| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Liberty, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Whitehouse Trail, Liberty Spring Trail, Franconia Ridge Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Friday, December 19, 2014 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Plenty of parking in the lot near the flume visitor center |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth, Wet Trail, Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Wet/Slippery Rock, Ice - Breakable Crust, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow - Drifts, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Snow/Ice - Postholes |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Bunch of crossings, all are perfectly manageable. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Few blowdowns, nothing major |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Saw two dogs (not ideal trail dog breeds) and they seemed to be doing fine |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Took off from the lot at around 7:10 this morning after driving up from central MA. There was one guy in the lot when I left. I started off with no traction then foolishly put on my snowshoes after 15-20 minutes of hiking. I say foolishly because 25 minutes later I was taking them off in order to put on microspikes to better handle the exposed rocks and to avoid destroying my instep crampons on the snowshoes.
As I was securing my snowshoes to my pack, the guy from the lot passed me wearing microspikes. Once I started hiking again, I was moving a lot faster with the microspikes. Within a few minutes I was within 20 yards of the guy and ended up following in his footsteps at a distance for a couple miles. It became evident as we neared the Franconia Ridge junction that there was A LOT more snow up top. I eventually passed the guy about 2 miles Mt. Liberty and took over breaking trail until the summit. It was a good thing I took over, because there was at least 10 inches of fresh powder, some deep drifts, and I was the only one with snowshoes and I still had a hell of a time huffing and puffing up to the summit.
Unfortunately when I did reach Mt.Liberty at roughly 10 there was significant fog/clouds and virtually no views. I did look over in the direction of flume because I had been planning to venture there as well but visibility was simply way too poor. Sort of bummed out, I decided to head back to the car after maybe 15 minutes on the summit and call it an "early" day. Still wearing my snowshoes, I began descending and soon encountered the guy from before about .2 miles from the summit. As I mentioned, he didn't have snowshoes so he was wading through the nearly waist-deep snow at the top (I'm sure we've all been there). We chatted for a bit and he mentioned he was thinking of purchasing some shoes later tonight. I told him I would attempt to really stomp the trail out on my way down and we parted ways. Harnessing the energy from my little break, I set off down the LS trail at a blistering pace. The snow was perfect for downhill snowshoeing and I was able to really fly down some areas (I was wearing MSR Lightning Ascents). On my down I encountered two parties, a group of 2 and a group of 3. The pair had snowshoes and the trio did not. I informed them about the summit conditions when I was up there and mentioned that it would probably clear up later. I notified the group of 3 about the deep snow up top but mentioned that there had been some traffic so it would likely be manageable.
The group of 3 were the last people I saw today and the rest of the descent was great. I arrived back at my car at roughly 11:30. Overall, a great but short December Hike and definitely an enjoyable first time up Mt. Liberty. Today was nowhere near as beautiful/amazing as Mt.Adams via the Airline trail on Monday but it was still a fantastic hike and I definitely plan on doing it again soon - hopefully on a day with more visibility.
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 | Name: |
scott |
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 | E-Mail: |
sluvington@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2014-12-19 |
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 | Link: |
 https:// |
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Disclaimer: Reports are not verified - conditions may vary. Use at own risk. Always be prepared when hiking. Observe all signs. Trail conditions reports are not substitutes for weather reports or common sense. |
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