|
Once
again,
the large noisy group of hikers caught up to me and I cut short my stay on
the summit, heading down the Franconia Ridge Trail toward nearby Liberty
Spring Trail. Just below the summit, I stopped to take a photo back
uphill.
I
soon came to the Liberty Spring Trail, and headed downhill to the
AMC
Liberty Spring Campsite, which was only 3/10 of a mile from the ridge. At
the spring, where I stopped to refill my water bottles, I met three
through-hikers on their way to Mt Katahdin in Maine. We talked about the
crowds on the trails that weekend, and they told me about the number of
people who have no respect for the mountains, such as the ones they saw
taking a bath (with soap) in Lonesome Lake. They also said that there had
been many noisy young kids at Lonesome Lake. That sounded familiar. It was
just what we had experienced on our 4th of July trip to Lonesome Lake Hut
in 1998.
The rest of my descent was fairly uneventful. I saw a number of
hikers on their way up, and the weather got warmer as I went lower. The
Liberty Spring Trail is not nearly as steep as the Flume Slide Trail, and
the footing is good with many rock steps cut into the trail. After
reaching the Whitehouse Trailhead, I put my things in the car and drove to
the nearby Indian Head Resort to buy some souvenirs. Before leaving, I
stopped to take a picture of Mts Liberty and Flume.
|
Looking
down the sheer west face of Mt Liberty. These outcrops are visible
from Franconia Notch. |
 |
