Seeker (Brenda) sent out mail hoping to get one or two people to join her. Instead, we ended up with 7. Because we only had 2 cars we had to scrap our initial plan of end-to-end with a car at Lincoln Woods and instead do the Flume Slide loop.
We got to the trailhead around 9:00, right on schedule, and started up the trail just about 9:30. It was clear and a little cool, temps right around 70. Compared to Saturday, this was heaven. Of course, as soon as we started up the slide it felt pretty hot. We saw one person just above the slide sections coming down; he had no clue what the trail was like and didn't seem concerned. I suspect he wasn't happy by the time he got down. We topped out around 12:30 and had lunch on top of Flume. Perfect views in all directions, enough dark chocolate to go around.
Off to Liberty, and once again the fast (or silly) people quickly outpaced the slow (or thoughtful) people but it's only 1.2 miles so we were all soon together on the summit. There were more people on Liberty but plenty of room to relax and take more photos. The Presies looked close enough to touch, as did the VT peaks.
OK, time to head down, and so off we went. The descent was uneventful, accompanied by the steady click-click of ski poles on granite. We played leap frog with a few groups, but for the most part we didn't see people. There weren't many folks at Liberty Springs but we saw a few headed up. On the bike path at the bottom I ran into a NoBo called "Leader of the Pack" who was headed up to LS; we stopped and chatted a bit. At the parking lot (yea!) I pulled out the cooler of beah for a post-hike thirst quench. A car pulled with a women called "Bluebird" who was working on her 115. She knew "Leader of the Pack" and was glad to hear he was just ahead of her. I gave her a beer to share with him at dinner that night. Small quantities of trail magic.
Steve got pulled over in North Woodstock but the cop let him go with a warning. The wait at the Station was over an hour so we went to the Common Man down in Concord instead and ate in the bar. It was a late night, we didn't get home until 11:00 PM.
Pictures are HERE. On a sad note, my trusty Canon SD300 camera which has accompanied me on every hike, ski, adventure over the last 3 years lost its battle with LCD failure. While it can still take pictures (it died before the hike) without access to the menus it is somewhat less then optimal in its current condition. It is survived by 2 extra NB-4L battries and a 2 G memory card. It will be missed.
-dave-
We got to the trailhead around 9:00, right on schedule, and started up the trail just about 9:30. It was clear and a little cool, temps right around 70. Compared to Saturday, this was heaven. Of course, as soon as we started up the slide it felt pretty hot. We saw one person just above the slide sections coming down; he had no clue what the trail was like and didn't seem concerned. I suspect he wasn't happy by the time he got down. We topped out around 12:30 and had lunch on top of Flume. Perfect views in all directions, enough dark chocolate to go around.
Off to Liberty, and once again the fast (or silly) people quickly outpaced the slow (or thoughtful) people but it's only 1.2 miles so we were all soon together on the summit. There were more people on Liberty but plenty of room to relax and take more photos. The Presies looked close enough to touch, as did the VT peaks.
OK, time to head down, and so off we went. The descent was uneventful, accompanied by the steady click-click of ski poles on granite. We played leap frog with a few groups, but for the most part we didn't see people. There weren't many folks at Liberty Springs but we saw a few headed up. On the bike path at the bottom I ran into a NoBo called "Leader of the Pack" who was headed up to LS; we stopped and chatted a bit. At the parking lot (yea!) I pulled out the cooler of beah for a post-hike thirst quench. A car pulled with a women called "Bluebird" who was working on her 115. She knew "Leader of the Pack" and was glad to hear he was just ahead of her. I gave her a beer to share with him at dinner that night. Small quantities of trail magic.
Steve got pulled over in North Woodstock but the cop let him go with a warning. The wait at the Station was over an hour so we went to the Common Man down in Concord instead and ate in the bar. It was a late night, we didn't get home until 11:00 PM.
Pictures are HERE. On a sad note, my trusty Canon SD300 camera which has accompanied me on every hike, ski, adventure over the last 3 years lost its battle with LCD failure. While it can still take pictures (it died before the hike) without access to the menus it is somewhat less then optimal in its current condition. It is survived by 2 extra NB-4L battries and a 2 G memory card. It will be missed.
-dave-
