Krista and Deb on Franconia Ridge
Despite sleeping at the Lafayette campground, Deb and I decided to drive to the Basin Parking area to begin our hike up the Flume Slide Trail. We started at 6:40AM on Saturday August 9th, 2025. After a brief march on the paved bike trail, we got onto the Liberty Spring Hiking Trail and took the right hand turn at the junction to start the Flume trail. This trail ascends more steeply as you approach the slide - we were glad we started early as sweat was already dripping down our faces. We passed a mother and son and another group of 3 guys before getting to the slide. I like being first up the slide, as there is much less risk for rock fall if there are no parties above you. The slide climbs 1500feet in a half mile, and is comprised of a series of rocky scrambles and steep rooted trail. There seemed to be many side trails to opt out any risky moves. I did have to use my hands and feet multiple times, but I didn't feel like I needed to put my rock climbing skills to use. I did however have to stop a few times to lessen my heart rate which allowed one solo male hiker to pass us and sent a rock flying down at our heads. Luckily he yelled 'Rock!' and I was able to put my body behind a tree that shielded it from being hit.
By 10:45AM we hit the summit of Flume and enjoyed the views with a family who had been backpacking the Pemi range over the past few days. There was a father and his triplets (2 sons and 1 daughter). We had a snack and water and took a few photos of each other and carried on. Down into shaded forested trail, we enjoyed walking downhill for a change. That didn't last long as we started a gradual ascent up to the top of Liberty. The ridge was getting busy with a number of day hikers, backpackers, and thru-hikers. We reached the rocky summit of Liberty and could feel the sun's heat starting to hit us like a wall. There was little wind (a rarity), even above treeline to relieve us of our sweat and hot bodies. I had brought 2L of water with me and was well into my first bottle. The summit of Liberty has a marker, and some great viewpoints. We took some photos here and carried on.
Down again into forest trail, we lost some elevation gain and spent some time traversing a bushy flat section of trail. There didn't seem to be the same volume of hikers in this stretch. It must be more popular to hike 2 peaks in one day (Flume + Liberty, Lincoln + Lafayette). We were in the 'no man's land'. The flat traverse was a nice section where we could pick up the pace and move quickly. We then began to feel the path ascent again up towards Little Haystack. Still forested, the trail is a mix of boulders with big and little steps but wasn't that steep which we were grateful for being the third 'up' of the day. This would be the last long ascent of the day as we were moving from Mount Flume at 4200' to Lafayette at 5200'. We popped out of the trees to find Mt Haystack's summit area packed with people. There is a large area that was obviously busy with people who had come up the Falling Waters trail. From here on, we would be above tree line. We took another break here, and had a discussion about Ty Gagne's book "The Last Traverse" that told the a rescue story of two men who were caught up in a winter storm near Little Haystack and had to hide in a cave. We started looking around as we left the summit area and found what we think was where they had to hide during the storm. It looked like the only place that 2 bodies could shelter inside albeit barely.
We continued above treeline enjoying the magnificent views of the Pemi Range and Cannon Cliffs up to Lincoln. The scenery is absolutely stunning. On Lincoln we ate and drank a bit more and lingered a bit longer than usual. It's rare to hang out at the summits but with all the people, it' was hard to get a summit shot in that didn't have other people in the way. We left Lincoln's summit, and traversed the ridge over some rocky outcroppings and found many photogenic spots and areas that one could enjoy the views. We looked at the Lincoln Slide and discussed the possibilities of descending it to access Owl's Head. We yo-yo'd our hike up to Lafayette with a very positive and non-pushy parent of a 9 year old girl that was enjoying her day. It was definitely an interesting experience from a people watching perspective: We had everything from influencer like models, to dogs that looked like that had heat stroke, people that had no sense of trail etiquette, to mostly naked hikers to completely covered up. Many people were staying at the hut, and had only come up with a water bottle! Up on Lafayette there must have been 60 people. Deb drank the last of her 1L of water, while I was about 1.5L in (I had brought 2). We were eager to get down to the Greenleaf Hut to get more water. We descended a rocky path with cairns off the top of Lafayette and dropped over 1000 ft to get to the hut. We found the drinking water tap and filled our bottles up and took another break. I added some electrolytes to my bottle and it perked me right up. There was a group of about 8 women on an AMC hike, and about 20 other lingering around the hut. Still over 3miles/5km to the end of the Old Bridle Path trail. We passed a few groups on the way down this trail, but were mindful of our foot placements in places on the tricky polished rock on the descent. We see polished rock in rock climbing where rock becomes slippery due to overuse. It was easy to spot the polished rock places as it was black. On the way down 5 of the hut workers passed us going up with heavy loads. We passed by some view points of the ridge we were just on and as you get closer to the parking lot, the trail becomes more manicured and steps have been built like a stair case. Upon finishing, we walked through the tunnel and found a hiker in the Lafayette parking lot to drive us over to the Basin parking to get our car.
Stats:
Ascent: 5330ft/1638ft
Distance: 22.47km
Time: 9 hours, 45 mins (lots of breaks on this hot day!)
Temperature: 30C
Wind: None
Peaks # 104, #105, #106, and #107 of my NorthEast 115er journey.
By 10:45AM we hit the summit of Flume and enjoyed the views with a family who had been backpacking the Pemi range over the past few days. There was a father and his triplets (2 sons and 1 daughter). We had a snack and water and took a few photos of each other and carried on. Down into shaded forested trail, we enjoyed walking downhill for a change. That didn't last long as we started a gradual ascent up to the top of Liberty. The ridge was getting busy with a number of day hikers, backpackers, and thru-hikers. We reached the rocky summit of Liberty and could feel the sun's heat starting to hit us like a wall. There was little wind (a rarity), even above treeline to relieve us of our sweat and hot bodies. I had brought 2L of water with me and was well into my first bottle. The summit of Liberty has a marker, and some great viewpoints. We took some photos here and carried on.
Down again into forest trail, we lost some elevation gain and spent some time traversing a bushy flat section of trail. There didn't seem to be the same volume of hikers in this stretch. It must be more popular to hike 2 peaks in one day (Flume + Liberty, Lincoln + Lafayette). We were in the 'no man's land'. The flat traverse was a nice section where we could pick up the pace and move quickly. We then began to feel the path ascent again up towards Little Haystack. Still forested, the trail is a mix of boulders with big and little steps but wasn't that steep which we were grateful for being the third 'up' of the day. This would be the last long ascent of the day as we were moving from Mount Flume at 4200' to Lafayette at 5200'. We popped out of the trees to find Mt Haystack's summit area packed with people. There is a large area that was obviously busy with people who had come up the Falling Waters trail. From here on, we would be above tree line. We took another break here, and had a discussion about Ty Gagne's book "The Last Traverse" that told the a rescue story of two men who were caught up in a winter storm near Little Haystack and had to hide in a cave. We started looking around as we left the summit area and found what we think was where they had to hide during the storm. It looked like the only place that 2 bodies could shelter inside albeit barely.
We continued above treeline enjoying the magnificent views of the Pemi Range and Cannon Cliffs up to Lincoln. The scenery is absolutely stunning. On Lincoln we ate and drank a bit more and lingered a bit longer than usual. It's rare to hang out at the summits but with all the people, it' was hard to get a summit shot in that didn't have other people in the way. We left Lincoln's summit, and traversed the ridge over some rocky outcroppings and found many photogenic spots and areas that one could enjoy the views. We looked at the Lincoln Slide and discussed the possibilities of descending it to access Owl's Head. We yo-yo'd our hike up to Lafayette with a very positive and non-pushy parent of a 9 year old girl that was enjoying her day. It was definitely an interesting experience from a people watching perspective: We had everything from influencer like models, to dogs that looked like that had heat stroke, people that had no sense of trail etiquette, to mostly naked hikers to completely covered up. Many people were staying at the hut, and had only come up with a water bottle! Up on Lafayette there must have been 60 people. Deb drank the last of her 1L of water, while I was about 1.5L in (I had brought 2). We were eager to get down to the Greenleaf Hut to get more water. We descended a rocky path with cairns off the top of Lafayette and dropped over 1000 ft to get to the hut. We found the drinking water tap and filled our bottles up and took another break. I added some electrolytes to my bottle and it perked me right up. There was a group of about 8 women on an AMC hike, and about 20 other lingering around the hut. Still over 3miles/5km to the end of the Old Bridle Path trail. We passed a few groups on the way down this trail, but were mindful of our foot placements in places on the tricky polished rock on the descent. We see polished rock in rock climbing where rock becomes slippery due to overuse. It was easy to spot the polished rock places as it was black. On the way down 5 of the hut workers passed us going up with heavy loads. We passed by some view points of the ridge we were just on and as you get closer to the parking lot, the trail becomes more manicured and steps have been built like a stair case. Upon finishing, we walked through the tunnel and found a hiker in the Lafayette parking lot to drive us over to the Basin parking to get our car.
Stats:
Ascent: 5330ft/1638ft
Distance: 22.47km
Time: 9 hours, 45 mins (lots of breaks on this hot day!)
Temperature: 30C
Wind: None
Peaks # 104, #105, #106, and #107 of my NorthEast 115er journey.
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