Mt. Flume 5/22/10

Liz and I have been trying to limit our hikes to some where around 10 miles. We want to be sure not to over tax her surgically repaired back. Mt Flume from the Osseo Trail seemed a good fit. After leaving the Lincoln Woods Trail, the Osseo follows it's name-sake brook thru some nice hardwood forest. For the next couple of miles the trail is wide, soft, and gains only a modest amount of elevation. There are some nice views along the way of Waleback and some of its ledges. At about 3 miles the trail swings right and becomes steep. However, a series of swithcbacks, steps and ladders make this section pretty pleasant. At 4.5 miles we came across a nice view point. A great deal of the pemi can be seen from here. You get your first view of the Flume Summit with Garfield sticking out just to the right. In no time we reached the main ridge. Here we found a few patches of snow. Dooley used them to cool down a bit. Not too far from here we had a sweet moment and came across old friend John and his mighty tough little dog, Pepper. We spent a few minutes talking to John about finding a section of the old Osseo Trail then moved on. Good to run into friends on the trail. The summit came quickly and we were soon enjoying lunch and some great views. We spent about a half hour talking to an AMC group, then started to pack up for the return trip. I thought I would take one more set of photos and while looking over to Owl's Head, I thought I caught a glimpse of Petch and Crazy Bob struggling to get up the slide. Must have been my imagination. On the return trip we again ran into friends, Steve Zimmerman, we recently met at a Common Man gathering. The hike down was easy and in no time we were pounding the Lincoln Woods Trail. The Osseo Trail is in good shape. There are some blowdowns of varying sizes that posed little problem. A word of advice, if taking a dog on this trail be sure to carry extra water. After leaving the Osseo Brook, it becomes scarce. Pictures to follow.
http://outdoors.webshots.com/slideshow/577760010ZwrCaa

Thanks for the TR loanshark! Headin up soon for trailwork. I enjoyed the picture of Dooley standing in that seep spring area, know exactly where that is. Its actually been seeping a bit more each year, but as you mentioned, is far from being an adequate water source. The brook is not far from the trail in several places before approaching the switchbacks and can always be a last resort.

You mentioned access to the old Osseo trail, did you find it? Its actually not too hard to find!

Nice pictures, looks like you had a great hike on a nice day.

Fisher cat, We didn't look very hard for the old trail. On another trip maybe. Whale back looks like it might be interesting. As far as the blowdowns go, They are mostly birch trees, some quite large. Several smaller spruces had already been taken out. We loved this trail, and Flume is one of our favorite peaks. I think this will be a snowshoe destination.

loanshark, if you want to know where the old Osseo empties out on the present Osseo, shoot me a PM. We can pinpoint it for you. We have followed it backwards a bit.

I am glad to know there are still blowdowns! I love bringin the axe! There has been a substantial quantity of birch blowdowns in the switchbacks as the old growth dies out. Last year the AMC Field Crew beat us to it. This year we're goin up about a week later than normal, so maybe they will still be there, maybe not.

Nice job! No that wasn't CrazyBob and I on the OwlsHead Slide.....We went the following day.

Petch

Flume

Skip,
Very nice trip report and photos. It reminded me of when we hiked the Flume via the Osseo, October, 2009 and spent an hour and a half at the summit. I am sure that is our record amount of time spent on any summit; anywhere. It was such a wonderful feeling and the weather was perfect. Loved the ladders too.

Donna

Fisher Cat said:

We have followed it [Old Osseo Trail] backwards a bit.

Click to expand...

Last time I did the Old Osseo, maybe seven years ago, it was clean as a whistle from the condos up to Whaleback, but a real chore with blowdowns from there over to the New Osseo Trail.

nice shots!

"Old" Osseo Trail...

Skip --

Nice trip report.

Here's some additional background on the Osseo Trail:

The "old" Osseo Trail was originally the southern section of the Franconia Ridge Trail. The 1922 AMC Guide says that the AMC took over this trail sometime in the 1910s from the North Woodstock Improvement Association.

According to the 1950 AMC Guide supplement, it became the Osseo Trail in 1949/1950, named for what was then Osseo Peak, now known as -- yes, Whaleback Mountain.

The "new" Osseo Trail opened around 1978/79 (the 1979 AMC Guide lists the "old" Osseo Trail but says that a re-routed version should be open by then because the lower section of the original trail now traverses private property [what is now Clearbrook]).

The "old" Osseo Trail still shows up on (believe it or not) the most recent editions of the USGS topo maps for the area. You can find it here. You can also find some GSP coordinates for at least part of it on wikiloc.

You can find some recent information about the old trail here and also on VFFT, here. Apparently, the residents of Clearbrook still maintain part of this trail, what used to be the southern portion of the old Franconia Ridge Trail.

Thanks for the info Clay. One of these days I'm going to do a bit of poking around in that area.