Pretty straightforward hike up to Liberty and Flume. The trail was stable enough to bareboot it for a few miles before we got to the luge trail where many chose to sled rather than hike down, creating a pretty steep slope that required traction. The first 2 miles the trail gently winds up through the forest to the tranquil sound of snowmobiles ripping alongside the interstate (meh), but then you forget about that as the 2 mile climb straight up begins. In the winter, this is especially monotonous as you’re literally hiking up a smoothed luge, rather than steps.
We had a bit of a view atop Liberty, but we made haste before the sweat could cool us in the light breeze. Between Liberty and Flume I could tell some progress on the blowdowns had been made since my last trip up there (December 2017), but it was still basically wading through pokey evergreen branches the whole way. The trail was also less trafficked and so we put on our snowshoes to aid in that effort. We were pretty annoyed by all the ducking and getting poked the time we reached Flume, though perhaps it was just thinking of having to turn around and do the whole thing again.
The way back to Liberty felt considerably less annoying, and we made great time back down to the car. We opted to run down the luge in our snowshoes rather than slide.
Peaks
Mount Liberty (4,459 ft), Mount Flume (4,328 ft)
Trailhead
Flume Visitors Center
Trails
Whitehouse, Liberty Springs, Franconia Ridge
Total Distance
10.24 miles, 5,191 ft elevation gain
Time
Start: 9:04am, 5:35 Round Trip
Weather
Cold and overcast, but not too windy.
Trail Conditions
Stable monorail up to Liberty, semi-loose snow between Liberty and Flume
Gear
Microspikes + Snowshoes
Partners in Crime
Cody and Rye
Strava
Gallery
Summit of Mount Liberty
Cody stuck in a hole
Cody on the summit of Flume
Rye on Liberty, the Ridge in the background
Heading off of Liberty
Snowfall nearly obstructing trail signage