BIGEarl
Well-known member
July 2, 2011: Flume (also planned Owl’s Head)
Trails: White House Trail, Liberty Spring Trail, Franconia Ridge Trail, Bushwhack Franconia Ridge to Lincoln Brook Trail, Lincoln Brook Trail, Franconia Brook Trail, Wilderness Trail
Summits: Flume
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
The plan for the day was a hike of Owl’s Head but we wanted to add a little variety to the hike. Instead of the usual round trip from Lincoln Woods we decided hiking by way of Flume Slide would be a nice change. Plus, I’ve descended Flume Slide a number of times but have never climbed it. We’ve been doing a little sliding lately; N. Tripyramid Slide and Owl’s Head Slide in May, Arrow Slide in June, and planned for Flume Slide and Owl’s Head Slide in July.
Thanks to Mike Saltmarsh, we were able to leave our truck at Lincoln Woods and he shuttled us to the White House trailhead for the hike. After dropping us off, Mike continued north to meet Brian for a ‘whackfest between Jefferson Notch and Cherry Mountain.
Sue and I left the White House trailhead generally as planned and headed for Flume Slide Trail. The warm-up to climbing the slide included the short White House Trail, a short piece of Liberty Spring Trail, and a long approach on Flume Slide Trail. Along the way we saw three other pairs of hikers also on an early start to their days, two of them were headed for the slide. The trails leading to the slide are all in great shape. They are clear and dry with only a very small amount of mud that was easy to get past with clean boots.
It’s really easy to tell when you have reached the end of the long approach on Flume Slide Trail; suddenly you’re climbing steep, wet, slippery, slimy ledge. I was hoping a few dry days plus hiking on a dry day might give us favorable climbing conditions – not this time. We had to pay attention all of the way up. In many areas there was running water over the ledge making difficult conditions a little more difficult. Much of the climb required hands and feet. On the climb we noticed a few paths that evidently bypassed difficult sections; we stayed on the difficult sections and worked our way up. Climbing the slide was very slow work and we paid a big price in time. The good news was we both reached the junction with Franconia Ridge Trail without a single mishap along the way. The day was warm and very humid. By the time we reached the ridge we were both drenched. We made the turn and finished the short walk to the summit of Mt. Flume.
Our first goal for the day was complete; climb Flume Slide. We stopped for a short break, got the usual summit pictures, and had a snack. We also prepared for the next goal of the hike: bushwhack from Franconia Ridge Trail to Lincoln Brook Trail. I dug into my pack and pulled out a couple gadgets that would help; my compass, and my old friend the Thommen TX-18 Altimeter. I had calibrated it back at the trailhead but again checked to make sure the setting was still good.
Our planned bushwhack route started from a point between Flume and Liberty at a target elevation; finding it is a great job for my Thommen. We set off north on Franconia Ridge Trail and I monitored the elevation. At the target start location we found an opening in the dense growth and took off on our first bearing, which targeted a location at the top of a ridge ~.6 mile to the northeast. Sue and I have been through this area a couple previous times, it’s crazy thick, but for some reason we keep coming back for more. If you’re patient, keep track of the bearing, work around the blowdowns and extreme thick places, and use the terrain to assist in navigating, the top of the ridge isn’t that tough to locate. When you finally hit the ridge it’s obvious; standing on top of the ridge you can see the terrain drop away on both sides – it’s a narrow, very well defined ridge.
From the top of the ridge to the upper crossing of Lincoln Brook by Lincoln Brook Trail is a straight shot of roughly 1 mile. Previous visits have been in late spring and fall; times when the leaves are down and visibility is much better. Now, along with the thick conifers, there is a great deal of other plant life that is limiting visibility both ahead and down. Watching foot placement is often not possible and a fair amount of the trip down the ridge is done by blind faith. I enjoyed three falls that combined to leave a very painful back. Like the man said; you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.
Our trip down the ridge started and ended as planned, but in-between wasn’t pretty. Soon after leaving the top of the ridge, we started to drift north in an effort to work around thick areas and small blowdown patches. Very quickly, we found that we had dropped off the ridge to the north and needed to get back on the ridge and on course. We turned south and picked our way back up onto the ridge. As I said, it’s a narrow ridge. Back on course we were again headed for our target on Lincoln Brook Trail. Soon, we drifted off the south side of the ridge and were mired in another thick blowdown patch. Again we made the turn and made the correction. After losing the ridge for the second time, we really became focused on our bearing and had no more navigation issues on the descent.
Our previous trip down this ridge was much faster, probably due to the more open conditions. Now, we’re dealing with much thicker growth and less visibility; the end result was a much slower time down to Lincoln Brook Trail.
Overall, the bushwhack was a good one. We recognized a couple navigation errors quickly and made the necessary corrections. Unfortunately, we burned a lot more time than planned. We made a direct hit on the Lincoln Brook Trail target location. When we reached Lincoln Brook Trail I pulled out my filter to make some drinking water and a quart of Gatorade.
With water re-supplied it was time for a sanity check. We go into each hike with a detailed plan including milestones and times throughout the hike. We also usually fill the available time as much as possible. At this time of year we generally work with a target finish time of 8:00 – 9:00pm, or earlier. It’s easy to see where we are against plan at any point. Based on this information, it was easy to see where we were versus where we planned to be when we hit Lincoln Brook Trail. The combination of extra time used in climbing Flume Slide and the much slower-than-expected bushwhack left us with a decision to continue on to Owl’s Head with a very late return to Lincoln Woods, or bail. Returning to Lincoln Woods at ~11:00pm, or later didn’t seem like a great idea. We only have three July hikes on our list (including Owl’s Head). Making a return visit to hike Owl’s Head is easy. We bailed.
Our exit route followed the trails all of the way back to Lincoln Woods. The crossings of Lincoln Brook and Franconia Brook were reasonably okay ending with only one wet boot (a loose rock got it). We wandered into the lot at Lincoln Woods as originally planned but with one less peak. Oh well – plans can change. We’ll be back.
After a quick clean-up and change into dry clothes we hit the highway south. Thanks Sue. Sorry we came up short.
I’ve posted some pictures from the day.
BIGEarl's Pictures
Straight to the slideshow
Trails: White House Trail, Liberty Spring Trail, Franconia Ridge Trail, Bushwhack Franconia Ridge to Lincoln Brook Trail, Lincoln Brook Trail, Franconia Brook Trail, Wilderness Trail
Summits: Flume
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
The plan for the day was a hike of Owl’s Head but we wanted to add a little variety to the hike. Instead of the usual round trip from Lincoln Woods we decided hiking by way of Flume Slide would be a nice change. Plus, I’ve descended Flume Slide a number of times but have never climbed it. We’ve been doing a little sliding lately; N. Tripyramid Slide and Owl’s Head Slide in May, Arrow Slide in June, and planned for Flume Slide and Owl’s Head Slide in July.
Thanks to Mike Saltmarsh, we were able to leave our truck at Lincoln Woods and he shuttled us to the White House trailhead for the hike. After dropping us off, Mike continued north to meet Brian for a ‘whackfest between Jefferson Notch and Cherry Mountain.
Sue and I left the White House trailhead generally as planned and headed for Flume Slide Trail. The warm-up to climbing the slide included the short White House Trail, a short piece of Liberty Spring Trail, and a long approach on Flume Slide Trail. Along the way we saw three other pairs of hikers also on an early start to their days, two of them were headed for the slide. The trails leading to the slide are all in great shape. They are clear and dry with only a very small amount of mud that was easy to get past with clean boots.
It’s really easy to tell when you have reached the end of the long approach on Flume Slide Trail; suddenly you’re climbing steep, wet, slippery, slimy ledge. I was hoping a few dry days plus hiking on a dry day might give us favorable climbing conditions – not this time. We had to pay attention all of the way up. In many areas there was running water over the ledge making difficult conditions a little more difficult. Much of the climb required hands and feet. On the climb we noticed a few paths that evidently bypassed difficult sections; we stayed on the difficult sections and worked our way up. Climbing the slide was very slow work and we paid a big price in time. The good news was we both reached the junction with Franconia Ridge Trail without a single mishap along the way. The day was warm and very humid. By the time we reached the ridge we were both drenched. We made the turn and finished the short walk to the summit of Mt. Flume.
Our first goal for the day was complete; climb Flume Slide. We stopped for a short break, got the usual summit pictures, and had a snack. We also prepared for the next goal of the hike: bushwhack from Franconia Ridge Trail to Lincoln Brook Trail. I dug into my pack and pulled out a couple gadgets that would help; my compass, and my old friend the Thommen TX-18 Altimeter. I had calibrated it back at the trailhead but again checked to make sure the setting was still good.
Our planned bushwhack route started from a point between Flume and Liberty at a target elevation; finding it is a great job for my Thommen. We set off north on Franconia Ridge Trail and I monitored the elevation. At the target start location we found an opening in the dense growth and took off on our first bearing, which targeted a location at the top of a ridge ~.6 mile to the northeast. Sue and I have been through this area a couple previous times, it’s crazy thick, but for some reason we keep coming back for more. If you’re patient, keep track of the bearing, work around the blowdowns and extreme thick places, and use the terrain to assist in navigating, the top of the ridge isn’t that tough to locate. When you finally hit the ridge it’s obvious; standing on top of the ridge you can see the terrain drop away on both sides – it’s a narrow, very well defined ridge.
From the top of the ridge to the upper crossing of Lincoln Brook by Lincoln Brook Trail is a straight shot of roughly 1 mile. Previous visits have been in late spring and fall; times when the leaves are down and visibility is much better. Now, along with the thick conifers, there is a great deal of other plant life that is limiting visibility both ahead and down. Watching foot placement is often not possible and a fair amount of the trip down the ridge is done by blind faith. I enjoyed three falls that combined to leave a very painful back. Like the man said; you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.
Our trip down the ridge started and ended as planned, but in-between wasn’t pretty. Soon after leaving the top of the ridge, we started to drift north in an effort to work around thick areas and small blowdown patches. Very quickly, we found that we had dropped off the ridge to the north and needed to get back on the ridge and on course. We turned south and picked our way back up onto the ridge. As I said, it’s a narrow ridge. Back on course we were again headed for our target on Lincoln Brook Trail. Soon, we drifted off the south side of the ridge and were mired in another thick blowdown patch. Again we made the turn and made the correction. After losing the ridge for the second time, we really became focused on our bearing and had no more navigation issues on the descent.
Our previous trip down this ridge was much faster, probably due to the more open conditions. Now, we’re dealing with much thicker growth and less visibility; the end result was a much slower time down to Lincoln Brook Trail.
Overall, the bushwhack was a good one. We recognized a couple navigation errors quickly and made the necessary corrections. Unfortunately, we burned a lot more time than planned. We made a direct hit on the Lincoln Brook Trail target location. When we reached Lincoln Brook Trail I pulled out my filter to make some drinking water and a quart of Gatorade.
With water re-supplied it was time for a sanity check. We go into each hike with a detailed plan including milestones and times throughout the hike. We also usually fill the available time as much as possible. At this time of year we generally work with a target finish time of 8:00 – 9:00pm, or earlier. It’s easy to see where we are against plan at any point. Based on this information, it was easy to see where we were versus where we planned to be when we hit Lincoln Brook Trail. The combination of extra time used in climbing Flume Slide and the much slower-than-expected bushwhack left us with a decision to continue on to Owl’s Head with a very late return to Lincoln Woods, or bail. Returning to Lincoln Woods at ~11:00pm, or later didn’t seem like a great idea. We only have three July hikes on our list (including Owl’s Head). Making a return visit to hike Owl’s Head is easy. We bailed.
Our exit route followed the trails all of the way back to Lincoln Woods. The crossings of Lincoln Brook and Franconia Brook were reasonably okay ending with only one wet boot (a loose rock got it). We wandered into the lot at Lincoln Woods as originally planned but with one less peak. Oh well – plans can change. We’ll be back.
After a quick clean-up and change into dry clothes we hit the highway south. Thanks Sue. Sorry we came up short.
I’ve posted some pictures from the day.
BIGEarl's Pictures
Straight to the slideshow
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