10/14/01
Trip 2 to Mount Flume 4328’

11.2 miles 3150’ Elevation gain

Kevin Judy and Emma

Having finished my 48 on the Wildcats a few weeks earlier it was apparent Jude and Emma would now have to finish, also. Jude had just nine left, Emma still had twenty. We decided to knock off as many as we could before winter set in. Niether Jude nor Emma had been to the summit of Mount Flume, so we decided to start there. We decided to take the Osseo Trail because we had all been to the summit of Mount Liberty and did not like the idea of climbing the vertical Liberty Spring Trail to cross over and get Mount Flume. The Flume Slide Trail was also out of the question as we have an aversion to any trail with the word “slide” in its name after our experience on the North and South Slides on the Tripyramids. Although a bit longer the Osseo Trail proved to be a good choice as there is a long warm up on the Wilderness Trail out of Lincoln Woods to prepare your legs for the climb. My leg is feeling better but still no where near 100 %. At this point I’ve been playing hockey again, if thats any indication of wellness. Lincoln Woods were beautiful and we soon made the turn west onto the Osseo Trail and began to climb. The trail is pretty much unremarkable but we enjoy the time in the forest as there are still excellent foliage colors in the hardwoods of the lower forests on the eastern slope of Mount Flume. As we rise and the hardwood forest gives way to evergreens we begin to catch glimpses of the terrain to our east. Eventually the trail comes to a series of “ladders”. These are really steep stairs. From here we can stop and get a good look around and can see the Bonds and Twins to our northeast. soon we come out on the shoulder of the mountain just below the summit. We can now see to our south and west. Franconia Notch is layed out below us and we can see across to the Kinsmans and northwest to Cannon. THere are layers of clouds below us and somr orographic lifting above the summit of South Kinsman. As we scramble up the craggy way to the summit the view to the north reveals the entire Franconia Ridge before us. Mounts Liberty, Little Haystack, Mount Lincoln and Mount Lafayette. The ridge then turns back to the east and becomes the Garfield Ridge with Mount Garfield and Galehead and the Twin Mountains rising above them. Further to the northeast and on the horizon we can see the Presidentials playing their usual hide and seek game with the clouds. To the east is a commanding view of the Bonds and Carrigain in the distance. After leaving the Wilderness Trail we were alone until we hit the summit. Here there were several hikers, but not too many to make it uncomfortable, unusual for such a beautiful fall day in the Whites. An obliging hiker took our picture, you can see I’m still wearing a huge knee brace. We stayed at Moosebrook State Park again on this trip and pretty much had it to ourselves, which is what we like. This makes 59 mountains over 4000 feet I have actually climbed at this point. This includes 3 summits of Lafayette, the Osceolas, Jefferson Madison, and Liberty all twice, Saddleback and Pamola in Maine and Mount Mitchell in North Carolina. Now that I have my 48 I have put the actual number of 4000 footers I have below.
K(59) J(40) E(29)