una_dogger
Well-known member
Trails: Bike Path, Liberty Springs, Franconia Ridge Trail, Greenleaf Trail, Old Bridle Path
Conditions:
Bike Path from Whitehouse Trailhead to Liberty Springs Trail boilerplate ice in the morning but melting fast.
Liberty Springs Trail -- barebootable to Flume Slide Trail junction, microspikes to the ridge, mainly hardpack snow and slush but traction was very helpful.
Franconia Ridge Trail to Liberty: hardback snow.
Franconia Ridge Trail to Flume: a bit tricky down the first ledges as the snow was unevenly filled in and hard to see where there was rock. About one foot of soft packed snow to Flume.
Doubled back to Liberty where part of our group descended back to the Basin and Eric and I continued across Franconia Ridge.
Franconia Ridge Trail from Liberty Springs Jct to Little Haystack: one or two sets of tracks through here, about 6-12 inches of snow and completely barebootable. Traction very helpful on final climb to Little Haystack.
Little Haystack to Mt Lafayette: no traction needed. Very little snow. We saw NO ONE!
Temps were in the high forties and winds light 0-5 with a steady 10-15 on Lafayette. AMAZING SUNSET!!!
Greenleaf Trail from Mt Lafayette to Greenleaf Hut: Hardpack snow, slush, rock, mud. The upper snowfield has formed and doesn't appear to be going away until Spring. Some caution was taken here on descent.
Old Bridle Path from Greenleaf to Trailhead: We wore microspikes for our descent as we reached the hut at 4:30pm and wanted a speedy descent to our ride who would be waiting at 6:15pm. Traction helpful on the Agonies, we took our microspikes off at the lower outlook and were fine without them for the rest of the hike. Colder temps down low. Lots of mud on the lower sections of Old Bridle Path.
14 miles. Franconia Ridge Traverse plus a double climb of Liberty
Liberty>Flume>Liberty>Little Haystack (worthy climb in this direction!)>Lincoln>Lafayette
We chose this route as the OBS was calling for higher winds in the morning decreasing throughout the day -- our plan A was Lib/Flume/Little Haystack with possible wind-dependant descent. We met up with Silverfox, ADKnBVI (Mr and Mrs) and Alli between Liberty and Flume and MichaelJ opted to head down with them and Eric and I blazed ahead.
No doggies today.
NH48x12 232-235, November 30/48
GREAT day in the woods!!!
Conditions:
Bike Path from Whitehouse Trailhead to Liberty Springs Trail boilerplate ice in the morning but melting fast.
Liberty Springs Trail -- barebootable to Flume Slide Trail junction, microspikes to the ridge, mainly hardpack snow and slush but traction was very helpful.
Franconia Ridge Trail to Liberty: hardback snow.
Franconia Ridge Trail to Flume: a bit tricky down the first ledges as the snow was unevenly filled in and hard to see where there was rock. About one foot of soft packed snow to Flume.
Doubled back to Liberty where part of our group descended back to the Basin and Eric and I continued across Franconia Ridge.
Franconia Ridge Trail from Liberty Springs Jct to Little Haystack: one or two sets of tracks through here, about 6-12 inches of snow and completely barebootable. Traction very helpful on final climb to Little Haystack.
Little Haystack to Mt Lafayette: no traction needed. Very little snow. We saw NO ONE!
Temps were in the high forties and winds light 0-5 with a steady 10-15 on Lafayette. AMAZING SUNSET!!! Greenleaf Trail from Mt Lafayette to Greenleaf Hut: Hardpack snow, slush, rock, mud. The upper snowfield has formed and doesn't appear to be going away until Spring. Some caution was taken here on descent.
Old Bridle Path from Greenleaf to Trailhead: We wore microspikes for our descent as we reached the hut at 4:30pm and wanted a speedy descent to our ride who would be waiting at 6:15pm. Traction helpful on the Agonies, we took our microspikes off at the lower outlook and were fine without them for the rest of the hike. Colder temps down low. Lots of mud on the lower sections of Old Bridle Path.
14 miles. Franconia Ridge Traverse plus a double climb of Liberty
Liberty>Flume>Liberty>Little Haystack (worthy climb in this direction!)>Lincoln>Lafayette
We chose this route as the OBS was calling for higher winds in the morning decreasing throughout the day -- our plan A was Lib/Flume/Little Haystack with possible wind-dependant descent. We met up with Silverfox, ADKnBVI (Mr and Mrs) and Alli between Liberty and Flume and MichaelJ opted to head down with them and Eric and I blazed ahead.
No doggies today.
NH48x12 232-235, November 30/48
GREAT day in the woods!!!
