p2piper
New member
STATS
Time: 12 hours, 7 minutes
Miles: 16.76
Steps: 50,604
Trails: Lonesome Lake Trail -- Hi Cannon Trail -- Kinsman Ridge trail
-- Fishin' Jimmy Trail -- Cascade Brook Trail -- Lonesome Lake Trail
Our return to the Whites after hiking Katahdin. Nancy wanted to do a gentler hike, a hike with great views and maybe an exposed ridge above the tree line, something where we had plenty of time to sit on a hot rock, take our boots off, and chill. I suggested she pick the hike and she did – North and South Kinsman, with the option of adding Cannon on the way back. I didn’t do the research that I usually do when I pick the hikes – I usually read trip reports, look at elevation gain and get a sense of what we were in for. For some reason, I walked into this hike simply not knowing what to expect, and strangely without my usual interest and need to know. When I looked at the loop she had chosen, I suggested we hike up to Cannon first since the map showed the Hi Cannon Trail to be quite steep. I thought it would be easier to go up the steep section when we were fresh. I completely disregarded Nancy’s original plan of heading up Fishin’ Jimmy. I don’t know why I pushed to bag Cannon too; on the map, it didn’t look so hard.
Well, we hit the Lonesome Lake Trail at 8:45am, then turned right up the Hi Cannon Trail and began to climb. I like going up – I like pushing and sweating, especially when I have fresh legs, so I didn’t think much about it. We did stop to sit on a rock for 20 minutes, eat a granola bar and look at the view. Little did we know that that short break would be the only true break we would experience. Lesson learned: When you see a potential bliss moment, take advantage of it. Don't put it off thinking another one is just around the bend -- it may never come! As Nancy was scrambling off the rock back to the trail, her full Nalgene bottle decided to take a dive out of the side pocket of her pack and roll off the cliff, falling hundreds of feet below. I wonder if it actually broke. I’m just glad Nancy didn’t try to go after it because she definitely would have broken when she hit the bottom. When we arrived at the summit at 11:08am, we had only hiked a little over 3 miles. The temp at the top was 66.5 and windy. We climbed the summit tower, took some pictures, and hiked back to the intersection of the Kinsman Ridge Trail. When we were on top of the tower, I tried to orient myself to see how far South Kinsman really was – oh, my. It looked really far away and the dips in the landscape were not gentle and kind.
Off we went – down the steep steep section of the Kinsman Ridge Trail off Cannon. Wow – that was a steep descent and it went on for a long time – up and down and up and down the trail went. There simply was no relief – no easy rolling ridge walk, this one. Just false summits and the silence of a late summer day. The sun was playing hide and seek with the clouds and mostly it stayed hidden. We met up with an AMC trail crew that was battling erosion by building water bars, moving huge stones to create steps, and building ladders and bog bridges. They broke for lunch just as we started climbing back up after Cannon – their twenty-something legs left us behind as we gasped and pushed our way up the trail. It was noon and we probably should have stopped for lunch but there was really no place to do that – no flat rocks, no views, just trees and moss and mud. We pushed on, finally arriving at the intersection of Fishin’ Jimmy and the Kinsman Ridge Trail at 2:15pm. Without the sun, the temperature had dropped to 60.7. We decided we had to eat so we stopped for 15 minutes and ate.
Back on the Ridge Trail toward North Kinsman at 2:33pm. The summit is unmarked, just a sign pointing toward a view and the fact Nancy had read somewhere that the summit was marked by a view gave us a clue that we had tagged #20. We passed a group of four hikers who didn’t say much except to tell us the summit of South Kinsman was within reach. We tagged that peak at 4pm. We took some pictures, put an offering on the cairn, and started back. We met the same group of four hikers on the summit of South Kinsman. One of them had taken a nasty spill on the way up and needed medical attention. Neither Nancy nor I have medical training, certainly nothing beyond cleaning a cut or dealing with blisters. We didn’t have an ice pack either and that would have helped the man since he had hit his head when he fell and had a large blue bruise on his forehead. His arm was scraped and his knee was swelling up like a balloon, although he was able to put weight on it.
This incident really shook me. It brought out the harsh reality of what we were doing. How fragile we are and how far away from medical assistance. Wow. I kept thinking about how I would feel if Nancy or I had taken that kind of fall – what would we do? How would we manage? Were we prepared for injuries like that? It can happen to anyone at anytime. One misstep and snap goes the ankle bone. Man, it freaked me out. Lesson learned: bring a disposable ice pack.
I withdrew into my head after that and the laughter we had shared earlier in the hike felt like a distant memory. I had no laughter inside me at all. Stone serious and driven – that was me. We arrived at the Lonesome Lake Hut out of water – another misjudgment – at 5:22pm. We filled a Nalgene bottle to share, thinking that would be enough and kept on hiking. When we reached Lonesome Lake, we committed another error in judgment. Instead of pausing, reorienting and looking at the map, we saw the sign for Lonesome Lake Trail (Lakeshore walk) to the left and started off walking fast on the bog bridges. We made good time, reached another sign and again made a wrong choice, despite looking at the map, and ended up back at the Hut and the spot on the lake were we had started. We groaned, knowing we had just lost over 30 minutes of hiking time and with the overcast darkness was coming very quickly.
Another mistake: neither of us had brought our headlamps. Why should we? It was going to be an easy hike, right? We’d be off the mountain in plenty of time. Why add more weight to our already heavy packs? Lesson learned: Always bring a headlamp. Frustrated and a little freaked out, we practically ran back to the trail intersection and started down the Lonesome Lake Trail toward the Lafayette Campground. At 7:45, we realized we were a mile and a half from the parking lot and it was getting really hard to see. I was still hiking with my emotions hidden inside my head so it came as a shout of joy when I remembered that I had a small Maglite in my pack. What a relief. We would be getting out on our feet instead of crawling out on hands and knees.
It was not easy once darkness hit, but we established a rhythm. Nancy led and kept the light pointed in front of her. I stayed as close to her as I could, looking at the light and memorizing to location of rocks and trail so I could keep pace. It wasn’t always possible because the trail was uneven with roots and rocks, but we stayed with it and walked out to the parking lot at 8:52pm. Two tired girls with very sore knees and hurting feet. Twelve hours, another mini death march. Damn. And this was supposed to be Nancy’s confidence building hike. Yeah, right. We learned some lessons though and we will do better homework before committing to a trail. The drive back to Keene was a long one and having to get up at 6 the next morning was even harder. But we did it and our friendship is still intact and no one got hurt and we learned more lessons.
21 out of 67
Time: 12 hours, 7 minutes
Miles: 16.76
Steps: 50,604
Trails: Lonesome Lake Trail -- Hi Cannon Trail -- Kinsman Ridge trail
-- Fishin' Jimmy Trail -- Cascade Brook Trail -- Lonesome Lake Trail
Our return to the Whites after hiking Katahdin. Nancy wanted to do a gentler hike, a hike with great views and maybe an exposed ridge above the tree line, something where we had plenty of time to sit on a hot rock, take our boots off, and chill. I suggested she pick the hike and she did – North and South Kinsman, with the option of adding Cannon on the way back. I didn’t do the research that I usually do when I pick the hikes – I usually read trip reports, look at elevation gain and get a sense of what we were in for. For some reason, I walked into this hike simply not knowing what to expect, and strangely without my usual interest and need to know. When I looked at the loop she had chosen, I suggested we hike up to Cannon first since the map showed the Hi Cannon Trail to be quite steep. I thought it would be easier to go up the steep section when we were fresh. I completely disregarded Nancy’s original plan of heading up Fishin’ Jimmy. I don’t know why I pushed to bag Cannon too; on the map, it didn’t look so hard.
Well, we hit the Lonesome Lake Trail at 8:45am, then turned right up the Hi Cannon Trail and began to climb. I like going up – I like pushing and sweating, especially when I have fresh legs, so I didn’t think much about it. We did stop to sit on a rock for 20 minutes, eat a granola bar and look at the view. Little did we know that that short break would be the only true break we would experience. Lesson learned: When you see a potential bliss moment, take advantage of it. Don't put it off thinking another one is just around the bend -- it may never come! As Nancy was scrambling off the rock back to the trail, her full Nalgene bottle decided to take a dive out of the side pocket of her pack and roll off the cliff, falling hundreds of feet below. I wonder if it actually broke. I’m just glad Nancy didn’t try to go after it because she definitely would have broken when she hit the bottom. When we arrived at the summit at 11:08am, we had only hiked a little over 3 miles. The temp at the top was 66.5 and windy. We climbed the summit tower, took some pictures, and hiked back to the intersection of the Kinsman Ridge Trail. When we were on top of the tower, I tried to orient myself to see how far South Kinsman really was – oh, my. It looked really far away and the dips in the landscape were not gentle and kind.
Off we went – down the steep steep section of the Kinsman Ridge Trail off Cannon. Wow – that was a steep descent and it went on for a long time – up and down and up and down the trail went. There simply was no relief – no easy rolling ridge walk, this one. Just false summits and the silence of a late summer day. The sun was playing hide and seek with the clouds and mostly it stayed hidden. We met up with an AMC trail crew that was battling erosion by building water bars, moving huge stones to create steps, and building ladders and bog bridges. They broke for lunch just as we started climbing back up after Cannon – their twenty-something legs left us behind as we gasped and pushed our way up the trail. It was noon and we probably should have stopped for lunch but there was really no place to do that – no flat rocks, no views, just trees and moss and mud. We pushed on, finally arriving at the intersection of Fishin’ Jimmy and the Kinsman Ridge Trail at 2:15pm. Without the sun, the temperature had dropped to 60.7. We decided we had to eat so we stopped for 15 minutes and ate.
Back on the Ridge Trail toward North Kinsman at 2:33pm. The summit is unmarked, just a sign pointing toward a view and the fact Nancy had read somewhere that the summit was marked by a view gave us a clue that we had tagged #20. We passed a group of four hikers who didn’t say much except to tell us the summit of South Kinsman was within reach. We tagged that peak at 4pm. We took some pictures, put an offering on the cairn, and started back. We met the same group of four hikers on the summit of South Kinsman. One of them had taken a nasty spill on the way up and needed medical attention. Neither Nancy nor I have medical training, certainly nothing beyond cleaning a cut or dealing with blisters. We didn’t have an ice pack either and that would have helped the man since he had hit his head when he fell and had a large blue bruise on his forehead. His arm was scraped and his knee was swelling up like a balloon, although he was able to put weight on it.
This incident really shook me. It brought out the harsh reality of what we were doing. How fragile we are and how far away from medical assistance. Wow. I kept thinking about how I would feel if Nancy or I had taken that kind of fall – what would we do? How would we manage? Were we prepared for injuries like that? It can happen to anyone at anytime. One misstep and snap goes the ankle bone. Man, it freaked me out. Lesson learned: bring a disposable ice pack.
I withdrew into my head after that and the laughter we had shared earlier in the hike felt like a distant memory. I had no laughter inside me at all. Stone serious and driven – that was me. We arrived at the Lonesome Lake Hut out of water – another misjudgment – at 5:22pm. We filled a Nalgene bottle to share, thinking that would be enough and kept on hiking. When we reached Lonesome Lake, we committed another error in judgment. Instead of pausing, reorienting and looking at the map, we saw the sign for Lonesome Lake Trail (Lakeshore walk) to the left and started off walking fast on the bog bridges. We made good time, reached another sign and again made a wrong choice, despite looking at the map, and ended up back at the Hut and the spot on the lake were we had started. We groaned, knowing we had just lost over 30 minutes of hiking time and with the overcast darkness was coming very quickly.
Another mistake: neither of us had brought our headlamps. Why should we? It was going to be an easy hike, right? We’d be off the mountain in plenty of time. Why add more weight to our already heavy packs? Lesson learned: Always bring a headlamp. Frustrated and a little freaked out, we practically ran back to the trail intersection and started down the Lonesome Lake Trail toward the Lafayette Campground. At 7:45, we realized we were a mile and a half from the parking lot and it was getting really hard to see. I was still hiking with my emotions hidden inside my head so it came as a shout of joy when I remembered that I had a small Maglite in my pack. What a relief. We would be getting out on our feet instead of crawling out on hands and knees.
It was not easy once darkness hit, but we established a rhythm. Nancy led and kept the light pointed in front of her. I stayed as close to her as I could, looking at the light and memorizing to location of rocks and trail so I could keep pace. It wasn’t always possible because the trail was uneven with roots and rocks, but we stayed with it and walked out to the parking lot at 8:52pm. Two tired girls with very sore knees and hurting feet. Twelve hours, another mini death march. Damn. And this was supposed to be Nancy’s confidence building hike. Yeah, right. We learned some lessons though and we will do better homework before committing to a trail. The drive back to Keene was a long one and having to get up at 6 the next morning was even harder. But we did it and our friendship is still intact and no one got hurt and we learned more lessons.
21 out of 67
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