Tom Rankin
Well-known member
We played hooky Friday and headed up to the Whites, as Laurie continued her quest of the NE115. We shacked up Thursday night with Pamola and had some really good brews, the views to come the next day! 
Friday, we met Paradox at the Liberty Springs trailhead around 8:00. We hit the trail with the peaks barely visible up thru the clouds. The hike was easy at first as we walked along the flats. Eventually we came to the junction where you can head towards Liberty or Flume, and Paradox argued for the Liberty side first. Since he had been up here much more recently, we took his advice, even though I like slides. But this was not my hike.
The hike proceeded at a fairly slow pace, as Paradox recounted his trip to Rainier. We bombarded him with questions that he seemed happy to answer.
Eventually we hit the camp sites. We knew that the summit was not far. In a few more minutes, we were at the top. The views were a little disappointing, but we could see Lincoln, Cannon, The Kinsman, Flume, and a few other nearer peaks from time to time. At various times we could see farther in limited directions. After a few minutes of eating and looking around, we headed off to Flume. This went pretty quickly. We had similar views from here, but it was cool looking down the slide. I tried weakly to get the group to descend the slide, but to no avail. Dang! So, off we went retracing our steps to Liberty and back to the spring, where we took a water break. On the way down we met quite a few people, saying hi as they passed by and chatting briefly. We beat the rain to the bottom of the mountain and then headed to Littleton for our VNBs New Hampshire Finish!
The next morning, we decided to take it easy and do Hale, since we were planning to do Moosilauke Sunday. (Sunday turned out to be VERY rainy and Paradox had a sore knee, so we bagged it). Hale was fairly short, and as we walked, we hit the fog line around 3800'. At the summit, I levitated a rock on top of the large pile.
I had almost forgotten about the remnants of the tower, and we explored the summit area for a while. As we did so, a man popped out of what I thought was a 'bath room trail'. It turned out he had taken the Fire Warden's trail up to the top. Then I remembered the discussions here about that trail starting off the trail to North Twin. I like making connections like that. The walk back down was uneventful, and we again beat the rain back to the car.
All in all, another great trip to the Whites! Laurie is up to 80 of the 115 now!
Friday, we met Paradox at the Liberty Springs trailhead around 8:00. We hit the trail with the peaks barely visible up thru the clouds. The hike was easy at first as we walked along the flats. Eventually we came to the junction where you can head towards Liberty or Flume, and Paradox argued for the Liberty side first. Since he had been up here much more recently, we took his advice, even though I like slides. But this was not my hike.
The hike proceeded at a fairly slow pace, as Paradox recounted his trip to Rainier. We bombarded him with questions that he seemed happy to answer.
Eventually we hit the camp sites. We knew that the summit was not far. In a few more minutes, we were at the top. The views were a little disappointing, but we could see Lincoln, Cannon, The Kinsman, Flume, and a few other nearer peaks from time to time. At various times we could see farther in limited directions. After a few minutes of eating and looking around, we headed off to Flume. This went pretty quickly. We had similar views from here, but it was cool looking down the slide. I tried weakly to get the group to descend the slide, but to no avail. Dang! So, off we went retracing our steps to Liberty and back to the spring, where we took a water break. On the way down we met quite a few people, saying hi as they passed by and chatting briefly. We beat the rain to the bottom of the mountain and then headed to Littleton for our VNBs New Hampshire Finish!
The next morning, we decided to take it easy and do Hale, since we were planning to do Moosilauke Sunday. (Sunday turned out to be VERY rainy and Paradox had a sore knee, so we bagged it). Hale was fairly short, and as we walked, we hit the fog line around 3800'. At the summit, I levitated a rock on top of the large pile.
I had almost forgotten about the remnants of the tower, and we explored the summit area for a while. As we did so, a man popped out of what I thought was a 'bath room trail'. It turned out he had taken the Fire Warden's trail up to the top. Then I remembered the discussions here about that trail starting off the trail to North Twin. I like making connections like that. The walk back down was uneventful, and we again beat the rain back to the car.
All in all, another great trip to the Whites! Laurie is up to 80 of the 115 now!
