Tom Rankin
Well-known member
Not for me, but for Laurie! 
We left Boston at about 8:30 on Thursday, after meeting with Alpinista the night before, at the Salem Beer Works.
We were on the trail up to LLH by about 11:00. It was dry, but clouds still obscured the peaks. In spite of all the people at the dock, and in the hut, we were the first people to check in. The croo girl said she was glad to see some 'real hikers' come up to the hut.
We dropped off our extra gear and headed around the lake to the Kinsman's Ridge trail. The path up to Canon is very steep on this side and it was a little slippery. We made it up, but Laurie noticed that she had lost a basket on her pole. We mentioned this to one group that passed us going down.
At the summit, the weather had cleared off enough to see in all directions. Lafayette stood across the valley, along with his 'little' brothers. We used the Alidade on the platform to sight various peaks in all directions. The platform was occupied by a large varitey of people, almost all of whom had taken the tram up.
We enjoyed the views and the stiff breeze for a while, and then headed back down the way we came. At the junction, there was the missing basket, right on top of the trail sign! We made a quick detour up NE cannonball. The views from here were limited, but it was still a nice day. Back we went down to the hut for a quick dip in the COLD water, a fabulous dinner, stargazing at the doc, (lead by yours truly), and then a good night's sleep, mercifully w/o any snorers!
The next morning we had a delicious breakfast, and headed out by about 8:00 to do the Kinsman peaks. We stopped briefly at Kinsman Pond, a body of water reminiscent of Avalanche Lake in the ADKs. At this point a man introduced himself to us as JohnS, who recognized me from my picture here on VFTT! We spent the next few hours hiking together.
After a seemingly brief walk, (I guess we were talking a lot!) we were at the summit of North Kinsman. We met a few thru hikers here, who were on a rock near the summit. We went down to a ledge beyond the rock, and could see the pond, appearing almost straight down below us. The views today were even better than the day before. We could see Mansfield and Camel's Hump in the West, and tons of White mountains in the east.
After a brief stop, we headed over to South Kinsman. It was pretty easy going to get over there too. There are 2 bumps very close together, and each appears lower from the other! But we decided the one with the larger cairn must be the true summit. We hung out here for a while and had a snack. After this, we retraced our steps down to the Lake, Picked up our extra gear, and walked down to the road. There were 2 cold 'Frostbites' waiting for us in the trunk! mmmmmmmmmmm
We left Boston at about 8:30 on Thursday, after meeting with Alpinista the night before, at the Salem Beer Works.
We were on the trail up to LLH by about 11:00. It was dry, but clouds still obscured the peaks. In spite of all the people at the dock, and in the hut, we were the first people to check in. The croo girl said she was glad to see some 'real hikers' come up to the hut.
We dropped off our extra gear and headed around the lake to the Kinsman's Ridge trail. The path up to Canon is very steep on this side and it was a little slippery. We made it up, but Laurie noticed that she had lost a basket on her pole. We mentioned this to one group that passed us going down.
At the summit, the weather had cleared off enough to see in all directions. Lafayette stood across the valley, along with his 'little' brothers. We used the Alidade on the platform to sight various peaks in all directions. The platform was occupied by a large varitey of people, almost all of whom had taken the tram up.
We enjoyed the views and the stiff breeze for a while, and then headed back down the way we came. At the junction, there was the missing basket, right on top of the trail sign! We made a quick detour up NE cannonball. The views from here were limited, but it was still a nice day. Back we went down to the hut for a quick dip in the COLD water, a fabulous dinner, stargazing at the doc, (lead by yours truly), and then a good night's sleep, mercifully w/o any snorers!
The next morning we had a delicious breakfast, and headed out by about 8:00 to do the Kinsman peaks. We stopped briefly at Kinsman Pond, a body of water reminiscent of Avalanche Lake in the ADKs. At this point a man introduced himself to us as JohnS, who recognized me from my picture here on VFTT! We spent the next few hours hiking together.
After a seemingly brief walk, (I guess we were talking a lot!) we were at the summit of North Kinsman. We met a few thru hikers here, who were on a rock near the summit. We went down to a ledge beyond the rock, and could see the pond, appearing almost straight down below us. The views today were even better than the day before. We could see Mansfield and Camel's Hump in the West, and tons of White mountains in the east.
After a brief stop, we headed over to South Kinsman. It was pretty easy going to get over there too. There are 2 bumps very close together, and each appears lower from the other!
But we decided the one with the larger cairn must be the true summit. We hung out here for a while and had a snack. After this, we retraced our steps down to the Lake, Picked up our extra gear, and walked down to the road. There were 2 cold 'Frostbites' waiting for us in the trunk! mmmmmmmmmmm
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