B
Barkingcat
Guest
Date Hiked: Monday, March 17
Trail Conditions: Trails the entire way from Lafayette Campground parking area to South Kinsman were well packed. A couple of inches of new snow in some spots all throughout and some drifting snow on Lonesome Lake (the lake itself) and upper portions of the Kinsman Ridge Trail beginning a half-mile below the North Kinsman summit, but nothing serious.
On the trail between the two Kinsman peaks the snow pack is pretty high (as one would expect) and most of this section had to be hiked in a crouch in order to avoid getting whacked by the low pine branches.
Special Equipment Required: Traction devices are recommended -- in some spots the trail has drifted powder on top of packed ice -- and snowshoes were very helpful crossing Lonesome Lake and also near the summits. I used the base portion of MSR Denalis and had no problems going up or down.
Comments: A gorgeous for hiking; after the last several times out having gray/overcast or cloud-socked summit conditions, we finally had blue sky and spectacular views of the Franconia Ridge to the east and Moosilauke to the south.
ALSO -- we met two other hikers who had come up the Mt. Kinsman Trail from Route 116, and this is well-packed. In addition, at Kinsman Point we could see that the Kinsman Ridge Trail over to Cannon nor the Kinsman Pond Trail had been hiked in a while. The former had about a half-foot of snow on it and the latter was not even broken out.
Barkingcat
Your E-mail address: [email protected]
Trail Conditions: Trails the entire way from Lafayette Campground parking area to South Kinsman were well packed. A couple of inches of new snow in some spots all throughout and some drifting snow on Lonesome Lake (the lake itself) and upper portions of the Kinsman Ridge Trail beginning a half-mile below the North Kinsman summit, but nothing serious.
On the trail between the two Kinsman peaks the snow pack is pretty high (as one would expect) and most of this section had to be hiked in a crouch in order to avoid getting whacked by the low pine branches.
Special Equipment Required: Traction devices are recommended -- in some spots the trail has drifted powder on top of packed ice -- and snowshoes were very helpful crossing Lonesome Lake and also near the summits. I used the base portion of MSR Denalis and had no problems going up or down.
Comments: A gorgeous for hiking; after the last several times out having gray/overcast or cloud-socked summit conditions, we finally had blue sky and spectacular views of the Franconia Ridge to the east and Moosilauke to the south.
ALSO -- we met two other hikers who had come up the Mt. Kinsman Trail from Route 116, and this is well-packed. In addition, at Kinsman Point we could see that the Kinsman Ridge Trail over to Cannon nor the Kinsman Pond Trail had been hiked in a while. The former had about a half-foot of snow on it and the latter was not even broken out.
Barkingcat
Your E-mail address: [email protected]
