to our group of three as we stopped to snack and cower from 50 mph winds behind a rock; this was after I'd answered a question for them and they'd taken a picture of me. They didn't talk, though, which was weird. They just sat. They sat next to us later in the trip, but again, no talking.

In defense of the F-Cs, one older couple I irritatingly barreled past on my way to the Greenleaf Hut did pick up the mitten that fell out of my pocket and called after me. I felt like such a merde-head for being rude that I practically kissed the gentleman of the couple as he handed me my mitten and said "C'est bon? C'est bon?"

"Oui," I replied. "Merci. Merci beaucoup."