Parker Mountain

 Straightforward out and back on Parker Mountain today to the view ledges and back. 

Strava Activity

Burke Mountain

 Some members of acidotic RACING and I had the privilege thanks to one of our teammates of camping on his families property on the Kingdom Trails in Lyndonville, VT. The land we camp on is just near the Chapel of the Holy Family which is an unbelieve little chapel overlooking the beauty that is the Northeast Kingdom. One of my favorite places on Earth. Camping is not my thing, but being in this place is so very special to me. I had tried once before to hike Burke Mountain, but had not brought the correct footwear.. even though I had gone and purchased some cheap sneakers, I had trouble finding the trailhead, and once I did.. ventured a few hundred yards down before turning around. It hadn't felt right. Fast forward to now, and I'm back at Burke Mountain Resort again, ready to take on the mountain. The majority of trails at Burke Mountain are mountain biking trails (during the Summer) but there are some designated trails that allow hiking as well. I started on the Red Trail from the parking lot, which meanders through the woods for just under a mile before briefly merging with Kirby Connector (one of the MTB trails) and then turning left and heading up the mountain. The trails are steep, but are remarkably smooth (again thanks to doubling as MTB trails) and today was very humid, so I got sweaty quickly! At just over 1.5 miles from the car, the trail forks and I decided to take the right branch onto West Peak Trail and make a loop over the summit. The trail continued to climb but was still great footing. At about the 2.5 mile mark, West Peak Trail ended and Profile Trail continued on up and around the summit to the fire tower. This was really the only section that was somewhat more technical. Some peekaboo views started to open up. I climbed the fire tower and the views were 360 degrees and just incredible. You could see for miles. Into Canada, into New Hampshire and of course the gorgeous countryside of the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. The views over to Willoughby Gap were the most impressive. The only downside is there is also a communications tower on the summit, so one side is marred with that structure.. but that doesn't detract from the beauty everywhere else! Back down the tower, I followed the path out to the road and the top of the toll road that you can pay to drive up and looked down the ski trails before re-entering the woods and picking up the Red Trail, which I followed all the way back down. 

Strava Activity

Starting out on Red Trail from the parking lot

continuing on Red Trail off Kirby Connector

one of the more technical sections

Willoughby Gap

heading back down

top of the ski trails

looking at Burke from our campsite

Flume Gorge

 I've seen so many articles and pictures of the Flume Gorge in Franconia Notch State Park, I decided today we'd go check it out. Bonus there are 2 registered covered bridges within the park that I could grab pictures of for my collection as well. We followed the 2 mile walking path around the perimeter of the park starting on the Flume Path, turning onto Ridge Path, then Wildwood Path back to the Visitors Center. The path is mostly hard packed dirt, smooth footing with some wooden walkway mixed in. Super pretty area, we really enjoyed it. I can imagine in Spring with snow melt and the water flowing it must be pretty spectacular. In Winter with everything frozen must be pretty special too. 

Strava Activity

Great Boulder

Flume Covered Bridge

Table Rock

Avalanche Falls

Cascade Falls

The Pool

Sentinel Pine Covered Bridge

view from the middle of the bridge

Wolfs Den

Liberty & Flume from the park

Liberty, Flume and Whaleback from the Visitors Center

Mt Liberty

Although I had been over Mt Liberty on my Pemi Loop attempt last year, I didn't remember too much of it, and Karen needed it for her quest for the 48.. so we headed up to Franconia. We started on the Whitehouse Trail which is a nice, gentle 0.8 miles down to the Pemi River. After crossing the river, the Liberty Spring Trail starts a gentle climb before it goes up, up and up. It's a technical, rocky climb that took just about all I had out of me. I was so focused on trying to preserve my energy, I didn't take any pictures on the ascent at all! The trail was a little wet with quite a bit of mud and slick rocks, but with care there were no issues. A couple miles before reaching the ridge is the Liberty Springs campsite. We didn't go and explore but continued on up to Franconia Ridge Trail. You can see the summit from this point, so that last couple of tenths wasn't too bad. As has been the trend when I hike with Karen unfortunately, it was rather overcast with low cloud, so the views weren't all that great. Just a few peeks here and there as the clouds moved around. Of course once we were down and could see back up, it appeared crystal clear! We stopped and enjoyed a brief snack before heading back down the way we came up. We passed a large group of teenagers that must have been part of a camp group or something as we turned back onto Liberty Spring Trail and I was grateful for our timing as the summit isn't that large and it would have been rather crowded had we all been up there at the same time. The climb back down did me in. I was so grateful to have hiking poles as my quads all but gave out on me and the poles were the only thing keeping me upright! I couldn't even feel my legs by the time I got down. It was very slow going... but we made it and I was never so thankful to see the car! 

Strava Activity