Mount Liberty

The classic loop hike for Liberty is up the Flume Slide Trail, Franconia Ride over Flume to Liberty, then down the Liberty Spring Trail. The shortest and easiest route is up and down Liberty Spring. All routes are scenic and summit views are excellent.

Routes

Franconia Ridge Trail

17 summits • 20.0 mi • 6,229 ft gain • 11 hr 27 min

Old Bridle Path to Greenleaf Trail to Franconia Ridge Trail

6 summits • 9.9 mi • 3,433 ft gain

Mount Liberty 9.7 mi route

1 summit • 9.7 mi • 3,366 ft gain • 7 hr 17 min

Latest summits

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"Day 3 of a quick 4-day trip to the Whites with Ed, Larry and Tom. Our original plan was ascend via the Flume Slide trail and descend on the AT/Liberty Springs trail. Because of recent rains we switched to ascending the Liberty Springs trail and then taking the Osseo down to the Lincoln Woods trail. Playing it safe and we still got to red line a new trail, the Osseo. As we reached the top of Liberty the low cloud drifted off revealing the great views while we had our lunch with a young woman from Montreal. After a short drop and an shorter climb we were on top of Flume for more views and pics. The Osseo started off with some quick drops and ladder structures then mellowed nicely for an easy stroll down to the Lincoln Woods “rail” trail. In Lincoln we shivered our way through large bowls of ice cream while bundled up in the low 50* temp then headed off for warm showers at the Notch Hostel." — Nimblefoot • Oct 3, 2019

"Liberty and Flume had been on our list for years, and the idea of taking the Flume Slide Trail had been off the table for almost just as long. (We're just not that adventurous.) So the hike was planned as a two peak out-and-back via the Liberty Spring and Franconia Ridge trails. [Best and closest parking: hiker lot just past the Flume Gorge Visitor Center, heading north on rt 3. From there, hike 0.6 miles on the Pemi Tr, which empties onto the Whitehouse Tr (paved bike path), and comes to a signed junction with Liberty Spring Tr a few minutes later.] The temperature was good that day, ranging from low 60's to high 70's (colder on one summit), but the air was thick with humidity as the mountain prepared for, and later revelled in, the expected morning rain. We embraced it too, as nature's cooling agent, and kept moving, knowing the weather would clear. After the rain petered out, we could see a fair amount of steam rising from the earth and from each other. (Yes, White Mountains, we see your rain forest impersonation. It's very good.) Liberty Spring Tr was consistently rocky and often steep, but void of scrambles, and beautifully surrounded by somewhat open forest. 0.3 miles afte..." — gooner • Aug 16, 2019

"A Liberty and Flume kind of day. Weather not the greatest, so wanted something slightly shorter. Doug joined me for this one. There was one spot below Liberty where the wind chill was brutal. The summit was milder. Nothing to see on Liberty or Flume today. " — newenglandwarrior • Jan 27, 2019

"Franconia ridge traverse....amazing day with clear skies...relatively warm! We realized during our hike to the last mountains that our car spot key was forgotten in the first car....so we had to backtrack to liberty again and head down liberty springs and road walk on the bike path for a few miles to get to our car...still an amazing day! Just a little longer than intended!" — shay-shay • Mar 25, 2018

"Great winter hike in the White Mountains, Was able to take a short cut from the Basin parking lot and save a mile round frip. Was a cloudy, snowy day, but the forest was a awesome winter wonderland! " — blackwolf_03278 • Mar 11, 2018

"Went up Liberty Springs, then over to Flume and back. Trails were in pretty good condition, solid snow pack. Some ice on top half of Liberty Springs near the tent site. First trip over Liberty summit, we were socked in the clouds. But it started to clear when we were eating lunch on Flume and had much nicer views from Liberty when we returned. Enjoyed seeing several crossbill birds at Liberty's summit." — Alohabuffy • Mar 4, 2018

"It was a beautiful day to knock out Liberty and Flume. I was fearful of the Flume Slide Trail, so I went the way of doing an out-and-back up the Liberty Spring Trail. It was nice easy climb until the major brook crossing (roaring from all the rain over the weekend but still passable via a moderately challenging rock hop). From there, it was a relentless climb up to the tentsite and ridge. Amazing panoramas stretched all around me on the summit. Loved the hike up. I would definitely consider doing this hike again up to the Liberty summit." — HikeLikeMike • Jul 4, 2017

"Franconia Ridge hike with Meetup Group... Trails: Old Bridle Path, Franconia Ridge Trail, Liberty Springs Trail Parking: Cars at The Basin and cars at Old Bridle Path Snow covered trails up to summits, a few icy patches, slushy patches and bare rock…throw in some mud in a few places and voila! SPRING! Water crossings: Lots on Liberty Springs all open…we had to get our boots wet quite a bit Dogs…just a few, all well behaved Traction: Spikes up, and in between a few places and some bare booting. We carried our snowshoes all day. Lost & Found: broken glasses on Liberty (PEOPLE, PICK UP YOUR CRAP!)" — shay-shay • Apr 15, 2017

"This was a Liberty and Flume hike for my Grid and 5th loop. Denise and Nick tagged along for the first peak. It was great to be hiking with them, even if they had been idle for awhile and were feeling it. We went up Liberty Springs Tr and reached Liberty. Beautiful day with great views. " — newenglandwarrior • Apr 9, 2017

"Quick hike up to liberty....post a 7 day in bed flu! I was to decide at the summit if I had the energy to make it to the flume. I was definitely lagging and worried about making it due to the lack of energy and heavy legs but reaching this glorious summit put energy back in my body. We were going to hit flume as well but just as we were heading down off the back of liberty big black clouds were quickly coming in. We decided to head back up to liberty to access the weather as we knew rain was possible after 4p....but it looked to be coming early. I had rid my pack of all extras today because of my illness and not wanting to carry anything non-essential....and that meant my hardshell didnt make the cut. So we chose to descend instead and save the flume for another day." — shay-shay • Feb 19, 2017

"Went up Liberty Springs, hit Liberty on way to Flume and Lincoln Woods. Temps were cool, 30s. Mostly sunny but a very tough wind on Liberty. Wind decreased by the time we got to Flume. Needed spikes descending Liberty, some good ice there." — Alohabuffy • Nov 13, 2016

"A solo Franconia Ridge Traverse. Parked my car at the Falling Waters TH, walked down the Franconia Bike Path, then went up Liberty Springs Tr, eventually reaching Liberty. Had the summit to myself for 15 min, at noontime. Unheard of. Beautiful sunny day." — newenglandwarrior • May 26, 2016

"See Flume report for more detail. Great day up on the ridge! Fresh snow, wind (lots of it) and cold weather had this feeling like a real winter hike..unfortunately, I didn't count toward my winter 48 since it's ONE DAY short. Damn." — npweeks • Dec 20, 2015

"I took the Liberty Spring Trail, after parking at the Flume Visitor Center, by the bike path. This was my dog Kali's 1st 4000 footer. We met several NOBO thru hikers and a few Pemi Loop hikers, s well as some day hikers. Since it was Kali's first really big hike, I carried my tent and prepared to camp at the Liberty Spring Campsite depending on how we were doing after summiting both Mt. Liberty and Mt. Flume. We stopped a lot to drink water and to rest and eat a bite or two, then arrived at the campsite, where some of the thru hikers we'd met were resting. After dumping our packs in the bear box, we continued on to the summit of Mt. Liberty where we met a woman with a dog hanging out. The dogs were very happy to meet each other. We took some pictures of each other at the summit. I took pictures of her and her dog with my phone, but forgot to get her email address to send them to her. Then Kali and I started out for Mt. Flume. We descended a short way then encountered a rather spooky slab of rock that slanted , had a big drop off on one side, and required a fairly long jump onto another slanted rock slab. Kali was acting a little nervous and I decided not to try it. We hea..." — Hufflepuff • Aug 31, 2015

"Part of a Franconia Ridge Traverse with Denise Fredette and Nick Montecalvo. The third peak of the day. We went up Old Bridal Path and came down Osseo Tr with a car spot set up. Incredible day to be out. " — newenglandwarrior • Jul 17, 2015

"Climbed up via my flume and across to liberty. Beautiful day, great conditions and a lot of people on the mtn. Descending the liberty springs trail was a cakewalk compared to the flume side trail. Good idea to bring a water filter for the springs site." — Dony85 • Jul 26, 2014

"I was liberated on Liberty! Grand finale finish of my NH 48 4Ks. It took about 10 months but it is complete! I enjoyed doing Flume and Liberty together and celebrated with friends and family on top!" — Jocelyn • Aug 24, 2013

"Decided to add some mileage and some elevation gain in preparation for a hike we're doing in a couple of weeks. Started out quite foggy and windy with the Franconia Ridge 'socked in', but by the time we got to the Ridge the fog had lifted. " — markst-john • Aug 10, 2013

"The trek from Mt Flume was tiring as my legs had used up a lot of energy coming from the Flume Slide. The views were much more impressive on Liberty and it was a beautiful day. The trek down was long and pretty standard. We enjoyed talking with the caretaker and another hiker at the water source next to Liberty tent site. " — beaglelover • Aug 20, 2012

"made it to our second peak of the day! (Flume was first). Liberty Springs Trail was a really great moderate trail top to bottom. Liberty's summit was spectacular- we saw for miles and miles, and th winds were less harsh than on Flume. " — CiccheMariti • Jun 29, 2012