Copy/Repost Hike

We all geared up, wished each other "Merry Christmas" and we were off at about 8:15.

We followed the Whitehouse Trail, took the short walk along the bike path, came to Liberty Spring Trail and hiked up to the Flume Slide Trail Junction. At this point we stopped for a layer break and then headed off into the woods.

About an hour and half later we were at the tent site just before the Franconia Ridge Trail. Just before noon we were at the summit of Liberty [4,459 ft.] with outstanding views west and a spotty undercast. Flume had a cloudcap on it. While it was windy it never got below 20 degrees. We met a group of three hikers and we took pictures of each other. We hiked over to the summit of Mt. Flume and were the only ones there. We retraced our steps and in the col [between Flume and Liberty] sat down to have some lunch. We then hiked up Liberty entailing a 550-ft. climb. 

Pretty uneventful trip down but it was fast due to the trail being packed down. We got back to the cars just before it got dark. 

Great hike, surprisingly great views, and temps around 20. Most prior parties had barebooted, but we found snowshoes helpful between Liberty and Flume to prevent post-holing. All stream crossings were ice bridged. A total of 10.2 miles with a 4,250-ft. elevation gain in about 7 1/2 hours.

It was the perfect way to celebrate Christmas!

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