rocksnrolls
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The plan for this Sunday of hiking was to do the Tripyramids. Scheduled to join was me, Jade, Lattinhill (all of which needed these peaks for our 48 lists) and Dugan 2-Legs for her first return to the Whites since last year 
due to Dugan 4-Legs' well-chronicled leg surgery. Dugan and I planned to do the north slide while Jade and Lattinhill (and their hikin' pooches) headed up via Scaur. If the weather was good, we planned to traverse the Sleepers and then descend via Downes Brook. Well, sadly Jade had to cancel at the last minute due to a variety of personal issues. The rest of us decided to save this hike for a later day and planned to instead head over to bag Owl's Head, which Jade had done some time in the past. So Lattinhill (and Maya) camped overnight in the Pemi and planned to meet us at the 2nd bridge. Dugan and I arrived at Lincoln Woods at 7 to find them at their car. Seems the water levels were very high and the weather was taking a turn for the worse - intermitent downpours and chance of thunderstorms . So we decided to head into Woodstock and have some breakfast at Peg's and consider our options.
As Lattinihill chowed down on blueberry-covered pancakes and sausage, Dugan and I enjoyed some hot chocolate (we had breakfast sandwiches on the way north). We wanted to do a hike without too much in the way of stream crossings so after much discussion decided on the Kinsmans from the west via the less travelled Mt Kinsman Tr. Lattinhill still needed both summits for his list, and I needed one for my Trailwright's list. The more-experienced Dugan had never come at them from the west, so it was interesting for all of us. Dugan and I thought about doing a traverse coming out Reel Brook Tr, but by the time we checked out the hard-to-drive-up trailhead we had reconsidered and decided on an out-and-back instead.
On the way over there we had a cool encounter with a young male moose that was wandering the road, and then later a turkey crossing the road, leading me to wonder if that mountain to our left should be called "Moositurkey" .
After driving past the trailhead, we doubled back and I managed to remember the unmarked stone gate where the trail started. I later found out from my records that I had been there before almost exactly one year early - 7/3/05! The weather would turn out to be much better on this day. Last time was very hot and the bugs were in full force. I had barely been able to stop and rest without getting eaten alive last time. This time it was cool and damp, nice light breezes were found up high and the bugs were barely noticible on the way up. The clouds had the views obscurred at the North summit but by the time we had gotten to South it had cleared up some and we were treated to wonderful views of Franconia Ridge and the valley between. Unfortunately the sun coming out and heating up the trail led to more bug bites, but we tried to not let it bother us too much.
On the initial ascent we stopped at the Flume where I took some photos. It was much more impressive than the last time I had been there! We then stopped at Bald Knob for a snack, enjoying the views available at this halfway point. At one point while we noshed Maya went tearing off barking at something, but we were unable to figure out what she had spotted.
The Mt Kinsman Tr is quite nice. Mostly moderate in steepness, lots of soft dirt to walk on interspersed with rocks and roots. A little wet at times and the three stream crossings were gushing nicely, but we managed to cross without difficulty. The Kinsman Ridge Tr was much more difficult. There's quite a few scrambly slabs to contend with and they were usually wet, but by taking our time we managed to hike it both ways without too many problems. Maya was quite impressive with her ability to handle the slabs.
On our way back from the South summit we stopped for a snack at the lookout. Dugan checked out a herd path that was off to the left and followed it down to a lower viewpoint where you could get a great view of Kinsman Pond. She had been to that viewpoint some years ago but had forgotten where it was exactly, so was thrilled to have relocated it. I followed her over there and got a few pictures.
The descent back down Mt Kinsman Tr was great. The trail had dried up some since our ascent and we made really good time. I had a little slip off a wet slab between the 2nd and 3rd crossing, giving myself a few nice shin scrapes and banging up the base of one of my thumbs. I've gotta learn to pay more attention at the end of the day. Seems like my falls always come when the day's almost done We stopped at the last crossing and I washed off the dirt and the scraped turned out to not be too bad. Didn't even bleed after I washed off.
Near the end, past the sugar shack and a place where someone had been using a portable lumber mill, there's a spot where a hillside has been dug out and I spotted some metal shapes up behind it. Turned out to be a couple old motors that Lattinhill surmised had been used long ago in a lumbermilling process. Hopefully he'll chime in with more info on them.
After a dinner that took longer than we had hoped, Dugan and I had one last animal encounter. A little while before we got back to her place a fawn darted out in front of us. She says it was probably about a month old. I had never seen such a young deer before. Good thing my car's got great breaks, or there might have been a tragedy She was sure I was going to hit it!
Well, not exactly what we had thought the weekend was going to be like, but it was fun anyways. I recommend the Mt kinsman Tr to anyone who's looking for a more secluded route to the Kinsmans. We only saw 5 other people all day, and they were all seen on the Ridge Tr.
due to Dugan 4-Legs' well-chronicled leg surgery. Dugan and I planned to do the north slide while Jade and Lattinhill (and their hikin' pooches) headed up via Scaur. If the weather was good, we planned to traverse the Sleepers and then descend via Downes Brook. Well, sadly Jade had to cancel at the last minute due to a variety of personal issues. The rest of us decided to save this hike for a later day and planned to instead head over to bag Owl's Head, which Jade had done some time in the past. So Lattinhill (and Maya) camped overnight in the Pemi and planned to meet us at the 2nd bridge. Dugan and I arrived at Lincoln Woods at 7 to find them at their car. Seems the water levels were very high and the weather was taking a turn for the worse - intermitent downpours and chance of thunderstorms . So we decided to head into Woodstock and have some breakfast at Peg's and consider our options.As Lattinihill chowed down on blueberry-covered pancakes and sausage, Dugan and I enjoyed some hot chocolate (we had breakfast sandwiches on the way north). We wanted to do a hike without too much in the way of stream crossings so after much discussion decided on the Kinsmans from the west via the less travelled Mt Kinsman Tr. Lattinhill still needed both summits for his list, and I needed one for my Trailwright's list. The more-experienced Dugan had never come at them from the west, so it was interesting for all of us. Dugan and I thought about doing a traverse coming out Reel Brook Tr, but by the time we checked out the hard-to-drive-up trailhead we had reconsidered and decided on an out-and-back instead.
On the way over there we had a cool encounter with a young male moose that was wandering the road, and then later a turkey crossing the road, leading me to wonder if that mountain to our left should be called "Moositurkey"
.After driving past the trailhead, we doubled back and I managed to remember the unmarked stone gate where the trail started. I later found out from my records that I had been there before almost exactly one year early - 7/3/05! The weather would turn out to be much better on this day. Last time was very hot and the bugs were in full force. I had barely been able to stop and rest without getting eaten alive last time. This time it was cool and damp, nice light breezes were found up high and the bugs were barely noticible on the way up. The clouds had the views obscurred at the North summit but by the time we had gotten to South it had cleared up some and we were treated to wonderful views of Franconia Ridge and the valley between. Unfortunately the sun coming out and heating up the trail led to more bug bites, but we tried to not let it bother us too much.
On the initial ascent we stopped at the Flume where I took some photos. It was much more impressive than the last time I had been there! We then stopped at Bald Knob for a snack, enjoying the views available at this halfway point. At one point while we noshed Maya went tearing off barking at something, but we were unable to figure out what she had spotted.
The Mt Kinsman Tr is quite nice. Mostly moderate in steepness, lots of soft dirt to walk on interspersed with rocks and roots. A little wet at times and the three stream crossings were gushing nicely, but we managed to cross without difficulty. The Kinsman Ridge Tr was much more difficult. There's quite a few scrambly slabs to contend with and they were usually wet, but by taking our time we managed to hike it both ways without too many problems. Maya was quite impressive with her ability to handle the slabs.
On our way back from the South summit we stopped for a snack at the lookout. Dugan checked out a herd path that was off to the left and followed it down to a lower viewpoint where you could get a great view of Kinsman Pond. She had been to that viewpoint some years ago but had forgotten where it was exactly, so was thrilled to have relocated it. I followed her over there and got a few pictures.
The descent back down Mt Kinsman Tr was great. The trail had dried up some since our ascent and we made really good time. I had a little slip off a wet slab between the 2nd and 3rd crossing, giving myself a few nice shin scrapes and banging up the base of one of my thumbs. I've gotta learn to pay more attention at the end of the day. Seems like my falls always come when the day's almost done
We stopped at the last crossing and I washed off the dirt and the scraped turned out to not be too bad. Didn't even bleed after I washed off.Near the end, past the sugar shack and a place where someone had been using a portable lumber mill, there's a spot where a hillside has been dug out and I spotted some metal shapes up behind it. Turned out to be a couple old motors that Lattinhill surmised had been used long ago in a lumbermilling process. Hopefully he'll chime in with more info on them.
After a dinner that took longer than we had hoped, Dugan and I had one last animal encounter. A little while before we got back to her place a fawn darted out in front of us. She says it was probably about a month old. I had never seen such a young deer before. Good thing my car's got great breaks, or there might have been a tragedy
She was sure I was going to hit it!Well, not exactly what we had thought the weekend was going to be like, but it was fun anyways. I recommend the Mt kinsman Tr to anyone who's looking for a more secluded route to the Kinsmans. We only saw 5 other people all day, and they were all seen on the Ridge Tr.
