Adventurous
New member
Stellar days don’t come along too often and we were fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time. We decided to hike Liberty and Flume with Mike – that would afford us fantastic views and allow us to finish at a reasonable time.
We parked on the northbound Basin Parking lot…Mike parked on the southbound side and walked the bike path to meet us. We read about a bushwhack that was packed out and would put us on the Liberty Spring Trail. The woods in this area are very open so we decided if we saw a herd path, we would take it. Five minutes down the bike path, a herd path appeared. Excitedly, we took it and found ourselves gaining elevation quickly. In approximately 10 minutes, we hit Liberty Spring Trail. We were all thinking positively and had hoped that we were at the bend above the Flume Slide Trail junction. We headed up the trail and came across the junction a short while later.
The path was well packed and microspikes were sufficient on the entire trip. There were times that we wished we had the snowshoes for the sake of having the televators since Liberty Spring Trail is a steady climb to the ridge. We took our time, stopped for hot chocolate breaks thanks to Hui Yeng and just enjoyed the hike up. There was a very beautiful pool of water on the lower section of the trail that we stopped to admire. The pool was crystal clear and the air was still rather cold – it looked as though the water were trying to freeze but wasn’t ready to give in.
The rest of the hike to the junction was uneventful. We took a break at the junction to layer up in anticipation of the exposed summit of Liberty. We noted that there were only a few tracks from a couple people barebooting towards Lincoln. To our pleasant surprise, a solo hiker came down from Liberty and informed us that there was no wind and the views were incredible. He was absolutely right. We reached the bump before the summit and couldn’t believe our eyes – I have never had views so crisp. At the summit, we spent some time identifying the surrounding peaks. We had a clear view of Washington behind the Bonds.
Hui Yeng and Mike on Liberty:
We wanted to linger longer but we wanted to get to Flume…our next destination.
The trail between Liberty and Flume is broken but not packed. We saw a group of 3 coming down from Flume. We asked them about the conditions on Flume Slide Trail and were told that descending would be doable but not preferable. We kept that option in our minds since we had been down it in snow previously. We soon reached the summit of Flume and the winds started picking up. The views were still phenomenal and we could see the entire Franconia Ridge.
Our plan was to do a roundtrip on Liberty Spring but based on the information we got from the group, we decided to see if Flume Slide Trail was doable. We started crossing the narrow ridge. The snow was very loose but we continued a little further. We came to a spot that I could see part of the slide. The conditions made me nervous and I was not feeling good about continuing on to the trail. At that point, we turned around and went back the way we came. View of the narrow ridge from Flume:
We continued up and over Flume and Liberty and stopped for a few more pictures before descending into the winter wonderland below.
Once the trail levels out – we had noticed tracks going off the trail so we decided to check them out. We found a few spots that people had recently camped…brrr!!! We attempted to buttslide down part of Liberty Spring Trail but we haven’t had enough snow to cover all the rocks. By the time we reached the car, it was getting cloudy. We definitely hit the ridge at the nicest part of the day and we savored every bit of it.
The link to the full gallery: http://adventurous-.smugmug.com/Hiking/New-Hampshire/Liberty/21074879_Fzr7tJ
We parked on the northbound Basin Parking lot…Mike parked on the southbound side and walked the bike path to meet us. We read about a bushwhack that was packed out and would put us on the Liberty Spring Trail. The woods in this area are very open so we decided if we saw a herd path, we would take it. Five minutes down the bike path, a herd path appeared. Excitedly, we took it and found ourselves gaining elevation quickly. In approximately 10 minutes, we hit Liberty Spring Trail. We were all thinking positively and had hoped that we were at the bend above the Flume Slide Trail junction. We headed up the trail and came across the junction a short while later.
The path was well packed and microspikes were sufficient on the entire trip. There were times that we wished we had the snowshoes for the sake of having the televators since Liberty Spring Trail is a steady climb to the ridge. We took our time, stopped for hot chocolate breaks thanks to Hui Yeng and just enjoyed the hike up. There was a very beautiful pool of water on the lower section of the trail that we stopped to admire. The pool was crystal clear and the air was still rather cold – it looked as though the water were trying to freeze but wasn’t ready to give in.
The rest of the hike to the junction was uneventful. We took a break at the junction to layer up in anticipation of the exposed summit of Liberty. We noted that there were only a few tracks from a couple people barebooting towards Lincoln. To our pleasant surprise, a solo hiker came down from Liberty and informed us that there was no wind and the views were incredible. He was absolutely right. We reached the bump before the summit and couldn’t believe our eyes – I have never had views so crisp. At the summit, we spent some time identifying the surrounding peaks. We had a clear view of Washington behind the Bonds.
Hui Yeng and Mike on Liberty:
We wanted to linger longer but we wanted to get to Flume…our next destination.
The trail between Liberty and Flume is broken but not packed. We saw a group of 3 coming down from Flume. We asked them about the conditions on Flume Slide Trail and were told that descending would be doable but not preferable. We kept that option in our minds since we had been down it in snow previously. We soon reached the summit of Flume and the winds started picking up. The views were still phenomenal and we could see the entire Franconia Ridge.
Our plan was to do a roundtrip on Liberty Spring but based on the information we got from the group, we decided to see if Flume Slide Trail was doable. We started crossing the narrow ridge. The snow was very loose but we continued a little further. We came to a spot that I could see part of the slide. The conditions made me nervous and I was not feeling good about continuing on to the trail. At that point, we turned around and went back the way we came. View of the narrow ridge from Flume:
We continued up and over Flume and Liberty and stopped for a few more pictures before descending into the winter wonderland below.
Once the trail levels out – we had noticed tracks going off the trail so we decided to check them out. We found a few spots that people had recently camped…brrr!!! We attempted to buttslide down part of Liberty Spring Trail but we haven’t had enough snow to cover all the rocks. By the time we reached the car, it was getting cloudy. We definitely hit the ridge at the nicest part of the day and we savored every bit of it.
The link to the full gallery: http://adventurous-.smugmug.com/Hiking/New-Hampshire/Liberty/21074879_Fzr7tJ
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