Hiking in the White Mountains: Franconia ridge Trail

Date of Hike: 3/1/15

Bike Path & Basin Bushwhack: 0.5 miles / Liberty Springs Trail: 2.4 miles / Franconia Ridge Trail: 2.4 miles / Liberty Springs Trail: 2.4 miles / Bike Path & Basin Bushwhack: 0.5 miles
Total Miles: 8.1 (3,890 feet elevation gained)

Trip Report:
- My original plan was to hike the Kinsmans with Whitney but she didn't get home from work until after eleven on Saturday night so she stayed in. She had hiked Liberty and Flume on Saturday so I decided to head there.
- I started the hike just after 8 a.m. from the Basin parking lot wearing microspikes which I would keep on for the whole hike. Not having to wear snowshoes was a much needed relief on my feet after hiking twenty-five plus miles in them the day before.
- I felt ok along the bike path and heading up the basin bushwhack which ends at the hairpin turn on the Liberty Springs Trail. I even felt pretty good up until the Liberty Brook crossing. However, after the snowbridged water crossing the trail becomes steep and I slammed into a wall of slowness. It wasn't pretty, at one point I managed to pull of a forty-two minute mile, my slowest since a bonking during the Hut to Hut Traverse last July. Eventually I made my way up past the tentsite and up to the Franconia Ridge and I started to feel much better once I hit the summit and took in the views, it's amazing how views can energize a hiker...and knowing a majority of the elevation gain is over.
- From the summit of Liberty I bombed down to the col and made my way to the summit of Flume. There was a small storm coming in but the cloud cover was high so the views were pretty sweet. For a moment I contemplated heading down the Flume Slide Trail but I was a little sore from yesterday and figured just heading back up Liberty and down would be faster even if it's longer mileage wise with some added elevation gain.
- I jogged down to the col and had a strong hike back up to Liberty. From here I basically sprinted back to the Jeep, covering three miles in just over thirty minutes.
- It was my nineteenth ascent of Liberty and Flume since 2009 when I first climbed them. There are very good views from both summits, on Flume you can see the whole spine of the Franconia Ridge stretching north over Liberty, Little Haystack, Lincoln, Truman, and Lafayette.
- When I got back to my car it was almost twenty degrees, which felt like a heat wave, it was nice not freezing my fingers off while packing up my car after a hike. Spring is just around the corner, and the snow should be gone soon, and by soon I mean late May!

Pemi bike path becomes a snowmobile and cross country ski trail in the winter

This is where you leave the bike path and hook onto the Basin bushwhack. Notice the two parallel trees on the left of the road, head in between the two trees, picture right.

The bushwhack is usually broken out in the winter and ends at the hairpin turn

Hiking along Liberty Spring Trail past the Flume Slide Trail junction

Passing the tentsite and continuing through a thick wall of small pines

Reaching the junction with Franconia Ridge, the trail becomes much easier from here

There's only a small Alpine Zone section, around Mount Liberty's summit

The Pemigewasset Wilderness: Owl's Head, the Twins, Guyot, and the Bonds

The slides of the Pemi Wilderness

Mount Lafayette and Garfield above Lincoln Brook Valley

Heading from Liberty to Flume

Flume's jagged summit and a view from Flume's summit north of the Franconia Ridge

Top pic: Mount Moosilauke / Bottom pic: Hellgate Ravine and the Bonds

Mount Liberty with the Kinsmans behind it on top. Lonesome Lake and the Cannon Balls on the bottom

Loon Mount on top. North Hancock and Carrigain on the bottom

Franconia and Garfield Ridge

Heading back down on the Liberty Spring Trail

Back on the bike path back to the Basin parking lot

Route for the day (click here for details)

Splits

Date of Hike: 11/30/13

Old Bridle Path: 2.9 miles / Greenleaf Trail: 1.1 miles / Franconia Ridge Trail: 1.7 miles / Falling Water Trail: 3.2 miles
Kinsman Ridge Trail: 4.4 miles
Total Miles: 13.4 (6,100 feet elevation gained)
Click here for trail descriptions

Trip Report:
- Saturday I wanted to push myself a little bit so I decided to do sunrise speed hike of the classic Franconia Ridge loop in the morning, followed by relaxing in Lincoln for a few hours, then meet up with Alton and Cole for a quick hike up the Cannon Mountain.
- The weather was a balmy four degrees at 6 a.m. as I headed up the old Bridle Path. There was not a cloud in the sky as an 'old moon' hung above Mount Liberty when I reached the outlooks along Agony Ridge.
- South of Franconia Notch the horizon started to fill with orange and yellow colors while across the notch to the west was an awesome site as a phenomenal alpine glow rose above the peaks of the Kinsman Ridge.
- Temperatures hung around zero as I made my way past the Greenleaf Hut and up the exposed western shoulder of Mount Lafayette. Luckily there was no wind so I was easily able to maintain my body heat while taking in all the views.
- When I reached the summit I had finally made it into the sunlight and a huge fireball of sun was shining over the Pemigewasset Wilderness. It was around 7:45 in the morning and I had the whole Franconia Ridge to myself, it was a great way to wake up. With the lack of wind, the snow covered trail, and solitude, it made for a rare one on one hike across the ridge.
- I made good time from Lafayette to Lincoln to Little Haystack, making sure to take pictures along the way. However, after taking a picture approaching Little Haystack I somehow lost grip of my camera and it broke when it hit the ice covered trail. So now I was on my back up to my back up, my Apple Phone.
- Once I hit Little Haystack it was back into the woods on the Falling Waters Trail. The first quarter to a half mile had some nasty ice, lots of care required to not fall, slide, and lose control. It would have been much easier ascending. Once I made it to the switchback section the ice became more snow cover so I picked up speed until reaching the water crossings above Cloudland Falls.
- Cloudland and Staircase Falls were frozen with icicles, snow, and bubble ice. The trail was very icy in spots through the waterfalls, once again it would have been much easier doing the loop in the opposite direction. I ran into about a dozen hikers on my way out over the past couple of miles. Everyone was pumped to hear there was no wind waiting for them up on the ridge.
- I made it to the car at 9 a.m. happy to have not taken one fall on the ice and bump my head. Of course just as I said that to myself I opened the hatch back to the Jeep and the rear window smashed my forehead leaving a gash! So to recap, I broke my camera and bashed my head while standing still, now that takes talent!

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Speed hike two of the day started around 2:30, by this time the wind had started whipping and a few high clouds came rolling in. The temperature was around 20 degrees but felt colder than my single digit morning hike because of the nasty wind that was swirling around the Cannon Mountain tram parking lot.

- I hadn't hiked with Alton in a few months and it was bitterly cold as we geared up. However, I knew we would be hiking at our usual fast pace and since the trail is steep I figured we'd warm up and delayer within fifteen minutes.

- Alton, Cole, and I hit the trail and started up what I will refer to as the Kinsman Ice Rink Trail. Alton set a good pace and we warmed up and delayered within a couple of minutes. After the first half mile we passed a group of boy scouts and for the next mile we were hiking mostly on ice.

- I had my microspikes, Alton had her hillsounds, and fancy pants had his four paw traction working to the full effect.

- Since the air temperature was warmer than in the morning, I switched in the parking lot from my winter boots to my La Sportiva Crossover GTX's and Alton was wearing her Sportiva Raptor GTX, which are waterproof. It was my first hike in the crossovers and I loved them. For anyone who likes trail runners pick these up, they are very light, have a built in gaiter system, and are perfect for shoulder season hiking.

- The last half mile or so to the summit is semi exposed to exposed as it travels in and out of the scrub. The wind was pretty strong and stopping would have chilled us to the bone, so we motored up to the ridge and hit the summit as quickly as possible. When we reached the summit of Cannon Mountain it was Alton's third round completion of the 48 - 4,000 footers (Congrats, Alton!). To celebrate she peed on a Christmas tree and then we blitzed back down the mountain.

- We carefully maneuvered our way down the ice while Cole sped ahead. Cole apparently became bored and started taking off his doggy jacket a few times to entertain himself.

- Finally after all the ice we were able to run out the final half mile back to the tram parking lot ending a fun and quick hike up one of the steeper trails in the Whites!