Hiked by: Tim and Valerie on February 16, 2008. Whitehouse Trail to Liberty Spring Trail to Franconia Ridge Trail, then back.
After starting the morning with a NH tradition (Dunkin Donuts before getting on the freeway), we made our way up Route 93. Here's a picture of today's objective, taken from the off-ramp.
We arrived at the trailhead about 9AM. This was a little later than we had hoped, but worked to our advantage as there were 10 cars in the parking lot already. The temperature at the car was 10 degrees F. Sunny day with just a touch of wind. It's always cold for the first 15 minutes or so. We were bundled up and trotted off in our snowshoes on the Whitehouse Trail. It was a very quick trip over to the bike path. This time of year, it's the snowmobile trail. We took a momentary pause at the intersection so that we could take a couple pictures. Tim looks through the trees towards Mt Liberty. We were only passed by 2 snowmobiles as we made our way to the start of the Liberty Spring Trail at 0.8 miles.
We started up the Liberty Spring trail, and it was still just so easy going! It was obvious that a crowd had been through already this morning, and they had done an incredible job of breaking out the trail. We have many thanks for those people who must have had a very rough hike. Soon, we met up with a solo hiker, Dave. He'd missed his crowd at the parking lot and was hiking alone. We hiked and talked with him for a little while, then headed off up the trail. He gave us a message to give to his crowd, if we came upon them.
Not soon after, we saw what we assume was the SAR helicopter go overhead. It was gray with two red cross symbols on the underside. They seemed to be flying right up the ridgeline - south to north. We found out later that there was another rescue on the ridge that day - a solo, overnight hiker on My Lafayette.
After about 2 miles, the trail went from deciduous forest to more evergreen. It was obvious that there were several feet of snow under our feet, as the branches that are usually well overhead were right in our face. Other boughs had been so laden with snow and ice that they bent all the way down into the trail and froze in the snow. We hiked through this, not really appreciating its steepness until the descent. Eventually, we reached the Liberty Springs tent site, and we were a little surprised to see a tent set up at one of the sites. We're having some cold nights right now, even at the house. We cannot imagine what it's like up here - must be well below zero. Between the tent sites and the ridge (0.3 miles), we met a LOT of other hikers... a group of 6 men, a couple solo guys, and then a group of 5 at the intersection with the Franconia Brook Trail. Here was Dave's group, and we passed on the message to Earl.
At this intersection, we changed into our "summit clothes" and prepared for the final 0.3 miles to the top. Down jackets, balaclavas and goggles. It wasn't really too bad. A little cold and windy, but probably considered a prime afternoon above tree line. It took us 3hrs 20mins to climb the 4.0 miles. At the top, we took a few pictures of ourselves and the surrounding scenery, got Earl to take a picture of us together, then headed back down fairly quickly.
The trip to the car was a breeze. It took about 2 hours and went very well. There were a lot more snowmobiles out in the afternoon. We must have been passed by 25-30 of them in the time that it took us to walk the couple tenths of a mile that we were sharing the trail with them. The Whitehouse trail, which had been a pleasure in the morning, was tougher now with tired feet and sore knees. Even as we reached the car, the helicopters were still in the area.
Overall, 8 miles in a little over 6 hours. No breaks (nowhere to sit). Ate while we walked.