chinooktrail
Active member
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2004
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MEB, Little Sister, Drewski, Chinooktrail, YAM, and I met at Lafayette Campground early on Saturday morning, loaded with lots of food, overnight equipment, and a sled for a stay and hike to and from Lonesome Lake Hut. The initial “Mush LenDawg, mush” quickly became a team effort as we lugged way too much food and three bottles of wine up the trail. When the sisters started going at it on how to rig the slid so they both could carry it, followed by a long Rachel wine of “Mare!!!”, we knew this was going to be a blast.
We crossed the lake and headed to the hut to find out that our evening would be joined by about 40 Boyscouts. Christine chose to stay behind while Maryellen, Rachel, Andy, Amy and I headed up Fishing Jimmy and the Kinsmans. The sky was a beautiful shade of deep blue with very few clouds in the sky. The temperature was in the teens with very little wind. By use of crampons, the five of us powered our way up to North Kinsman and a beautiful view. We dropped packs and headed over to South Kinsman. Rachel and Amy were in awe over the jets passing by us on South Kinsman, while the Professor gave and instructional lesson to MEB and I on the peaks of Vermont to the west. We headed back to our packs and a quick bite to eat before descending back to the hut. Christine quickly whipped up a batch of minestrone soup that was fantastic.
That’s as far as Lenny got on his trip report, so I will take over now since the poor Dawg HAD to go to St. Croix for business.
(Sure Lenny, business, right)
After the appetizer of soup we ate (ok gorged) ourselves on a lot of other yummy snacks before we elbowed our way through the sea of boy scouts into the kitchen to make pizza! After a lovely dinner we had a serious conversation with Mary Ellen about her problem with conjunctivitis, and there was a visit by some pringle ducks. I believe we educated a few boy scouts and discovered a few more merit badges they should earn.
After a balmy night in the bunk house we awoke to a Drewski WINE for breakfast, Drew, did you ever find your pants? A fairly quick breakfast and it was packed up and headed out. In the parking lot we said our goodbyes to Yam and Drewski, and the 4 of us headed over to attack Cabot.
I really have to thank MEB, Little Sister and LenDawg for getting me up to my 41st peak. I was ok physically, but it was one of those hikes that I just was not there mentally. I REALLY wanted to just go home, take a shower and sit by the fire and nap. But there was no turning around. It was completely nothing more than picking them up and putting them down for me for the first ¾ of the hike up. Maybe part of it was the trail, just a wide logging road for a spell, but maybe not… Once we got more into the single track of the trail, and the forest closed in more and started to hug the trail a bit, I was back into hiking mode. We dropped packs at the cabin and scooted over to the summit. WHOOO HOOO, 41 for me, and I felt like I earned this one! I can not thank you all enough for not letting me turn around. I really loved the section above the cabin, the trees were so covered and frozen that when you brushed up against them, they didn’t give at all, it was like walking into a stone carving! I have not experienced that before in the whites! Then it was back to the cabin and a little food, layered up and headed out. Okay, I was hiking with 3 amazons, and they decided to race each other out. Their fast pace meant RUNNING behind them for me. I kept up with them most of the way, but gave up running at some point and lost sight of them shortly after that. It was nice to hike alone for a spell in my own thoughts though, time to reflect on life, and what this journey means to me. It is always nice to be in the forest, and it always has a way of allowing me to work out problems. We all said our goodbyes, another great weekend with wonderful friends and the comfort of the mountains.
I actually BROUGHT a camera on this trip, but never took it out. I still have not figured out how to get my little disposable camera hooked up to the computer though... SO, if any of you photographers would like to post your photos, that would be great.
We crossed the lake and headed to the hut to find out that our evening would be joined by about 40 Boyscouts. Christine chose to stay behind while Maryellen, Rachel, Andy, Amy and I headed up Fishing Jimmy and the Kinsmans. The sky was a beautiful shade of deep blue with very few clouds in the sky. The temperature was in the teens with very little wind. By use of crampons, the five of us powered our way up to North Kinsman and a beautiful view. We dropped packs and headed over to South Kinsman. Rachel and Amy were in awe over the jets passing by us on South Kinsman, while the Professor gave and instructional lesson to MEB and I on the peaks of Vermont to the west. We headed back to our packs and a quick bite to eat before descending back to the hut. Christine quickly whipped up a batch of minestrone soup that was fantastic.
That’s as far as Lenny got on his trip report, so I will take over now since the poor Dawg HAD to go to St. Croix for business.
(Sure Lenny, business, right)
After the appetizer of soup we ate (ok gorged) ourselves on a lot of other yummy snacks before we elbowed our way through the sea of boy scouts into the kitchen to make pizza! After a lovely dinner we had a serious conversation with Mary Ellen about her problem with conjunctivitis, and there was a visit by some pringle ducks. I believe we educated a few boy scouts and discovered a few more merit badges they should earn.
After a balmy night in the bunk house we awoke to a Drewski WINE for breakfast, Drew, did you ever find your pants? A fairly quick breakfast and it was packed up and headed out. In the parking lot we said our goodbyes to Yam and Drewski, and the 4 of us headed over to attack Cabot.
I really have to thank MEB, Little Sister and LenDawg for getting me up to my 41st peak. I was ok physically, but it was one of those hikes that I just was not there mentally. I REALLY wanted to just go home, take a shower and sit by the fire and nap. But there was no turning around. It was completely nothing more than picking them up and putting them down for me for the first ¾ of the hike up. Maybe part of it was the trail, just a wide logging road for a spell, but maybe not… Once we got more into the single track of the trail, and the forest closed in more and started to hug the trail a bit, I was back into hiking mode. We dropped packs at the cabin and scooted over to the summit. WHOOO HOOO, 41 for me, and I felt like I earned this one! I can not thank you all enough for not letting me turn around. I really loved the section above the cabin, the trees were so covered and frozen that when you brushed up against them, they didn’t give at all, it was like walking into a stone carving! I have not experienced that before in the whites! Then it was back to the cabin and a little food, layered up and headed out. Okay, I was hiking with 3 amazons, and they decided to race each other out. Their fast pace meant RUNNING behind them for me. I kept up with them most of the way, but gave up running at some point and lost sight of them shortly after that. It was nice to hike alone for a spell in my own thoughts though, time to reflect on life, and what this journey means to me. It is always nice to be in the forest, and it always has a way of allowing me to work out problems. We all said our goodbyes, another great weekend with wonderful friends and the comfort of the mountains.
I actually BROUGHT a camera on this trip, but never took it out. I still have not figured out how to get my little disposable camera hooked up to the computer though...
SO, if any of you photographers would like to post your photos, that would be great.
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