Mount Liberty via Liberty Springs Trail, Mount Flume via Franconia Ridge Trail, and back via Liberty Springs Trail, 9.8 miles, 4300', 7:30 (goes with trail conditions posted here)
Larisa (LRiz) arranged this trip for us. It was day three in a row for her and Jeremy (Rocket21). I drove up with Ed (OldMan) and NH_Mtn_Hiker and Peakbagger met us in the lot. Everyone arrived in time to be geared up, introduced, and under way right at the appointed 8:00am time. We hopped over the plow bank at the south end of the parking lot and headed basically southeast down the hill to the bike path. Bridge fences were visible from the top of the snow bank so it would be nearly impossible to go wrong. Whitehouse Trail was not looking broken out so this seemed prudent. The bike path itself was packed flat by snow machines and within 20 minutes we had made it to the start of the Liberty Springs Trail. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, the winds were calm and the temperatures were in the low double-digits -- the start of a perfect winter hiking day.
On the way to the tent platform, NH_Mtn_Hiker announced that he wouldn't be going all the way around and that we should continue without him. Peakbagger immediately responded in kind. We kept waiting every so often to see how far they would come, but after 15 mintues at the platforms and a good snack, we continued on to the Franconia Ridge Trail. Northbound to Little Haystacks has seen no recent traffic, but Franconia Ridge Trail, like Liberty Springs Trail, had a nice snowshoe track. Our decision to go with snowshoes from the start worked out well -- nobody once suggested we drop them. There were some bare-boot tracks and an occasional post hole. Rocket21 had a handy-dandy pocket saw and cleared what few blowdowns and obstructions we encountered, which weren't many. He also lead the way for 95% of the trip.
Soon, Liberty's rocky summit was in sight and being the gentlemen we were, we let Larisa go up first (OK, she wanted a picture) and we soon followed. The wind remained between dead calm and a very slight breeze. Although high clouds had filtered the sun by now, there was still some blue sky, and very good views in all directions. After another snack, and congratulating OldMan Ed on winter 4K #1, we set off to attempt Flume. The trail was unbroken, and as soon as we set off, a couple we'd played leapfrog with on the way up decided they could follow.
The Franconia Ridge Trail was unbroken, with an inch or two of styrofoam crust over 2-3 feet of powder. Even with tails on the 'shoes, I sunk a good 12-15 inches in places. Jeremy continued the yeoman's job of trail breaking, and I put considerable mental and physical energy into stomping down the spaces between his snowshoe prints. As three more people followed us, the trail has had seven sets of snowshoes in each direction and is now wearing a fine track. Without many leaves the views east and west were pretty decent.
We completed the trip across in just under an hour. Atop Flume we stayed put for the longest period of the trip, eating our "real lunch" and enjoying the views. It's always rewarding to look back across the col to see what has been accomplished. Of course in our case, the return trip was back over Liberty (no sign of recent traffic south of Flume's summit) which involves like a 535 foot reclimb of the same. By this time the trail was packed nicely and we didn't push too hard so as to minimize overheating. We got back to Liberty at about 2PM and after a brief pause, bounded down the Liberty Springs Trail to the Flume Slide Jct. in an hour flat. From here the trail is easier, flatter, and through open woods. We could hear the sounds of snow machines on the bike path and soon the whine of their engines was replaced by the clatter of our snowshoes. We found our track from the morning and maybe 50 yards and 50' later we were back in the parking lot. Peakbagger left us brownies!!! THANKS!
All photos from this trip
Thanks LRiz for organizing this trip!
Tim
Larisa (LRiz) arranged this trip for us. It was day three in a row for her and Jeremy (Rocket21). I drove up with Ed (OldMan) and NH_Mtn_Hiker and Peakbagger met us in the lot. Everyone arrived in time to be geared up, introduced, and under way right at the appointed 8:00am time. We hopped over the plow bank at the south end of the parking lot and headed basically southeast down the hill to the bike path. Bridge fences were visible from the top of the snow bank so it would be nearly impossible to go wrong. Whitehouse Trail was not looking broken out so this seemed prudent. The bike path itself was packed flat by snow machines and within 20 minutes we had made it to the start of the Liberty Springs Trail. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, the winds were calm and the temperatures were in the low double-digits -- the start of a perfect winter hiking day.
On the way to the tent platform, NH_Mtn_Hiker announced that he wouldn't be going all the way around and that we should continue without him. Peakbagger immediately responded in kind. We kept waiting every so often to see how far they would come, but after 15 mintues at the platforms and a good snack, we continued on to the Franconia Ridge Trail. Northbound to Little Haystacks has seen no recent traffic, but Franconia Ridge Trail, like Liberty Springs Trail, had a nice snowshoe track. Our decision to go with snowshoes from the start worked out well -- nobody once suggested we drop them. There were some bare-boot tracks and an occasional post hole. Rocket21 had a handy-dandy pocket saw and cleared what few blowdowns and obstructions we encountered, which weren't many. He also lead the way for 95% of the trip.
Soon, Liberty's rocky summit was in sight and being the gentlemen we were, we let Larisa go up first (OK, she wanted a picture) and we soon followed. The wind remained between dead calm and a very slight breeze. Although high clouds had filtered the sun by now, there was still some blue sky, and very good views in all directions. After another snack, and congratulating OldMan Ed on winter 4K #1, we set off to attempt Flume. The trail was unbroken, and as soon as we set off, a couple we'd played leapfrog with on the way up decided they could follow.
The Franconia Ridge Trail was unbroken, with an inch or two of styrofoam crust over 2-3 feet of powder. Even with tails on the 'shoes, I sunk a good 12-15 inches in places. Jeremy continued the yeoman's job of trail breaking, and I put considerable mental and physical energy into stomping down the spaces between his snowshoe prints. As three more people followed us, the trail has had seven sets of snowshoes in each direction and is now wearing a fine track. Without many leaves the views east and west were pretty decent.
We completed the trip across in just under an hour. Atop Flume we stayed put for the longest period of the trip, eating our "real lunch" and enjoying the views. It's always rewarding to look back across the col to see what has been accomplished. Of course in our case, the return trip was back over Liberty (no sign of recent traffic south of Flume's summit) which involves like a 535 foot reclimb of the same. By this time the trail was packed nicely and we didn't push too hard so as to minimize overheating. We got back to Liberty at about 2PM and after a brief pause, bounded down the Liberty Springs Trail to the Flume Slide Jct. in an hour flat. From here the trail is easier, flatter, and through open woods. We could hear the sounds of snow machines on the bike path and soon the whine of their engines was replaced by the clatter of our snowshoes. We found our track from the morning and maybe 50 yards and 50' later we were back in the parking lot. Peakbagger left us brownies!!! THANKS!
All photos from this trip
Thanks LRiz for organizing this trip!
Tim
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