Double Bow
New member
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2005
- Messages
- 1,172
- Reaction score
- 219
Better late than never, right? I was away and so was unable to post this (much) sooner. Anyway, off we go...
With a gloomy forecast but lots of enthusiasm, Michelle, Gator, and I met to climb the Kinsmans the day before Easter. On the drive up we had encountered some rain and so I was a little bit pesimistic, still I really wanted to get out.
I warned Michelle before we started that hiking with Gator and I, she was going to be entertained. Sure enough, over the course of the day, she would laugh her way up and down the moutain. Starting up from Lafayette CG, we didn't say a word about the possibility of rain. I might have mentioned that we probably wouldn't get any views, but I can't remember.It wasn't too long before we came to ice and snow. Michelle and I put on STABILicers a little bit before Lonesome Lake and we would use these for the bulk of the day. A little later, Gator put on crampons (for lack of STABILicers). It was a very smart decision since the trail was very wet and icy.
We soon reached the lake which is starting to deice. Soon after that, we stopped at the hut. As we were approaching the hut, these two guys came over and wanted our advice. They were going to be going out for a hike but wanted to be back at the hut for dinner. It was 10am. They asked if we thought that they could do Lincoln and Lafayette and get back early. They also asked about Liberty. We told them that they'd be better off visiting Cannon and possibly the NE Cannonball as well. They thanked us and headed off. We went inside. There we met the caretaker who was very nice. We chatted with her and hung out for awhile. She offered to make us some coffee but we declined and said that we really needed to get moving.
Leaving the hut, we headed up Fishin' Jimmy and enjoyed (yes, enjoyed) the ups and downs of the trail. As we passed flowing water and ice flows we admired this changing season. We gained the ridge fairly quickly and then headed off to the Kinsman Pond Shelter for another break. What a bunch of slackers!
We weren't tired or anything. It's just that the weather was improving and we wanted to check out the pond and the log at the shelter so we made that detour and had some snacks as well. We met a nice guy while we were there and I took some nice pictures. I was surprised looking in the log to see how many people had stayed there over the course of the winter. I reflected on how terribly cold and wind it was when Sadie and I did these peaks MLK Weekend this year. Now the trails still had the smoothness of winter and were bug free but the temp was very comfortable.
On we went to North Kinsman and I celebrated my now having visited this peak in all four seasons. The outlook was socked in so there were no views and we soon moved on. As we did, we could see views opening up along the ridge. In fact, some of the most interesting pictures I took weren't from the summits.
A little while later we reached the first summit knob on South Kinsman where more pictures were taken and then we went to the one with the big cairn. By now, the views were very good. There were still plenty of clouds around but I feel that they make pictures more interesting. After more pic and laughs, we headed back. I took still more pics along the way and we stopped once more on North Kinsman where we took in the view we didn't have earlier in the day. Now the view was so good and the temp so nice that I took a bunch more pictures and laid down on the ledge.
We headed back to the hut once it started to get a little chilly on the ledge and the wind started to pick back up. Down at the hut, I stopped in quickly to adjust my boots and socks. In there I met the guys from that morning. They wound up doing the Cannonballs but not Cannon and were now enjoying soup. They were needlessly sheepish about their hike offering excuses for no reason. I said some encouraging things and then headed back out where Gator was wanting to just get going. So we did and before long we were back at the cars and were heading to Woodstock Station for dinner.
This was a great day where the weather wound up being far better than we thought it would be and we had a ton of laughs along the way. That's the beauty of going out with good friends on a dicey day.
Here are my pics.
With a gloomy forecast but lots of enthusiasm, Michelle, Gator, and I met to climb the Kinsmans the day before Easter. On the drive up we had encountered some rain and so I was a little bit pesimistic, still I really wanted to get out.
I warned Michelle before we started that hiking with Gator and I, she was going to be entertained. Sure enough, over the course of the day, she would laugh her way up and down the moutain. Starting up from Lafayette CG, we didn't say a word about the possibility of rain. I might have mentioned that we probably wouldn't get any views, but I can't remember.It wasn't too long before we came to ice and snow. Michelle and I put on STABILicers a little bit before Lonesome Lake and we would use these for the bulk of the day. A little later, Gator put on crampons (for lack of STABILicers). It was a very smart decision since the trail was very wet and icy.
We soon reached the lake which is starting to deice. Soon after that, we stopped at the hut. As we were approaching the hut, these two guys came over and wanted our advice. They were going to be going out for a hike but wanted to be back at the hut for dinner. It was 10am. They asked if we thought that they could do Lincoln and Lafayette and get back early. They also asked about Liberty. We told them that they'd be better off visiting Cannon and possibly the NE Cannonball as well. They thanked us and headed off. We went inside. There we met the caretaker who was very nice. We chatted with her and hung out for awhile. She offered to make us some coffee but we declined and said that we really needed to get moving.
Leaving the hut, we headed up Fishin' Jimmy and enjoyed (yes, enjoyed) the ups and downs of the trail. As we passed flowing water and ice flows we admired this changing season. We gained the ridge fairly quickly and then headed off to the Kinsman Pond Shelter for another break. What a bunch of slackers!
We weren't tired or anything. It's just that the weather was improving and we wanted to check out the pond and the log at the shelter so we made that detour and had some snacks as well. We met a nice guy while we were there and I took some nice pictures. I was surprised looking in the log to see how many people had stayed there over the course of the winter. I reflected on how terribly cold and wind it was when Sadie and I did these peaks MLK Weekend this year. Now the trails still had the smoothness of winter and were bug free but the temp was very comfortable.On we went to North Kinsman and I celebrated my now having visited this peak in all four seasons. The outlook was socked in so there were no views and we soon moved on. As we did, we could see views opening up along the ridge. In fact, some of the most interesting pictures I took weren't from the summits.
A little while later we reached the first summit knob on South Kinsman where more pictures were taken and then we went to the one with the big cairn. By now, the views were very good. There were still plenty of clouds around but I feel that they make pictures more interesting. After more pic and laughs, we headed back. I took still more pics along the way and we stopped once more on North Kinsman where we took in the view we didn't have earlier in the day. Now the view was so good and the temp so nice that I took a bunch more pictures and laid down on the ledge.
We headed back to the hut once it started to get a little chilly on the ledge and the wind started to pick back up. Down at the hut, I stopped in quickly to adjust my boots and socks. In there I met the guys from that morning. They wound up doing the Cannonballs but not Cannon and were now enjoying soup. They were needlessly sheepish about their hike offering excuses for no reason. I said some encouraging things and then headed back out where Gator was wanting to just get going. So we did and before long we were back at the cars and were heading to Woodstock Station for dinner.
This was a great day where the weather wound up being far better than we thought it would be and we had a ton of laughs along the way. That's the beauty of going out with good friends on a dicey day.
Here are my pics.
