Double Bow
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- Apr 29, 2005
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On Monday of last week, my friend Sadie and I decided to brave the elements and give the Kinsmans a try. We had originally been planning on doing the Wildcats but, the weather, my experience on Tecumseh the day before, and the fact that we both had to work the next day made us change our plans. Sadie is working on the first round of her 48 and she had been wanting to do the Kinsmans for awhile so, that's where we went. I had been wanting to visit a hut in winter so, it was a good fit.
We left Lafayette Place with crampons on in the bitter cold and wind. We were glad to get climbing and working up some heat, especially Sadie since she has Renauds. Once we built up a little warmth, we promptly started goofing around making jokes and telling stories. Before I knew it, we were at Lonesome Lake Hut and were greated by a snowman wearing a pool float and a grass skirt!
We went inside and hung out for a bit enjoying a snack and talking. It was really warm in there. Of course, this was because the hut was filled with boy scouts and people cooking. In the hut, someone recognized me. It was my friend Avery who works hut croo in the summer. She had come by to pay a visit to the caretaker. That was fun too. What wasn't fun was prying the frozen lid off the frozen toilet seat!
With that <ahem> business taken care of, we continued down(?) Fishin' Jimmy and Sadie doubted that we were going the right way. Soon though, we got climbing. On the way in, I commented about how a lot of people don't like that trail because of all the ups and downs but, I really like the varied terrain. We also agreed that in winter often the best views are those on and/or of the trail. It sure was a beautiful day out there that day.
After we got up to the ridge and the juction with the Kinsman Pond Trail, we took a break to adjust layers. Avery came up from behind and called to me, scaring the life out of Sadie! Avery had me take a picture of her and her friend before they went down KPT (which I cautioned them about). Sadie and I then continued up to North Kinsman where we were greated by strong winds and no view. We stayed there for about five minutes before pushing on. My hands had gotten cold and I knew Sadie's were worse. The only solution was to keep pushing harder!
Soon, we were both toasty again and pushing hard toward South Kinsman all the while joking and laughing about how nuts we are. When we reached South Kinsman, it wasn't too bad and the summit area was beautiful (though smaller than I had remembered from my visit in '03). As we were leaving though the winds picked up even more! As we raced along the ridge, the wind was blowing through the trees and I couldn't wait to start down Fishin' Jimmy. My hands were getting cold.
As we started down Fishin' Jimmy, my shin started telling me that I had one of my plastic boots on too tight. However, I didn't want to stop and take off my outer glove so, I played through the pain until we got back to the hut. This time, we had the hut to outselves and hung out for about 45min talking, snacking, and relaxing. With a losened boot, we started back down without putting our crampons back on. As we left the hut behind, we started getting views of Franconia Ridge through the trees.
Once back down, we reflected on how great the climb was, how nuts we were and how much fun we had. At the end of the day Sadie commented that she thinks that winter hiking is great but that she also thinks that in the future she might not go out when 100mph winds are forecasted for Washington!
We left Lafayette Place with crampons on in the bitter cold and wind. We were glad to get climbing and working up some heat, especially Sadie since she has Renauds. Once we built up a little warmth, we promptly started goofing around making jokes and telling stories. Before I knew it, we were at Lonesome Lake Hut and were greated by a snowman wearing a pool float and a grass skirt!
We went inside and hung out for a bit enjoying a snack and talking. It was really warm in there. Of course, this was because the hut was filled with boy scouts and people cooking. In the hut, someone recognized me. It was my friend Avery who works hut croo in the summer. She had come by to pay a visit to the caretaker. That was fun too. What wasn't fun was prying the frozen lid off the frozen toilet seat!
With that <ahem> business taken care of, we continued down(?) Fishin' Jimmy and Sadie doubted that we were going the right way. Soon though, we got climbing. On the way in, I commented about how a lot of people don't like that trail because of all the ups and downs but, I really like the varied terrain. We also agreed that in winter often the best views are those on and/or of the trail. It sure was a beautiful day out there that day.
After we got up to the ridge and the juction with the Kinsman Pond Trail, we took a break to adjust layers. Avery came up from behind and called to me, scaring the life out of Sadie! Avery had me take a picture of her and her friend before they went down KPT (which I cautioned them about). Sadie and I then continued up to North Kinsman where we were greated by strong winds and no view. We stayed there for about five minutes before pushing on. My hands had gotten cold and I knew Sadie's were worse. The only solution was to keep pushing harder!
Soon, we were both toasty again and pushing hard toward South Kinsman all the while joking and laughing about how nuts we are. When we reached South Kinsman, it wasn't too bad and the summit area was beautiful (though smaller than I had remembered from my visit in '03). As we were leaving though the winds picked up even more! As we raced along the ridge, the wind was blowing through the trees and I couldn't wait to start down Fishin' Jimmy. My hands were getting cold.
As we started down Fishin' Jimmy, my shin started telling me that I had one of my plastic boots on too tight. However, I didn't want to stop and take off my outer glove so, I played through the pain until we got back to the hut. This time, we had the hut to outselves and hung out for about 45min talking, snacking, and relaxing. With a losened boot, we started back down without putting our crampons back on. As we left the hut behind, we started getting views of Franconia Ridge through the trees.
Once back down, we reflected on how great the climb was, how nuts we were and how much fun we had. At the end of the day Sadie commented that she thinks that winter hiking is great but that she also thinks that in the future she might not go out when 100mph winds are forecasted for Washington!
