pudgy_groundhog
Active member
With such a great weather outlook for this past weekend we decided to make the long drive to the Whites for another weekend of hiking (our first non-winter hike in the Whites was the Presi Traverse last month, which we loved). Although we know Franconia Ridge gets many visitors, we couldn't pass up this classic ridge hike with the promise of good weather and the likelihood of views.
We arrived late Friday night and stashed a bike at the bottom of the Liberty Springs trail to shave off the extra walk on the bike path at the end of the hike. We hit the trail around 6:15 Saturday morning, and although the air felt a little sticky, it was nice to be hiking in the cooler temps. We didn't see anybody else on the trail until we reached the hut. We took a short break, but didn't linger long and continued on to Lafayette. It was still a little cloudy/hazy, but the views were great from Lafayette and we shared the summit with a few other small groups (certainly not the hordes we were expecting). The clouds started to break as we approached Lincoln and the views just kept improving. The ridge walk from the hut to Little Haystack was fantastic and we really enjoyed ourselves.
From Little Haystack we dropped back into the trees to hike to Liberty and continued on to Flume. We intended to take the Flume Slide trail down rather than backtrack to Liberty, despite proclamations from the 12 year old and other hikers that it was very dangerous. Although the Flume Slide trail wasn't all rainbows and puppy dogs to descend, we made it fine. We met quite a few people coming up the trail who all felt the need to tell us we were crazy and to be safe while looking at us like they would be seeing our names in the rescue reports the next day. The concern was nice, although a succint "be safe, have a nice day!" would have sufficed rather than all the gloom and doom. At the end of the steep stuff we kind of looked around and asked "that was it?" because from the way people were going on and on, we were expecting something a lot worse. At any rate, we made it to the Liberty Springs TH in one piece and Steve rode the bike to retrieve our car. It was a wonderful hike and one of our favorites we have done in the Northeast.
On Saturday we also paid a visit to Echo Lake and the Basin, both of which were nice stops.
On Sunday we hiked up to North Kinsman via Lonesome Lake and Fishin' Jimmy trails (great trail name
). We originally thought we would also do South Kinsman, but with the long drive home we opted for the shorter hike. It was still socked in when we got to North Kinsman, but after 20 minutes or so it started to clear and we got some views of Franconia Ridge and Kinsman Pond. By the time we got back to Lonesome Lake it had become a really nice day and the views of the ridge from the lake were really nice.
Oh yea, we also saw a mama moose and her kiddo Friday night while driving. Our first moose sighting in the Northeast, so that was cool. All in all, we had a great weekend and look forward to getting back to NH.
Pics: http://www.pbase.com/pudgy_groundhog/franconia
We arrived late Friday night and stashed a bike at the bottom of the Liberty Springs trail to shave off the extra walk on the bike path at the end of the hike. We hit the trail around 6:15 Saturday morning, and although the air felt a little sticky, it was nice to be hiking in the cooler temps. We didn't see anybody else on the trail until we reached the hut. We took a short break, but didn't linger long and continued on to Lafayette. It was still a little cloudy/hazy, but the views were great from Lafayette and we shared the summit with a few other small groups (certainly not the hordes we were expecting). The clouds started to break as we approached Lincoln and the views just kept improving. The ridge walk from the hut to Little Haystack was fantastic and we really enjoyed ourselves.
From Little Haystack we dropped back into the trees to hike to Liberty and continued on to Flume. We intended to take the Flume Slide trail down rather than backtrack to Liberty, despite proclamations from the 12 year old and other hikers that it was very dangerous. Although the Flume Slide trail wasn't all rainbows and puppy dogs to descend, we made it fine. We met quite a few people coming up the trail who all felt the need to tell us we were crazy and to be safe while looking at us like they would be seeing our names in the rescue reports the next day. The concern was nice, although a succint "be safe, have a nice day!" would have sufficed rather than all the gloom and doom. At the end of the steep stuff we kind of looked around and asked "that was it?" because from the way people were going on and on, we were expecting something a lot worse. At any rate, we made it to the Liberty Springs TH in one piece and Steve rode the bike to retrieve our car. It was a wonderful hike and one of our favorites we have done in the Northeast.
On Saturday we also paid a visit to Echo Lake and the Basin, both of which were nice stops.
On Sunday we hiked up to North Kinsman via Lonesome Lake and Fishin' Jimmy trails (great trail name
). We originally thought we would also do South Kinsman, but with the long drive home we opted for the shorter hike. It was still socked in when we got to North Kinsman, but after 20 minutes or so it started to clear and we got some views of Franconia Ridge and Kinsman Pond. By the time we got back to Lonesome Lake it had become a really nice day and the views of the ridge from the lake were really nice. Oh yea, we also saw a mama moose and her kiddo Friday night while driving. Our first moose sighting in the Northeast, so that was cool. All in all, we had a great weekend and look forward to getting back to NH.
Pics: http://www.pbase.com/pudgy_groundhog/franconia
