Mt Liberty and Mt Flume - 01 Sep 07

[YankeyMCC]

On Saturday, September 1st, my son and I bagged Mt Liberty and Mt Flume adding two more 4K's to our list. Our original plan was to ascent via the Flume Slide trail and descend via Liberty Springs. But we decided the Flume Slide Trail would be to dangerous or at least to much of an unknown for my son to take without my having done it before and because recent rain may have made it slippery.

So we ascend via Liberty Springs trail and descended the same way.

The weather forecast called for clouds in the morning but quickly clearing and warming temps. We arrived at the trail head, actually the Flume Parking lot which put us on the Pemi Trail which we had to take for a about .7 miles before reaching Liberty Springs Trail, at about 7:15AM. The plan was to get an early start to be on the ridge during the warmest and clearest part of the day.

The morning certainly was overcast and cool, but as we ascended it didn't seem to be clearing up at all. But the temperature was nice, cool but cold, just about the best temperature to work hard in and not get overheated. And the trail did make us work hard. There is a fairly step 2000 foot ascent as part of the Liberty Springs Trail.

We reached Mt Liberty Summit about 10AM and it was like we came out into a hole in the clouds. All around us the clouds hemmed in the Pemi Wilderness and the Notch but we had a clear view of the interior of the wilderness itself as well as the notch, except for the high peaks, in fact the encircling clouds seemed to enhanced the perspective.


We changed into heavier shirts, my son had his long rain paints, I had to make due with shorts. But we also had light gloves and wool hats.

We quickly made to the ridge and the wind was brisk and the air cold, but no where near as dire as the caretaker thought.

We reached Mt Liberty Summit about 10AM and it was like we came out into a hole in the clouds. All around us the clouds hemmed in the Pemi Wilderness but we had a clear view of the interior of the wilderness itself, except for the high peaks, in fact the encircling clouds seemed to enhanced the perspective.

It was cold on Liberty and windy so we tramped quickly on our way to bagged Flume. We had never done this part of the ridge trail before and didn't realize that unlike the section between Haystack and Lafayette, which is open and exposed, this section is largely sheltered with trees. So we were out of the elements.

We got to the summit of Flume in about an hour and it was Hot on that summit. We lingered a bit taking in the views which had cleared very much. We could now see most of the Franconia Peaks and much to the south. We took a look down the slide trail and decided we'd made the right choice to save it for another day. Although the weather did turn good as predicted, although a bit later than expected, we would've been exposed to some chilly and high winds on the ascent.

We headed back towards Liberty and by the time we go there the sky had cleared completely and the wind was much less. The views were spectacular and we lingered longer on Liberty's summit. My son found a nice little nook in the rocks that gave us a great view of the notch and the feeling of being on our own, because by that time the summit was getting crowded. Thanks to our early start the caretaker at Liberty Springs Tent site was the first person we had seen that day, but by the time we got to Mt Flume the trails were filling up.

We started back down and just as we hit the long step section my son started feeling real pain in his big toes. We stopped and removed his boots to see what was happening. His toes were being jammed against the boot front and he was getting bruised under the toenails. We thought he had one more full season for these boots, but apparently not. I tapped up his toes, not knowing what else to do and thinking it might help cushion and hold his toenails down.

My son has come a long way since I started taking him hiking and has learned a lot and he just did his best to deal with the pain and pushed on. He had to do most of the descent in a very uncomfortable condition but he did it almost without complaint and still talked of how nice a hike it was, how much he loved the summit of Liberty.

I was sure to say how proud I was of him when we finished, and how happy he makes me. The day was not about bagging two more 4K peaks it was about spending the time with my son and experiencing a touch of the wilderness and everything else was a bonus. So it was one of the most successful and enjoyable hikes of the season.

We finished about 3:45 and probably would've finished about an hour earlier if I had gotten him new boots before the hike.



(pix to come)

[YankeyMCC]

1. Pix

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25085949@N00/sets/72157601841489950/

[RebelOne]

2. Awesome scenery. Looks like you both were having a great time.

I love the mountains. I spent a week in the Smokies in July. That scenery takes your breath away.