One of the many advantages of the new AMC maps (and the National Geographic maps derived from them), with the position of the trails accurately plotted using GPS data, is that they suggest shortcuts that are not evident on the older maps. A case in point is the Liberty Spring Trail. It is possible to save quite a bit of distance (0.7 miles each way) by bushwhacking down from the hairpin bend, very clear both on the map and on the trail, to the bike path just south of the Basin parking lot.
The White Mountain Guide describes the bend as follows:
At 0.4 miles it turns sharp right, joining the old main logging road from the former Whitehouse mill ...
In summer, when going down, that old logging road is very clear. One day two of my friends were engaged in a very interesting conversation and missed the turn on the way down, following the abandoned logging road for a couple of minutes before realizing that they were off the trail! Ever since I had, in the back of my mind, a plan to follow that road one day. A look at the AMC map suggests that it leads to the bike path somewhere south of the Basin parking lot.
Several summers ago, while maintaining my section of the Franconia Ridge Trail between Little Haystack and the Liberty Spring Trail, I stopped at the campsite to chat with the caretaker. When I told him that I had come up the Falling Waters Trail and had gone over the ridge he mentioned the old logging road, which would save me maybe half a mile of walking along the bike path.
I found the old logging road quite easy to follow going down. The corridor is still clearly discernible, even though young trees are growing in it, and there is a fairly clear tread. However, it ends a couple of hundred feet before the bike path in a marshy area which makes it hard to find going uphill.
On February 28th, 2004, I decided to try it out in winter. The tread was, of course, not visible, but in spite of the new growth in the middle of the old road the corridor itself was quite apparent. The snow was more consolidated than I had expected, making it a very easy and fun "bushwhack". I reached the bike path about five minutes south of the Basin.
On March 14th, 2005, I found it broken out by what appeared to be a solitary hiker, and followed it down to the bike path. Less fun than the previous year, since there was no route finding involved, but still a pleasant diversion. Low down I noticed a very clear furrow diverging from the broken tracks, apparently made by an earlier hiker. Exploring it, I found firm footing under, so it clearly was a hiking track. This suggests that this shortcut gets some regular use. Responses to my posting on the AMC Trail Conditions forum confirm that it is moderately well known and used.
On November 19th, 2005, I revisited the shortcut on a day when I did not want to do any serious hiking, but still wanted to go out and play in the woods. I had recently bought a GPS receiver, and wanted to record the track going downhill, then try to follow it back uphill.
I parked at the traditional Liberty Spring trailhead, and took the Whitehouse Trail, then the Liberty Spring Trail to the hairpin bend. The remains of the logging road seemed less clear than my writeup implied; it may be that regrowth has really obscuring the old road, or that "clear" is in the eye of the beholder. Still I had no difficulty staying on something like an old road, and reached the bike path at basically the same point as on my previous trips.
On the return journey I wandered around a bit, looking for other possibilities, but eventually moved back towards my recorded track, reaching the clear upper part of the old logging road. The woods are very open in this area, and with my GPS receiver I would have had no problem reaching the trail directly.