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Liberty and Flume- 8/12

awf170

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Jan 28, 2005
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Location
Lynn and Lowell MA
Date(s) Hiked: 8-11

Trails(s) Hiked: Up flume trail over to liberty and down the apalacian trail

Total Distance: 10 miles

Difficulty: tecnical climb up to flume with some easy rock climbing. A lot harder then the falling waters/lafayette loop.

Conditions: Warm and humid, trail was nice and dry though


Trip Report: Me and my dad started at the parking lot after the flume parking lot(forget what it is called) The trail starts out parralling the highway for .6 miles, then you go on the bike trail for .2 (Obviously this all very flat) Then finally you get to the trailhead. The first .6 mile is slighty uphill getting the intersection, we choice to go up flume first because we did not want to have to decend the very steep slides area. The first 2.6 miles of the trail is pretty flat, until you get to the base of the slides, then it becomes instantly steep and extremely rocky. The first 4 miles only took us and 1:30 and the next .8 mile took 45 minutes, this truly shows how steep and tecnical it is. We took a short 15 minute break at the top of flume then headed over to liberty(1.2 miles) because liberty has a lot better views because flume seems to be set back too far. The trail between liberty and flume is pretty easy and only took me 25 minutes(took my dad 20 but i bonked at on the last steep section) After taking a 20 minute break on the top of liberty we were ready to head down. The trail going down liberty is very nice with a lot steps and obviously way more travelled then the flume trail. We avoided the rain the whole hike except for the last 2 hours, but the canopy over the trail pretty kept us dry(it was so hot though we kinda wanted rain) We finished the hike off in about 4:45 with about 45 minutes worth of breaks, which i think is pretty good for my second hike of the year

pictures-
http://forums.alpinezone.com/module...ame=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php

came out pretty crappy though because of the haze and overcast

i wonder if those slides on flume are skiable.... actually i no they are skiable if they got enough snow, but i wonder if they actually fill in with snow or if there just ice

Skiable or not???
P1010082.jpg
 

SilentCal

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Sep 5, 2002
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Western Mass
The Trailhead is called the Whitehouse Trail. Sounds like you had a good time. I don't think I have ever heard of anyone skiing the Flume Slides. There is a shortcut off the liberty Springs trail to the Basin parking lot but you have to keep your eyes open to see it. It makes the loop a little shorter than the Whitehouse trail starting point.
 

riverc0il

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Jul 10, 2001
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classic view. i did that loop a few years back starting at the flume visitor center, excellent loop. thought the hike to the slide was fairly boring but the ascending once you hit the slide is definitely a work out. quick note to those looking at the pic above who have not hiked the flume slide trail: the trail is actually sheltered within the trees on the south side of the slide, you do not actually ascend the highly exposed area pictured but it's still steep and rocky and not a good hike when wet.

regarding skiing it, i have heard of people claiming to have skied it. not sure if it would really be worth the hike up though. that face definitely looks a lot steeper as viewed from the parkway compared to from the top of liberty!
 

MichaelJ

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That's a beautiful loop hike. Congrats on getting through the majority of the hike with good (albeit hot and hazy) weather.

My recollection of the Flume Slide in the winter is that there's a lot of exposed rock; it would not be skiable. But then again, there are people who ski the North Slide of Tripyramid so anything is possible.

You can avoid that miserable 0.6 miles of the so-called Whitehouse Trail by just stepping through about 10' of grass and shrubs at the edge of the parking lot and walking the bike path to where the trail rejoins it. Just stay out of the way of bikes (and in the winter, be super, super-cautious of snowmobiles).
 
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