Flume Slide Trail Parking?

[wromanow]

Planning a trip up Flume Slide trail, then across Franconia Ridge to Greenleaf. The first time I have done the whole ridge at once. Also, the first time staying at Greenleaf overnight. My question is where is overnight parking allowed? Is overnight parking legal at the Basin? Thanks!

 

[Kevin Rooney]

Am not sure about the Basin, but on the southern end you can park overnight at either the Flume Visitor Ctr parking lot (park near the trailhead/path), or a mile further north at Whitehouse trailhead. Further north, you can park at Lafayette Place.

Are you planning on walking back to your vehicle via the bike path?

 

[wromanow]

I am planning on walking the bike path to my car the next day. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

Personally, I prefer Whitehouse to the Flume Visitor Ctr. Don't know if it's really any shorter time-wise, but I prefer walking thru the woods to walking on pavement. There is a short section of pavement walking from Whitehouse, and the trail thru the woods meanders up and down some small hills.

 

[David Metsky]

If you're going to walk back to your car after the hike then parking at the Whitehouse Trailhead makes most sense. If you park at the Flume Visitors center you are just adding to your walk on the last day.

Kevin, are you talking about the trailhead just 100 yards from the entrance to the Flume Visitor Center? I'm talking about the trailhead after Rt 3 joins up with 93, about a mile further up the road. Since it is between Lafayette Place and the Flume it will cut down the road walk back to the cars. I've never done this walk myself, so I'm not sure if it's all bikepath or trail.

-dave-

 

[DougPaul]

Since it is between Lafayette Place and the Flume it will cut down the road walk back to the cars. I've never done this walk myself, so I'm not sure if it's all bikepath or trail.

It is paved bikepath all the way from Skookumchuck TH to Flume Visitor's center.

I wouldn't park at Flume. Lafayette Place and the Basin are along the loop, Whitehouse TH will involve a short backtrack, the Flume parking lot a much longer backtrack. Lafayette Place gives you the longest first day, Basin and Whitehouse about tied for the shortest. I'd probably park at Whitehouse.

Don't know if overnight parking is legal at the Basin, but it is more of a tourist spot than a TH.

Check the map--all should be clear.

Doug

 

[Kevin Rooney]

If you're going to walk back to your car after the hike then parking at the Whitehouse Trailhead makes most sense. If you park at the Flume Visitors center you are just adding to your walk on the last day.

Kevin, are you talking about the trailhead just 100 yards from the entrance to the Flume Visitor Center? I'm talking about the trailhead after Rt 3 joins up with 93, about a mile further up the road. Since it is between Lafayette Place and the Flume it will cut down the road walk back to the cars. I've never done this walk myself, so I'm not sure if it's all bikepath or trail.

-dave-

Dave -

Yes, there's a spot where hikers park at Flume right where the bike path comes out to the main lot. I say "bike path" but it's a snowmobile path in winter. It's paved from that point all the way up to the Skoocumchuck trailhead at the top of Notch.

As to whether it's longer/shorter/easier to park here than at Whitehouse (which is about a mile beyond the Flume, and tough to find since it's not directly off I93 - you have to get off at Flume and then drive up the secondary road) - that's a good question. On paper, it's a mile or so longer than Whitehouse as Doug points out. But ... there are lots of PUDs on the Whitehouse trail, and at the end of the day sometimes it feels easier to just plod down a paved path than negotiate all the ups/downs/tree roots, etc.

Having said that - after having done the Flume VC a few times in different seasons, I prefer Whitehouse unless there's a fresh snow and trailbreaking is necessary. The downside of Flume VC in winter is dodging snowmobiles, as well as the exhaust from the 2-cycle engines. Don't want to set anyone's teeth on edge, but -

 

[Bobby]

I've parked overnight at the Basin without any problems.

 

[Tim Horn]

If you park at Lafayette you warm up with an easy stroll (paved) next to a pretty stream and mostly downhill down to the flume trailhead. When you finish the ridge you are at your car. I find it preferable to do the blah section of this loop first as the path seems pretty nice when you are just starting out. After the ridge you are jaded from the view and trail and the path seems very monotonous in comparison.

 

[wromanow]

The map I am looking at is not too clear (State of NH-Franconia Notch State Park hiking trails map). Is Whitehouse trailhead after or before Rt.3 crosses under I-93? Is the trailhead marked with a sign visible from the road?

 

[David Metsky]

I'm a bit confused here as well.

I think of the trailhead just 100 yards from the Flume Visitors Center as the Liberty Springs trailhead. If you get back on Rt 3 and join 93 going north there's a trailhead parking off on the right about a mile up. That's the one I think of as Whitehouse trailhead and I've never parked there. The Basin is on the opposite (west) side of the road fairly close by.

The bike path runs close by all of these, although I've never actually walked them all.

 

[DougPaul]

The map I am looking at is not too clear (State of NH-Franconia Notch State Park hiking trails map). Is Whitehouse trailhead after or before Rt.3 crosses under I-93? Is the trailhead marked with a sign visible from the road?

As you follow Rte 3 N from N Woodstock, the Whitehouse TH is a parking lot on the right (E) just before Rte 3 ends in a ramp up to 93. It is marked (but I don't remember what is on the sign--it is the first TH N of the Flume area).

From here, you walk about .7 mi N to the bike path and cross a bridge to where Liberty Springs TR leaves the bike path.

Liberty Springs TR leaves the bike path about midway between the Basin (to the N) and Whitehouse TH (to the S).

I have walked all of the above (although it might have been a bit dark ) and used the Whitehouse TH. I think my recollection is accurate. It is shown on the AMC map, but a bit hard to decipher. (The bike path is labeled as a multi-use trail.)

Doug

 

[David Metsky]

So it seems that what I've been calling the Whitehouse trailhead is really just the opposite side (east) of the road from the Basin. The one everyone here is referring to as the Whitehouse I've been calling the Liberty Springs trailhead.

Is this map accurate? http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=U...d=114685741526737686976.0004374a54ebde9999244

-dave-

 

[MichaelJ]

I agree with DougPaul on which is the Whitehouse Trailhead. Last right before 3 merges into 93, then left up a short hill into the lot. Far side of the lot has a privy just up from the parking spaces.

Dave, that agrees with your map.

I should point out that you can walk to the east end of the parking lot, walk about 15' further, and be on the paved path. You don't need to do any of the Whitehouse Trail if you don't want to.

I should also point out that there are other wide, almost road-like trails back there that aren't the bike path, and are marked "private" (if I remember correctly). Campground? "The Flume" ?

 

[DougPaul]

So it seems that what I've been calling the Whitehouse trailhead is really just the opposite side (east) of the road from the Basin. The one everyone here is referring to as the Whitehouse I've been calling the Liberty Springs trailhead.

Is this map accurate? http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=U...d=114685741526737686976.0004374a54ebde9999244

Your map looks accurate except the bike path crosses under 93 at the Basin. (The north part of the bike path is on the west side of 93 and goes up to Lafayette Place, the southern portion is on the east side and goes down to the Flume.) Thus you can access the bike path from either side at the Basin.

The Liberty Springs Trailhead is off the bikepath, not the road. (Flume Slide Tr splits off from Liberty Springs Tr.)


So if the OP parks at the Basin, he can hike .8mi S along the bikepath to Liberty Springs Tr. When he comes down, he just has an easy ~1.6mi downhill walk along the bikepath from Lafayette Place to his car.

Map of Franconia Notch Bike Path: http://www.bikexprt.com/bikepol/facil/franconia/francomap.htm
It shows the parking lots and the hiking trailheads.

Doug

 

[askus3]

I just want to add that when descending the Liberty Spring Trail in winter, I shortcutted from the Liberty Spring Trail at the last sharp curve and cut over to the bike path and then north up the bike path to the East Basin parking lot. This saved me about .3 mile! See the map of the bike path in DougPaul's last post. However, if you are starting with the bike path first and then hiking up to the Liberty Spring Trail, you might not be as quick to do this as you want to make sure you hook in at the north end of that first curve.

 

[David Metsky]

Thanks Doug. Basin East is the name of the parking area I had been thinking of, and I'll call it that from now on.

-dave-