Home

Liberty and Flume - Monday January 16, 2012

After a cold hike yesterday, we're thrilled to see the weather forecast for today is in the balmy teens, with low wind in the forecast, Kim and I decided Franconia would be a great choice. Kim done some research online and found a bushwhack to Liberty Spring Trail, we decided to check it out. We recruited Mike to join us, we met at Basin parking lot, hit the trail around 8:45 AM.

The hike was pleasant, we only ran into 2 seperate parties the whole day. One group of 3 who were behind us headed up Flume Slide Trail, we ran into them again just below the summit of Flume. We chatted and they mentioned the Flume Slide trail wasn't bad. Kim and I had done it before in early April, but it was much more snow then than today. We comtemplated the option, but eventually gave up after the short traverse where we needed to negotiate 2 exposed and narrow sections. Kim didn't feel good about the thin snow conditions, so we turned around and headed back to where we came from.

Beautiful day to be on Franconia Ridge!

Cannon Mountain from Basin parking lot.
P1164300
Waiting for Mike who parked at the south bound lot.
P1164301
Begining of the bushwhack.
P1164302
X marked the way.
P1164303
Put on microspike.
P1164306
The bushwhack was a highway, well packed down.
P1164307
The bushwhack merged the Liberty spring trail, before the Flume Slide tr junction.
P1164308
Liberty Spring trail.
P1164311
Junction. A group of 3 behind us would take the Flume Slide Trail up and descended via Liberty Spring tr.
P1164313
Happy hikers
P1164314
Snow flakes floating on a thin sheet of ice.
P1164315
Kim and Mike.
P1164316
Packed trail.
P1164322
A quick break.
P1164326
Arrived at the caretaker site.
P1164327
Liberty Spring tentsite.
P1164328
Liberty Spring tentsite.
P1164330
Arrived at the ridge.
P1164332
Woohoo!! Awsome visibility.
P1164336
Owl'shead looks like a big crocodile.
P1164338
Little Haystack, Lincoln, Garfield, Galehead, north and south Twin.
P1164339
Cannon Mtn onthe other side of the highway.
P1164340
Miek and Kim emerged from the woods.
P1164341
Kim.
P1164344
Views of the summit of Liberty.
P1164345
Mike and Kim.
P1164348
Kim.
P1164350
Onward.
P1164351
Trail lead to teh summit.
P1164353
Kim at the summit of Liberty.
P1164354
Mike soaking in the views.
P1164355
Owl's Head in the foreground, Guyout, west Bond, Bond in the middle, and the Jefferson and Washington in the furthest ground.
P1164357
Northest view.
P1164358
Mike at the summit of Liberty.
P1164360
The trio at the summit of Liberty.
P1164361
Next stop, mt Flume.
P1164363
Too nice to want to leave the summit.
P1164365
Light wind, clear sky and great visiblity. What a day.
P1164366
Views from Liberty.
P1164367
Views from Liberty.
P1164368
Headed to Mt Flume.
P1164369
Coral branches.
P1164372
Kim.
P1164373
View of Liberty, Little Haystack, Lincoln, and Lafayette, from the summit of Flume.
P1164374
Northward.
P1164375
Kim and I at the summit of Flume.
P1164377
Mt Liberty.
P1164378
The tallest bump on the flat ridge is Little Haystack, next is Lincoln, and then Lafayette.
P1164379
Garfield.
P1164380
West Bond and Bond and Bondcliff, and Washington poke out at the back.
P1164381
Twin Range.
P1164382
We're considering heading down Flume Slide trail.
P1164383
Kim with the Franconia Ridge.
P1164384
Mike at the summit of Flume.
P1164385
Heaading down Flume. Kim eyeing the steep drop.
P1164389
It gets windier down at the expose section. My numbed fingers can't get the focus right.
P1164390
One more expose section ahead.
P1164391
We decided to abandon the plan to descend via Flume Slide, stuck to the original plan instead.
P1164394
Kim and Mike climbing back up th summit.
P1164395
Cool traverse back to the summit.
P1164397
Cool traverse back to the summit.
P1164399
Another quick break off Flume.
P1164401
Beautiful day.
P1164403
Views of Lincoln and Lafayette from the trail leaving Flume.
P1164404
Kim heading down.
P1164407
Back to just below the summit of Mt Liberty.
P1164408
Kim joining me below the summit.
P1164411
Mt Washington.
P1164413
Lincoln from the trail.
P1164414
Back at the summit of Mt Liberty.
P1164416
Kim approaching the summit.
P1164417
The wind was stronger then earlier, but the visibility was still awesome.
P1164418
Mike and Kim back at the summit, mt Flume in the background.
P1164419
Mike.
P1164421
We reluctantly made our way off the summit.
P1164422
Mike at the summit of Liberty.
P1164428
Views from Liberty.
P1164429

P1164430
Kim.
P1164432
Mt Liberty.
P1164434
Mt Liberty.
P1164436
Heading down.
P1164438
Kinsman Range.
P1164439
North and South Kinsman.
P1164441
Kim.
P1164442
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
P1164443
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
P1164444
We found a couple of tentsite between the junction and the summit. This one is right off the trail.
P1164445
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
P1164446
Snowflakes again.
P1164448
Layers of snow, blue ice, snowflakes and thin ice.
P1164453
Back to the junction of Flume Slide trail. We get back to teh parking lot before 3PM, what a great hike, beautiful and relatively warm day.
P1164456