Backtracking #11: Mt. Liberty
January 10, 2009
In honor of the fact that it has been very hot and humid here along the CT coast I think it is appropriate to think of a much cooler time.
So the month before I experienced some really cold weather hiking up Mt. Jackson. It was enjoyable and very difficult at the same time. When I heard that the high for our proposed hike was going to be 10 degrees with little wind I was very excited, much warmer then the week before. We set out for the Basin parking lot. It was decided that the walk along the snowmobile (bike) trail was a little shorter from the Basin then the Flume lot. We did not encounter any snowmobiles as we made our way to the Liberty Springs trail. At first Liberty Springs trail goes up but soon enough it almost flattens out.
We made good time but could see that it would be getting steep soon. I may have been going a little too fast on the flats because the up hill was about to lay a hurtin on. Once we started going up consistently we decided to put the snowshoes on. Up until this point we were bare booting. I especially wanted to put my snowshoes on because I had recently gotten a pair of MSR Denali Ascents with the heel bar. I wanted to see if raising the bar would in fact help make going up a little easier. They did in fact help. Most of the trail at this point was up but there were a few short sections that flattened out a little and I felt like I had high heels on. The heel bar is good if you are going up for long periods (like on this trail). It could get annoying if the trail had more flats and some downs. It wasn’t until we got to the Liberty Springs Camping area that we encountered our first people. There were two men coming down. We took a nice long break here and dad wasn’t sure if he could go on.
After examining the map it seemed that there wasn’t that much more of this up hill until we reached the junction with the Franconia Ridge trail. So we powered on.
Once we intersected with Franconia Ridge we went to the right to toward the summit. I took off at a faster pace because I knew we were close and I couldn’t wait to see the view. When I popped up out of the trees it was amazing.
Way off to the south there were some clouds but every other direction it was crystal clear blue sky. 
I took my snowshoes off because they were becoming annoying on the rock and headed to the summit. I could hear dad shouting with joy when he popped out. 
I was concerned that if anyone was around and heard us they would think he was in trouble when in fact he just thought the view was so amazing.
At the top we took our usual pictures and dad called mom to say we were in fact at the top.
We stayed on a bit longer then we usually do because it was so beautiful. 
There was a little wind so we decided to head off the summit to snack and have some hot chocolate. As we were heading down we encountered our only other person of the day. It was a guy coming up alone. He had on t-shirt (I wasn’t that warm) and a wool hat that said Patrick. We spoke briefly and then continued down. I decided it would be fun to boot slide down. So I would run a few steps and slide. Repeat. Sure I fell a few times but boy did we get down real quick. We trudged along the flat section of the trail and out to the snowmobile trail. Now there were snowmobiles coming by. This part seemed so much longer going back. It was slightly up hill and I was pretty tired.
January 10, 2009
In honor of the fact that it has been very hot and humid here along the CT coast I think it is appropriate to think of a much cooler time.
So the month before I experienced some really cold weather hiking up Mt. Jackson. It was enjoyable and very difficult at the same time. When I heard that the high for our proposed hike was going to be 10 degrees with little wind I was very excited, much warmer then the week before. We set out for the Basin parking lot. It was decided that the walk along the snowmobile (bike) trail was a little shorter from the Basin then the Flume lot. We did not encounter any snowmobiles as we made our way to the Liberty Springs trail. At first Liberty Springs trail goes up but soon enough it almost flattens out.
We made good time but could see that it would be getting steep soon. I may have been going a little too fast on the flats because the up hill was about to lay a hurtin on. Once we started going up consistently we decided to put the snowshoes on. Up until this point we were bare booting. I especially wanted to put my snowshoes on because I had recently gotten a pair of MSR Denali Ascents with the heel bar. I wanted to see if raising the bar would in fact help make going up a little easier. They did in fact help. Most of the trail at this point was up but there were a few short sections that flattened out a little and I felt like I had high heels on. The heel bar is good if you are going up for long periods (like on this trail). It could get annoying if the trail had more flats and some downs. It wasn’t until we got to the Liberty Springs Camping area that we encountered our first people. There were two men coming down. We took a nice long break here and dad wasn’t sure if he could go on.
After examining the map it seemed that there wasn’t that much more of this up hill until we reached the junction with the Franconia Ridge trail. So we powered on.Once we intersected with Franconia Ridge we went to the right to toward the summit. I took off at a faster pace because I knew we were close and I couldn’t wait to see the view. When I popped up out of the trees it was amazing.
Way off to the south there were some clouds but every other direction it was crystal clear blue sky. 
I took my snowshoes off because they were becoming annoying on the rock and headed to the summit. I could hear dad shouting with joy when he popped out. 
I was concerned that if anyone was around and heard us they would think he was in trouble when in fact he just thought the view was so amazing.At the top we took our usual pictures and dad called mom to say we were in fact at the top.
We stayed on a bit longer then we usually do because it was so beautiful. 
There was a little wind so we decided to head off the summit to snack and have some hot chocolate. As we were heading down we encountered our only other person of the day. It was a guy coming up alone. He had on t-shirt (I wasn’t that warm) and a wool hat that said Patrick. We spoke briefly and then continued down. I decided it would be fun to boot slide down. So I would run a few steps and slide. Repeat. Sure I fell a few times but boy did we get down real quick. We trudged along the flat section of the trail and out to the snowmobile trail. Now there were snowmobiles coming by. This part seemed so much longer going back. It was slightly up hill and I was pretty tired. 
Thoughts: I love winter hiking. The views were absolutely amazing. Plus you get crisp, clear air that you can’t get in the summer. 10 degrees isn’t that bad to hike in.
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