Woody
Active member
For the first day of winter Alan and I wanted to get out and do some hiking. We've both had a couple of pretty busy months and had not been able to get out much. I had checked the weather report and although snow was forcast that wasn't going to stop us. I did note the forcast for 40 to 50 mph winds for the summit of Mount Washington on the Observatory web page, so we decided to stay below tree line. We picked the Kinsmans because the drive to Franconia Notch would be the shortest as well.
Alan was at my house promptly at 6 am as scheduled, but as usual I was a bit behind schedule. We finally left at 6:20 after I heated up some soup to put in my thermos for the days hike. We had an uneventful drive up to Lafayette Place while Alan napped in the truck for most of the drive. He gets to drive next time so I can nap!
We started hiking at about 9 am and headed up the Lonesome Lake trail to the hut. We put our snowshoes on right at the start from the car. Snow was falling but the temperature was just right for a hike. We were warm but not sweating much as we kept a nice easy pace. We got to the hut at about 10:30 and went in to take a short break to grab a drink and a bite to eat before the steeper climbing began.
We headed out of the hut at just about 11 am and headed up the Fishin' Jimmy trail. I had never hiked this trail before. When I hiked the Kinsmans during the summer a few years ago we did a full ridge traverse. The Fishin' Jimmy trail started out with some minor but steep ups and downs interspered with deep drifting snow and some icy rocks to climb up and down. As we made our way higher the drifts kept getting bigger with the soft powdery snow. Breaking trail in this stuff was beginning to be a chore. The snow was knee deep in most areas and some of the drifts were mid thigh, even with 30" snowshoes on! It was very slow going.
We finally trudged our way up to Kinsman Junction and decided that we were moving much too slowly to be able to bag South Kinsman as well as North. Once we got on the Kinsman Ridge Trail we could really feel the wind howling. We stopped a few hundred yards north of the intersection with the Mount Kinsman trail and had a quick snack and took our goggles out of our packs. I really hate wearing googles, so the wind and the snow must really be blowing before I put them on. Some sections of the trail were just scoured by the wind and in other areas the snow was drifting with small cornices. It was really pretty cool to see and experience. We finally made it to the summit of North Kinsman at 3 pm and we took some very quick summit pictures and promptly headed back down the way we came up.
On our way down we couldn't even tell we had passed by. The snow was falling pretty steadily and the wind was helping to quickly build drifts over our track. We pretty much had to break trail going back down as we did coming up. Although gravity helps a bit, the travel was still slow and wearing 30" snowshoes certainly doesn't help me move any faster. About 30 minutes below the intersection to the trail leading to Kinsman Pond Shelter we finally ran into other hikers on the trail. Three guys were heading up to the shelter for the night. At least for a short while we had a broken out trail to follow, but again this soon disappeared as well. We got back to the hut at about 6:45 and had another quick snack and then headed out to the truck at Lafayette Place. We cut across Lonesome Lake to save a few minutes as we had on the way in, but now it was dark and the snow and wind were blowing hard and had filled in the tracks going across the lake. In the day light it is easy to see your destination across the lake, but in these conditions we were not sure we would get to the correct point on the opposite shoreline. Fortunately, I had taken a gps way point earlier in the day just before heading accross the lake so we were able to just follow the gps heading right back to the correct spot on the opposite shore line and we nailed it. It was kind of disorientating crossing the lake in whiteout conditions like that and the gps really came in handy. It is something that I always have with me. I don't often have to rely on it, but it has helped me find the correct way to go in low visability conditions on more than one occasion.
Alan and I finally got back to the truck at Lafayette Place at about 7:45 pm. We cleaned almost a foot of snow off of the truck and threw our gear in the back. We changed into dry shirts and headed off for something to eat and to home so we could get to work in the morning.
We had a great hike even if the conditions were tough and caused us to move even slower then usual. A great way to start the winter!
Recommended gear list: Full winter gear including snowshoes. The gps was even helpful.
Alan was at my house promptly at 6 am as scheduled, but as usual I was a bit behind schedule. We finally left at 6:20 after I heated up some soup to put in my thermos for the days hike. We had an uneventful drive up to Lafayette Place while Alan napped in the truck for most of the drive. He gets to drive next time so I can nap!
We started hiking at about 9 am and headed up the Lonesome Lake trail to the hut. We put our snowshoes on right at the start from the car. Snow was falling but the temperature was just right for a hike. We were warm but not sweating much as we kept a nice easy pace. We got to the hut at about 10:30 and went in to take a short break to grab a drink and a bite to eat before the steeper climbing began.
We headed out of the hut at just about 11 am and headed up the Fishin' Jimmy trail. I had never hiked this trail before. When I hiked the Kinsmans during the summer a few years ago we did a full ridge traverse. The Fishin' Jimmy trail started out with some minor but steep ups and downs interspered with deep drifting snow and some icy rocks to climb up and down. As we made our way higher the drifts kept getting bigger with the soft powdery snow. Breaking trail in this stuff was beginning to be a chore. The snow was knee deep in most areas and some of the drifts were mid thigh, even with 30" snowshoes on! It was very slow going.
We finally trudged our way up to Kinsman Junction and decided that we were moving much too slowly to be able to bag South Kinsman as well as North. Once we got on the Kinsman Ridge Trail we could really feel the wind howling. We stopped a few hundred yards north of the intersection with the Mount Kinsman trail and had a quick snack and took our goggles out of our packs. I really hate wearing googles, so the wind and the snow must really be blowing before I put them on. Some sections of the trail were just scoured by the wind and in other areas the snow was drifting with small cornices. It was really pretty cool to see and experience. We finally made it to the summit of North Kinsman at 3 pm and we took some very quick summit pictures and promptly headed back down the way we came up.
On our way down we couldn't even tell we had passed by. The snow was falling pretty steadily and the wind was helping to quickly build drifts over our track. We pretty much had to break trail going back down as we did coming up. Although gravity helps a bit, the travel was still slow and wearing 30" snowshoes certainly doesn't help me move any faster. About 30 minutes below the intersection to the trail leading to Kinsman Pond Shelter we finally ran into other hikers on the trail. Three guys were heading up to the shelter for the night. At least for a short while we had a broken out trail to follow, but again this soon disappeared as well. We got back to the hut at about 6:45 and had another quick snack and then headed out to the truck at Lafayette Place. We cut across Lonesome Lake to save a few minutes as we had on the way in, but now it was dark and the snow and wind were blowing hard and had filled in the tracks going across the lake. In the day light it is easy to see your destination across the lake, but in these conditions we were not sure we would get to the correct point on the opposite shoreline. Fortunately, I had taken a gps way point earlier in the day just before heading accross the lake so we were able to just follow the gps heading right back to the correct spot on the opposite shore line and we nailed it. It was kind of disorientating crossing the lake in whiteout conditions like that and the gps really came in handy. It is something that I always have with me. I don't often have to rely on it, but it has helped me find the correct way to go in low visability conditions on more than one occasion.
Alan and I finally got back to the truck at Lafayette Place at about 7:45 pm. We cleaned almost a foot of snow off of the truck and threw our gear in the back. We changed into dry shirts and headed off for something to eat and to home so we could get to work in the morning.
We had a great hike even if the conditions were tough and caused us to move even slower then usual. A great way to start the winter!
Recommended gear list: Full winter gear including snowshoes. The gps was even helpful.
I was wondering how many would actually go. 
