sapblatt
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The skies looked promising for a change as I left Peabody at 4:25am to meet Eric (Tuco) in Derry for our assault on the Kinsman Peaks. Eric, being an early starter was at the meeting place even before me when I arrived just before 5am. We proceeded up I-93 and what else would you expect this month? The sky started to cloud up and between the Kanc and Franconia Notch it poured! 
Fortunately the rain stopped by the time we parked and we hit the trail just before 7am. My memory always thought that the Lonesome Lake Trail was an easy one. For some reason (like staying up to late, or not exercising during the past week) Eric and me were really whining a lot on the way up this easy trail. Things improved by the time we reached the lake, or at least the terrain flattened out and we took a quick break at the hut where we hooked up with Adam (adamiata.)
We headed out by 8:15 up the storied Fishin’ Jimmy Trail. This trail starts out innocently enough as it meanders through the hardwood forest and it even has a number of descents in the first mile. We kept noticing this and knew that we would pay for it all later! After passing a few fast flowing cascades the trail began to climb via some nicely manufactured stone stairs and some wooden steps that were pinned to the rock. This makes the trail passable by most. Eventually in levels off and Kinsman Junction is reached. From here we moved towards the two summits.
The worse of the elevation gain occurs on Fishin’ Jimmy and the Kinsman Ridge Trail in this area is pretty straightforward and we had little trouble negotiating the patches of snow and ice. We briefly put on traction but soon dumped it because of the lack of long stretches of snow and ice. We reached North Kinsman and took a quick food break but the clouds and fog were still limiting views. We met fellow VFTTer Dr. Daisypodaie here as well as Steve, a hiker from Albany, NY. After this brief stop we headed over to South Kinsman. Adam mentioned that when he was here in February he did not make it to the South Knob so we went all the way and stopped for some pretty cool views as the sky was beginning to clear. We took out the maps and Adam was able to identify all of the smaller summits near Moosilauke and we also located Carrigain off in the distance between Flume and Liberty. Lincoln and Lafayette were still in the clouds.
As we headed back towards North Kinsman the skies were clearing up even more and when we got back to North and went to the viewing area we were rewarded with few views of Franconia Ridge in it entirety. Somewhere we met the world famous Newfoundland, Brutus along with Kevin Rooney and a few others. Kevin talked with us for a few minutes but Brutus apparently was on a schedule and headed up the trail! Pretty spectacular, as I had never seen it from this direction before. Even more dizzying is the view down to Kinsman Pond. Eric and Adam did not venture as close to the ledge as I did, but I was still a good fifteen feet back from the edge…that first step is a doozy!
The trip back was fairly routine. Adam took a quick detour to check out Kinsman Pond and shelter and Eric and me rested our older bodies. Adam was not feeling so hot as it got hotter and we tried to keep a steady, easy pace going back. The hut was now crowded with a number of hikers both coming and going. We refilled our nearly empty water bottles and met another VFTTer, bunchberry who was leading a group of women on a training hike. We caught our breath, quenched our thirst and headed out to Lafayette Place.
When all was said and done we bagged two more peaks and had a great day. All of the scenery stops (and food and water stops!) mad the trip last for about ten hours. It was a great day and it was nice to meet Dr. D, Kevin and Brutus and Bunchberry as well as a great many others. Adam is great to hike with and this was my second time out with Eric. We are similarly paced and our next battle will be our version of the Presi Traverse in a couple of weeks. This month was quite a bit for me as I managed to hit twelve 4000 footers in twenty-nine days (and weather wise it was a pretty bad 29 days!) I know have thirty peaks down and am well on pace for finishing in October.
Fortunately the rain stopped
by the time we parked and we hit the trail just before 7am. My memory always thought that the Lonesome Lake Trail was an easy one. For some reason (like staying up to late, or not exercising during the past week) Eric and me were really whining a lot on the way up this easy trail. Things improved by the time we reached the lake, or at least the terrain flattened out and we took a quick break at the hut where we hooked up with Adam (adamiata.)We headed out by 8:15 up the storied Fishin’ Jimmy Trail. This trail starts out innocently enough as it meanders through the hardwood forest and it even has a number of descents in the first mile. We kept noticing this and knew that we would pay for it all later! After passing a few fast flowing cascades the trail began to climb via some nicely manufactured stone stairs and some wooden steps that were pinned to the rock. This makes the trail passable by most. Eventually in levels off and Kinsman Junction is reached. From here we moved towards the two summits.
The worse of the elevation gain occurs on Fishin’ Jimmy and the Kinsman Ridge Trail in this area is pretty straightforward and we had little trouble negotiating the patches of snow and ice. We briefly put on traction but soon dumped it because of the lack of long stretches of snow and ice. We reached North Kinsman and took a quick food break but the clouds and fog were still limiting views. We met fellow VFTTer Dr. Daisypodaie here as well as Steve, a hiker from Albany, NY. After this brief stop we headed over to South Kinsman. Adam mentioned that when he was here in February he did not make it to the South Knob so we went all the way and stopped for some pretty cool views as the sky was beginning to clear. We took out the maps and Adam was able to identify all of the smaller summits near Moosilauke and we also located Carrigain off in the distance between Flume and Liberty. Lincoln and Lafayette were still in the clouds.
As we headed back towards North Kinsman the skies were clearing up even more and when we got back to North and went to the viewing area we were rewarded with few views of Franconia Ridge in it entirety. Somewhere we met the world famous Newfoundland, Brutus along with Kevin Rooney and a few others. Kevin talked with us for a few minutes but Brutus apparently was on a schedule and headed up the trail! Pretty spectacular, as I had never seen it from this direction before. Even more dizzying is the view down to Kinsman Pond.
Eric and Adam did not venture as close to the ledge as I did, but I was still a good fifteen feet back from the edge…that first step is a doozy!The trip back was fairly routine. Adam took a quick detour to check out Kinsman Pond and shelter and Eric and me rested our older bodies. Adam was not feeling so hot as it got hotter and we tried to keep a steady, easy pace going back. The hut was now crowded with a number of hikers both coming and going. We refilled our nearly empty water bottles and met another VFTTer, bunchberry who was leading a group of women on a training hike. We caught our breath, quenched our thirst and headed out to Lafayette Place.
When all was said and done we bagged two more peaks and had a great day. All of the scenery stops (and food and water stops!) mad the trip last for about ten hours. It was a great day and it was nice to meet Dr. D, Kevin and Brutus and Bunchberry as well as a great many others. Adam is great to hike with and this was my second time out with Eric. We are similarly paced and our next battle will be our version of the Presi Traverse in a couple of weeks.
This month was quite a bit for me as I managed to hit twelve 4000 footers in twenty-nine days (and weather wise it was a pretty bad 29 days!) I know have thirty peaks down and am well on pace for finishing in October.
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