Mt. Liberty & Mt. Flume

GUYS! I have wonderful news…

It’s June! Aka, summer is fast approaching, it’s my birthday month, and we are in full gemini season (yeah, I’m a gem’).

Yesterday was another great mountain frolick adventure day in the NH White Mountains. Conditions wise it was everything but the kitchen sink – mud, dry trail, snow, rocks, roots, black flies, mosquito’s, and budding flowers.

Fun fact is Liberty and Flume were my #1 and #2 peaks for the NH 48 4000 footers list. It was great to tag Liberty for round 4 and Flume for round 3! I also hadn’t hiked the 1.5 mile section between the two summits since my first time hiking them as each other time the summits were hiked individually or combined with mountains from other directions! I love being able to meticulously describe trails to people and this was one of the ones escaping my memory as of late so the refresh was welcomed!

Yesterday started off interesting because I initially was going to hike a different mountain but my friend wasn’t feeling great so plot twist at 5:30am. I knew I had other friends doing the Liberty Flume duo and figured “I’m already awake and wanting to hike – why not change plans”!

Off to Franconia Notch I headed.

The trio I hiked with – Kaylee, Kristina, and Brianna. Kaylee and I have been friends for over TWO decades as we met in Kindergarten! Kristina I’ve known most of my life as well but haven’t really seen her since high school. Brianna I just met! Yay to new friends and seeing old ones again 🙂 One of my goals for this year to to meet new hiking friends, so I feel like I directly worked on that goal yesterday and it feels really good inside!

We ditched the idea of the Flume slide with how much water was on the trail for the first segment knowing it would be wet, slippery, and we also had a furry friend with us – Kaylee’s pup Brodie! The hike ended up being an out and back from Whitehouse Trailhead taking Liberty Spring and Franconia Ridge Trail’s.

I love this area of the White Mountains. If you were to ask me my favorite trails, my answer would be “anything bordering/within the Pemi wilderness, the Northern Presidentials, Isolation, and Wildcat-Carter-Moriah”. These areas encompass my all time favorite hikes and will always hold such a special place for my soul.

Yesterday’s hike was surely one full of laughter and ridiculous shenanigans (picking Brodie up to get him onto a rock scramble headed back to Liberty from Flume – he was a’ok going down, but needed a little assistance back up!). Other fun included making sure all four of us got the notorious shot atop Liberty. I give you exhibit A:

These were Kristina’s first two 4000 footers, which is cool because like I mentioned at the beginning of this post, they were mine! Kaylee and Brianna have a handful under their belts and I love that I have so many friends who share my love for hiking and being outside! I’m not sure I could spend hours upon hours with the same humans indoors, but outdoors, I’m fully game and ready to have a blast and a half.

All in all it was wonderful to hike in Northern NH and have it feel mostly like late spring/summer! (I’ve been making the Belknaps my tramping ground for the past month while the potato snow melted)! Don’t get me wrong, I love winter hiking and don’t mind the snow, but this year for whatever reason I’m soooooo beyond over the cold and winter. Yesterday surely excited me even more so for the upcoming “roots and rocks” hiking season!

“I think I’m quite ready for another adventure.” – Bilbo Baggins

XO, S