Saturday, December 9
Start: Falling Waters TH
Finish: Liberty Springs TH
Miles: 12.96
Elevation gain/loss: 5679′
In order to fit in the two hikes I needed to do today, I started very early in the dark. I made my way up the Old Bridle Path from the parking lot, carrying my snowshoes on my back with spikes on my feet. The trail was well packed and I enjoyed the smoothness of the path with no rocks. As I got close to Greenleaf hut, the sun rose and gave me beautiful undercast views of the ridge. It was remarkably warm and I was able to summit Lafayette with only a long-sleeve shirt, wind shirt, glove liners, and thin running pants.
I ran into a few other people on the ridge even that early, and expect it was very busy later in the day. I made my way across Lincoln and over to Little Haystack. I was delighted to find the 1.8 AT miles between the Fallings Waters intersection and the Liberty Springs intersection was firm enough to warrent only spikes. At the Liberty Springs intersection, I dropped my snowshoes behind a tree and went over to tag Liberty and Flume. It was a sunny, blue sky day – perfect conditions! On my way over to Flume, I saw a few familiar faces and stopped to say hi.
On my way down Liberty Springs, I made really good time and enjoyed the descent with all the rocks covered by snow. As I got close to the Basin parking lot turn off, I solicited a ride back to my car from another hiker. He said sure, and I hiked with him over to the Liberty Springs parking area. It still cut off a few miles of hiking for me, and I was thankful for the extra time.
