Flume Slide & Franconia Ridge Aug 09

Franconia Ridge - 4 peaks

Trails - Liberty Springs, Flume Slide, Franconia Ridge, Old Bridal Path

August 1, 2009

Today I joined a hike with the Random Group of Hikers. (Michael, Monica, Pete, Ashley, Shri, Camilo, Patrick and Julien) We met at the parking lot for the Old Bridle Path trailhead, then drove to the parking lot for the Whitehouse trailhead. After a review of the hike, we geared up and were on our way. The first 1.5 miles to the junction of the Flume Slide trail went by quickly. This was the first hike I had done with this group of folks but learned that several of us have friends in common.

The Flume Slide trail crosses several streams and brooks that due to recent rain were running high. We all made it across them with limited wet feet and before we knew it were at the base of the slide where the real climbing would begin. The slide starts out as loose rocks getting larger in size, then gives way to large slabs of slick rock, made even slicker with the steady stream of water running over them.

We all managed to safely make our way to the top of the slide where the trail enters a narrow overgrown section that traverses across the peak, before turning towards the summit in one last steep climb. One by one we stepped out on the flat junction with the Osseo trail, where we took a short break.

Just a few tenths of a mile later we came out to the spectacular views of Mt Flume, Liberty and Franconia Ridge. With lots of sunshine and blue skies above us we scrambled up to the summit where decided to enjoy lunch. It was interesting to see what folks had brought along which ranged from steak tips, to potato salad, to a fluffernutter sandwich.

We took in the last of the views from this summit and made our way over to Mt Liberty - a quick 1.2 mile journey with great views of Mt Flume behind us. Pressing on we made our way down to the junction of the Liberty Springs trail where we stopped to discuss our water situation. A couple of folks had a little less than ideal, but others had extra, so off we went towards Mt Haystack.

The Franconia Ridge trail is in the trees and low shrubs almost until you reach the summit of Haystack. Here we saw a large group of people on the summit, one family who was just finishing the last of their Oreo cookies as they let us know :> A group photo and off we went. Looking ahead we could see that we almost had the entire ridge to ourselves.

We summited Mt Lincoln at 3:30 PM and made our way to Lafayette by 4:30 PM. More snacks, lots of photos, ice cold Gatorade, other hikers we knew, and posing for summit shots. Turns out that Lincoln and Lafayette were #29 and #30 for Ashley - congrats, and #50 for Michael on his goal of completing the 115 list for 2209.

Regrettably we had to leave and started our hike back to the cars, stopping at the Greenleaf Hut where we enjoyed more snacks (really sounds like we ate a lot - we did!) and filled our water supplies. Then we were off, heading down the Old Bridal Path which is fairly steep and rocky at the top. Once on Agony Ridge we stopped to take one final look at the ridge and peaks we had traversed, then off we went.

The trail started to have sections that were not rocky, and Ashley who was in the lead decided it was time to kick in the after burners. The hike turned into a trail run for the last @ 1.25 miles. We passed numerous other hikers who must have wondered where the energy was coming from. As we started catching another couple of hikers, one of them must have been competitive as she started running making it into a race until we reached the parking lot.

What a day! Almost perfect weather, a great group of hikers, challenging terrain, this hike had it all. Thanks to Michael for planning the hike. Looking forward to hiking with you all again soon.

Length of Hike: 10:00 hours

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