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Ascent of Mount Flume on 2011-07-27

Climber: Ryan Aschbrenner

Date:

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Ascent Type:

Successful Summit Attained

Peak:

Mount Flume

Location:

USA-New Hampshire

Elevation:

4328 ft / 1319 m

Ascent Trip Report

I parked at the Falling Waters Trailhead off I-93 just north of Exit 34A. This is a special un-numbered trailhead exit. I hiked the Falling Waters Trail up to Little Haystack Mtn (stopping to check out the waterfalls along the way), then turned south on the AT/Franconia Ridge Trail over Mt. Liberty and Mt. Flume. From Flume, I turned around and hiked back over Liberty and up Little Haystack again. I continued north along the ridge and hiked over Mt. Lincoln and Mt. Truman before reaching Mt. Lafayette. I took the Greenleaf Trail down Lafayette to the Greenleaf Hut, and from there took the Old Bridle Path back to the parking lot where I began the hike. The total hike was 15 miles, and my car-to-car time was about 8.5 hours.

Clouds were the major theme today. A few days ago, it looked like this would be the good weather day of the week, but the forecast gradually deteriorated. I went forward with this hike anyway, hoping there'd be some breaks in the clouds. It turned out to be overcast for much of the day, except for some decent but brief clearing while I was at the summit of Flume. Flume was the only place where I saw significant views today. That was a little disappointing, but it was still a worthwhile hike, with lots of ascent and descent. Still, I'd want to return sometime on a crystal-clear day to enjoy the view, especially along Franconia Ridge, and on Mt. Lafayette.

I had lots of friendly chats with other hikers. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood. I had some brief chats with others on the trail as I passed them, or as they were headed in the opposite direction. A slightly younger solo hiker reached the summit of Flume at the same time I did, but he approached from the Flume Slide. We had a chat about recent mountains we've visited, and spent some time trying to identify other peaks we could see at that time, before the clouds returned.

Summary Total Data

Elevation Gain:

448 ft / 137 m

Route Conditions:

Maintained Trail

Weather:

Pleasant, Windy, Partly Cloudy

Ascent Statistics

Elevation Gain:

448 ft / 137 m

Route:

Franconia Ridge Trail

Trailhead:

3880 ft / 1182 m

Descent Statistics

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