Another really cold day (about 14°F) with 20mph gusts. Hiking through the woods seemed like a better way to stay warm than sitting on a chair lift. We decided to hike around in the Flume Gorge area.

Flume Gorge is at the southern end of Franconia State Park near the base of Mt. Flume. In the summer it is operated as an attraction by the state. Besides the fact that so many things are prettier in the winter, there are also fewer people and no entrance fees.

As it’s a tourist attraction in the summer, it obviously is not a very strenuous or challenging walk. We walked a loop that consisted of the Flume Path, Rim Path, Ridge Path, and Wildwood Path. Our total distance including some spurs and wandering was 2.75 miles in about 1.5 hours. Today we, again, opted for microspikes. It is late in the season so the snow is naturally packed down and there is a reasonable amount of foot traffic to pack it further. That being said, both Eileen and I post-holed a couple of times when we weren’t paying attention to the path.

The walk started at the northern end of the Flume parking lot. We started (heading north) on the Franconia Notch bike path (which in the winter you share with snowmobilers). About 150 yards in at the STOP sign, turn right. Walk down the path around the vehicle gate to the end. Turn right at the T intersection and then left at the next STOP sign (roughly behind the main visitor building). This trail follows the river (the Flume Brook, which drains into the Pemigewasset) towards the gorge.

The whole trip took us about 1.5 hours. The total ascent was 580 feet which averaged over a bit over a mile (one way) is relatively mild (although everything is always a little harder in snow).