Mount Flume and Mount Liberty, Franconia, NH - 9/15/18

This was a killer of a day.  It was 85 degrees and humid... and I chose to bring my wife Leesa , son Nick and dog Rev up the Flume Slide Trail to Mount Flume.  The trail is one of the steepest trails there is.  The last 0.7 miles climbs about 1500'.  Leesa didn't know this in advance... otherwise she might have opted out!

Other than the humidity, the weather was pretty agreeable.  There were a lot of people out on the trail. When we hit the steep section, Leesa told the rest of us to go ahead of her and wait on the top.  She wanted to go at a slower pace.  I agreed that we could do that because there were plenty of other people out.

Rev and Nick took off in front and I did my best to keep up.  They still got to the summit five or ten minutes before me.  Leesa showed up about 40 minutes later.

Mount Flume has a really cool sub-summit in addition to the true summit.  At the sub-summit, a group of people were re-hydrating and catching their breath.   I gave Rev lots of water.

Looking towards the summit from the sub-summit.

Looking towards Mount Liberty from the Mount Flume sub-summit. 

Rev did fine on the steep.  She enjoyed a pause on the sub-summit along with the rest of us. 

Franconia Ridge in the background.

Leesa took the lead going to the true summit with Nick a short distance behind.

On Mount Liberty looking back to Mount Flume.

From Mount Flume, the rest of the hike felt quite easy compared to the steep section of the Flume Side Trail.  The Liberty Springs Trail follows a pretty consistent moderate grade.

From Mount Liberty, Cannon Mountain on the left, Franconia ridge on the right 

We followed up out hike with a fantastic dinner at the "Common Man" restaurant in Lincoln.

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  9.3 miles

Hike Time:  8 hours, including stops

Total Vertical Gain:  ~3750' 

The route... done counter-clockwise