BIGEarl
Well-known member
January 21, 2012: Franconia Ridge Traverse – Lafayette to Flume
Trails: Franconia Notch Recreation Trail, Old Bridle Path, Greenleaf Trail, Franconia Ridge Trail, Liberty Spring Trail
Summits: Lafayette, Lincoln, Liberty, Flume
Speed Bumps: Truman, Little Haystack
Hikers: Michael Costanza, Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
With four to six inches of fresh snow reported a day before, snow falling when we arrived, low temps (4 degrees at the start), and predicted winds of ~30mph we expected a cold but interesting day. We met at The Basin on Northbound I-93 to spot the truck. Sue and I tossed our things into Michael’s car and we drove to OBP/FWT trailhead for the hike. With our headlights showing the way we set off hiking a tracked-out Old Bridle Path. The day would be trailhead-to-trailhead on snowshoes. We enjoyed a tracked-out trail all of the way to the Greenleaf Hut.
Once it was light enough to see we realized the views would be limited to just the close-in scenery along the trail. Unless things changed there would be no distance views for this hike; unfortunately this is a great view hike. Michael led the way and set a terrific pace for our climb to the hut and on to Lafayette. We knew the conditions were a little difficult above the treeline and decided to get prepared early. Roughly a half mile below the hut we stopped to adjust layers and get out some protection from the wind. We made it to the hut, stopped briefly for a couple pictures, and kept moving. We had a cold day; with 4 degrees at the trailhead it was probably some place below zero at the higher elevations, toss in a solid wind and we really needed to keep moving to stay warm. A handheld weather station would be a fun gadget to have.
Above the hut there was no sign of tracks. Everything was drifted in. As we made our way above the treeline toward Lafayette, I stopped a few times for pictures and when I got moving again the tracks of Sue and Michael were nearly gone. It happens fast. We worked hard to stay on the preferred route going cairn-to-cairn but I’m pretty sure we managed to drift off-trail a couple times. The higher we climbed, the higher the wind speed. A short distance below the summit the trail contours to the north side of the summit and we found shelter in some boulders. Sue and Michael pulled out the goggles; the blowing ice and snow was a little uncomfortable. I waited until reaching the summit before getting out my goggles.
On the summit there were no views at all; we couldn’t even see Owl’s Head. Looking south from the summit there was no sign of a trail, everything was drifted in. We knew the route and set off for Lincoln. I expected the ridge to be generally windblown with limited snow. There were in fact quite a few areas of heavy drifting, in some cases well over four feet deep. Hiking south on the ridge is relatively easy, staying on the preferred route under these conditions was a little more difficult. We tried hard to stay with the trail route but I’m sure we wandered a little in a couple places. The wind was generally steady from the west/northwest which had it a little from the rear. At least we weren’t forced to hike into the wind. Without the views we were making great time even with the breaking through drifts and trail finding. We hit Lincoln, paused for a couple pictures, and continued south.
Our next target was Little Haystack and the junction with Falling Waters Trail. Michael hiked Liberty and Flume a week ago and for some reason wasn’t interested in a return visit. He planned to say goodbye on Little Haystack and head down Falling Waters Trail back to his car. While we were there the first other hikers for the day arrived by way of Falling Waters Trail. Michael headed down Falling Waters Trail, Sue and I continued south on Franconia Ridge Trail. We knew the wind would soon be gone once we were back in the shelter of the spruce south of Little Haystack.
As we left Little Haystack we found very deep drifts and no sign of the trail at all. The trail corridor isn’t tough to find and follow. The snow dept with the drifting was impressive. Sue was in the lead and making great progress. We worked our way through the final open areas and then into the spruce. South of Little Haystack there is a section of trail with a steep drop that starts on some boulders and ledge. I moved into the lead in this area and took the middle section of trail breaking. Once we reached the col the snow depth seemed to stabilize and there was less deep drifting. Sue moved back out front and led us to Liberty Spring junction. With the high-traffic nature of Liberty Spring Trail we knew that would be the end of trail breaking for the day. We hit the trail junction and were on a superhighway – the trail had seen lots of recent traffic.
The time was ~11:50am when we said goodbye to Michael on Little Haystack. I thought it would be terrific if we could make it to Liberty Spring Trail by 2:00pm. We arrived at 2:05pm. Nice! All we had left in our plans were to climb Liberty twice and Flume once. We set off for Liberty.
The trail junction is just below the summit and it’s an easy final walk to the top. The final approach is steep and I realized my fuel was running very low. There were a few more stops than I wanted but we kept moving up. On the summit the terrific snowshoe track ended. I was amazed the number of people that came through only went to the summit of Liberty and turned around. When she saw it Sue simply said, “This doesn’t look good”. The conditions had improved, the snow stopped falling, the clouds moved higher, and we were getting some nice views. We stood on the summit of Liberty looking at Flume and the unexpected 1.1 miles of additional trail breaking. What can you do? We’re not going to turn around for this. I started for Flume with Sue close behind. We exited from Liberty on the trail which leads over some sections of ledge that can be icy and a little intimidating at times. After clearing the ledge and dropping a short distance below we landed on a superhighway, again. Outstanding! The earlier crowds evidently didn’t want to deal with the ledge and hiked a bypass route around the summit.
We’re having fun now!
The walk to Flume is a short 1.1 miles, even shorter with the broken trail. We made our way through the col and started the approach. I also started the stopping. Sue took the lead and dragged me along. The steeper the approach became, the more frequently were the stops. Slowly we closed in on Flume. A few yards below the summit I stopped to see the views and realized the conditions had really cleared, in fact there were some patches of blue overhead. We stepped onto the summit to enjoy the scenery. While we were there a group of four arrived. We got our usual pictures and made the u-turn for our exit hike.
First, we needed to make the second climb of Liberty. There were no surprises; we hit the steep approach and our progress slowed; but we kept making progress. Eventually, we were on the summit of Liberty with a terrific sunset to enjoy. The late afternoon views from Liberty are always a treat; Sue and I have enjoyed these conditions together quite a few times. The low sun creates fantastic shadows in the terrain, Bondcliff gets lit up by a huge spotlight, and even Flume showed us a view I had never seen. This is a beautiful time to be on Liberty with these conditions. The wind was still blowing and we still had over three miles back to the truck. We snapped some pictures and took off.
Our exit hike was boring. We had a wide, flat snowshoe track to cruise. I don’t recall a single blowdown along the way. We passed the Liberty Spring Tentsite, the junction with Flume Slide Trail, took the shortcut to the Franconia Notch Recreation Trail, turned north and headed to The Basin and our waiting truck. The display showed 5 degrees; we’re really wet and that’s cold. First, I started the truck, next we packed, finally we tried to get warm – it didn’t take long, even with the diesel. We made a quick stop in Lincoln to change into dry clothes and were soon on the highway south.
Thanks for joining the hike Michael. That’s three hikes with us so far this winter and you have checked off ten from your W48 list. Please, come back anytime.
Thanks Sue. We had another good day in the mountains. Get ready, you’re on vacation in a couple days.
I’ve posted some pictures from the day.
BIGEarl's Pictures
Straight to the slideshow
Trails: Franconia Notch Recreation Trail, Old Bridle Path, Greenleaf Trail, Franconia Ridge Trail, Liberty Spring Trail
Summits: Lafayette, Lincoln, Liberty, Flume
Speed Bumps: Truman, Little Haystack
Hikers: Michael Costanza, Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
With four to six inches of fresh snow reported a day before, snow falling when we arrived, low temps (4 degrees at the start), and predicted winds of ~30mph we expected a cold but interesting day. We met at The Basin on Northbound I-93 to spot the truck. Sue and I tossed our things into Michael’s car and we drove to OBP/FWT trailhead for the hike. With our headlights showing the way we set off hiking a tracked-out Old Bridle Path. The day would be trailhead-to-trailhead on snowshoes. We enjoyed a tracked-out trail all of the way to the Greenleaf Hut.
Once it was light enough to see we realized the views would be limited to just the close-in scenery along the trail. Unless things changed there would be no distance views for this hike; unfortunately this is a great view hike. Michael led the way and set a terrific pace for our climb to the hut and on to Lafayette. We knew the conditions were a little difficult above the treeline and decided to get prepared early. Roughly a half mile below the hut we stopped to adjust layers and get out some protection from the wind. We made it to the hut, stopped briefly for a couple pictures, and kept moving. We had a cold day; with 4 degrees at the trailhead it was probably some place below zero at the higher elevations, toss in a solid wind and we really needed to keep moving to stay warm. A handheld weather station would be a fun gadget to have.
Above the hut there was no sign of tracks. Everything was drifted in. As we made our way above the treeline toward Lafayette, I stopped a few times for pictures and when I got moving again the tracks of Sue and Michael were nearly gone. It happens fast. We worked hard to stay on the preferred route going cairn-to-cairn but I’m pretty sure we managed to drift off-trail a couple times. The higher we climbed, the higher the wind speed. A short distance below the summit the trail contours to the north side of the summit and we found shelter in some boulders. Sue and Michael pulled out the goggles; the blowing ice and snow was a little uncomfortable. I waited until reaching the summit before getting out my goggles.
On the summit there were no views at all; we couldn’t even see Owl’s Head. Looking south from the summit there was no sign of a trail, everything was drifted in. We knew the route and set off for Lincoln. I expected the ridge to be generally windblown with limited snow. There were in fact quite a few areas of heavy drifting, in some cases well over four feet deep. Hiking south on the ridge is relatively easy, staying on the preferred route under these conditions was a little more difficult. We tried hard to stay with the trail route but I’m sure we wandered a little in a couple places. The wind was generally steady from the west/northwest which had it a little from the rear. At least we weren’t forced to hike into the wind. Without the views we were making great time even with the breaking through drifts and trail finding. We hit Lincoln, paused for a couple pictures, and continued south.
Our next target was Little Haystack and the junction with Falling Waters Trail. Michael hiked Liberty and Flume a week ago and for some reason wasn’t interested in a return visit. He planned to say goodbye on Little Haystack and head down Falling Waters Trail back to his car. While we were there the first other hikers for the day arrived by way of Falling Waters Trail. Michael headed down Falling Waters Trail, Sue and I continued south on Franconia Ridge Trail. We knew the wind would soon be gone once we were back in the shelter of the spruce south of Little Haystack.
As we left Little Haystack we found very deep drifts and no sign of the trail at all. The trail corridor isn’t tough to find and follow. The snow dept with the drifting was impressive. Sue was in the lead and making great progress. We worked our way through the final open areas and then into the spruce. South of Little Haystack there is a section of trail with a steep drop that starts on some boulders and ledge. I moved into the lead in this area and took the middle section of trail breaking. Once we reached the col the snow depth seemed to stabilize and there was less deep drifting. Sue moved back out front and led us to Liberty Spring junction. With the high-traffic nature of Liberty Spring Trail we knew that would be the end of trail breaking for the day. We hit the trail junction and were on a superhighway – the trail had seen lots of recent traffic.
The time was ~11:50am when we said goodbye to Michael on Little Haystack. I thought it would be terrific if we could make it to Liberty Spring Trail by 2:00pm. We arrived at 2:05pm. Nice! All we had left in our plans were to climb Liberty twice and Flume once. We set off for Liberty.
The trail junction is just below the summit and it’s an easy final walk to the top. The final approach is steep and I realized my fuel was running very low. There were a few more stops than I wanted but we kept moving up. On the summit the terrific snowshoe track ended. I was amazed the number of people that came through only went to the summit of Liberty and turned around. When she saw it Sue simply said, “This doesn’t look good”. The conditions had improved, the snow stopped falling, the clouds moved higher, and we were getting some nice views. We stood on the summit of Liberty looking at Flume and the unexpected 1.1 miles of additional trail breaking. What can you do? We’re not going to turn around for this. I started for Flume with Sue close behind. We exited from Liberty on the trail which leads over some sections of ledge that can be icy and a little intimidating at times. After clearing the ledge and dropping a short distance below we landed on a superhighway, again. Outstanding! The earlier crowds evidently didn’t want to deal with the ledge and hiked a bypass route around the summit.
We’re having fun now!
The walk to Flume is a short 1.1 miles, even shorter with the broken trail. We made our way through the col and started the approach. I also started the stopping. Sue took the lead and dragged me along. The steeper the approach became, the more frequently were the stops. Slowly we closed in on Flume. A few yards below the summit I stopped to see the views and realized the conditions had really cleared, in fact there were some patches of blue overhead. We stepped onto the summit to enjoy the scenery. While we were there a group of four arrived. We got our usual pictures and made the u-turn for our exit hike.
First, we needed to make the second climb of Liberty. There were no surprises; we hit the steep approach and our progress slowed; but we kept making progress. Eventually, we were on the summit of Liberty with a terrific sunset to enjoy. The late afternoon views from Liberty are always a treat; Sue and I have enjoyed these conditions together quite a few times. The low sun creates fantastic shadows in the terrain, Bondcliff gets lit up by a huge spotlight, and even Flume showed us a view I had never seen. This is a beautiful time to be on Liberty with these conditions. The wind was still blowing and we still had over three miles back to the truck. We snapped some pictures and took off.
Our exit hike was boring. We had a wide, flat snowshoe track to cruise. I don’t recall a single blowdown along the way. We passed the Liberty Spring Tentsite, the junction with Flume Slide Trail, took the shortcut to the Franconia Notch Recreation Trail, turned north and headed to The Basin and our waiting truck. The display showed 5 degrees; we’re really wet and that’s cold. First, I started the truck, next we packed, finally we tried to get warm – it didn’t take long, even with the diesel. We made a quick stop in Lincoln to change into dry clothes and were soon on the highway south.
Thanks for joining the hike Michael. That’s three hikes with us so far this winter and you have checked off ten from your W48 list. Please, come back anytime.
Thanks Sue. We had another good day in the mountains. Get ready, you’re on vacation in a couple days.
I’ve posted some pictures from the day.
BIGEarl's Pictures
Straight to the slideshow
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