The Kinsmen from the West - 15 Sept. 2013

[Cumulus]

After flying the flag on Middle Tripyramid on Saturday I stuck around to hike some more mountains on Sunday. I picked the Kinsmen, the only mountains I've been on more often than the Tripyramids. This would be my ninth hike there, but the first one from the west. Although the middle of the hike would be on very familiar trails, I would start and end redlining.

Whichway drove up from Vermont to join me. I was happy to see that her dog Delilah was along. Delilah had missed our last hike together because she'd cut her paw, but she's recovered; I didn't see any hint that there was anything wrong with her. Whichway and I met at the Mt. Kinsman Trailhead, and drove in my car up to the Reel Brook Trailhead. It was a little hard to find (Hint: Don't go on Slide Brook Road by mistake), and when we did find it the last bit of Reel Brook Road was barely drivable for my Corolla, but we made it and started up the trail.

The weather all day was great. Not too hot or cold, with some high scattered cumulus clouds.

Although Reel Brook Trail has a reputation for being muddy, it wasn't much really. There were several brook crossings which were difficult for the shorter member of our party, but they were all crossed without mishap.

When we got to Kinsman Ridge Trail (which is the AT there) we headed north. Except for one short section, the KRT between Reel Brook Trail and South Kinsman (which was all new trail to me) is great, IMHO. It first goes through some nice woods, reaching Eliza Brook Shelter after about a mile. This shelter was rebuilt a few years ago and looks like a great place to stay. After that the KRT follows Eliza Brook, which has a lot of small falls, for a while. Then there's the bad section, a very wet and muddy section by Harrington Pond. Then it gets serious and climbs pretty steeply up to the summit. This has occasional flatter sections, though, and is only occasionally steep enough to be tricky.

Then we were on South Kinsman. There were a number of other people there at the same time, including LRiz, whom Whichway and I had run into earlier this year across the notch. With her this time was Rob, whom I'd met at Fool Scouts. LRiz and Rob were out for a run.

Whichway and I went on to North Kinsman, where I showed Whichway the lower North Kinsman lookout, a little beyond the upper one, where you get a good view of Kinsman Pond. We then went north some more and turned down Mt. Kinsman Trail. From this point on I was redlining again. Mt. Kinsman Trail had the mud we had been expecting on Reel Brook Trail. We took the side spur to Bald Peak and checked that out before continuing down.

After Whichway drove me back to the Reel Brook Trailhead to get my car, I drove it out, trying to avoid the worst rocks in the road, and brushed a tree on my right. When we got to North Woodstock I saw that I had messed up my right front fender. Normally I would be completely upset with myself for doing something like that, but in this case my attitude was, "Oh well; it's just cosmetic", which I think was due to the fact that it had been such a great day that my mood was as good as it ever gets.

Thanks to Whichway and Delilah for another great day in the mountains.

Here are the pictures.

--

Cumulus

NE111: 115/115 (67/67, 46/46, 2/2); Cat35: 23/39; WNH4K: 29/48; NEFF: 31/50
LT NB 2009

"I don't much care where [I get to] --" said Alice, "-- so long as I get somewhere," ...
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
- Lewis Carroll

 

[Grey J]

I once came down the Mt Kinsman Trail when I meant to take the Kinsman Ridge Trail. I ended up on the wrong side of the mountain. I knew this about half way down but just kept going. For awhile, I did not know Whichway I was going. Took less than an hour to hitchhike back to the Notch though, and a friend of mine has a good story that he loves repeating.

 

[KV]

Nice report and pics Cumulus. I was 1/2 of the crew that brought the flag to North Kinsman this year

It's nice to see the pics of what was out there beyond the soupy cloud cover we had last Saturday, unlike your blue sky pics from Middle Tri.

I was just thinking of hitting this trail (Reel brook to KRT to South Kinsman) sometime this weekend and I think your tr and pics have helped me make the decision.

Thanks.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

... and because they are named for Nathan Kinsman, wouldn't the plural be Kinsmans? If you have Mr and Mrs Kinsman over for dinner, you say "We had the Kinsmans over for dinner", right?

Tim

 

[Cumulus]

If you have Mr and Mrs Kinsman over for dinner, you say "We had the Kinsmans over for dinner", right?

Not necessarily. I can see myself saying, "we had the Kinsmen over for dinner". Besides, if you're going to say that the correct plural of the mountain names follows the plural of the surname, because that's its etymological source, then you could equally say that the correct plural of the surname should follow the plural of the common noun, which is its etymological source, and you're back to Kinsmen.

--

Cumulus

NE111: 115/115 (67/67, 46/46, 2/2); Cat35: 23/39; WNH4K: 29/48; NEFF: 31/50
LT NB 2009

"I don't much care where [I get to] --" said Alice, "-- so long as I get somewhere," ...
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
- Lewis Carroll

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Good argument

Tim

 

[Raymond]

Cumulus, you didn’t hoist the Flags on the 48 flag on Middle Tripyramid in 2010, also, did you? Someone resembling you did, anyway, according to my memory.

Your hike on the 15th was the same as the one I did two years ago on my birthday — that was even the first time I discovered that Kinsman Pond viewpoint ledge — except that I was alone and had to walk back to Reel Brook Road from the Mount Kinsman Trail parking lot. Also, I didn’t run into another person the entire hike, so I seemed to have the range all to myself. That is, until I was trudging back to my car on Paine Road, the road that cuts between two curves of the highway. There I encountered a couple of local residents and their dogs.

Also, I fortunately didn’t bang up my Corolla as badly as you did yours.

Were you able to stay on the trail near Harrington Pond? It was flooded too deeply when I was there, so I took a herd path that had developed.

 

[Cumulus]

Cumulus, you didn’t hoist the Flags on the 48 flag on Middle Tripyramid in 2010, also, did you?

Yep, that was me. I've done Middle Tripyramid five years on a row now.

Were you able to stay on the trail near Harrington Pond?

Yes, by a loose enough definition of "on the trail".

--

Cumulus

NE111: 115/115 (67/67, 46/46, 2/2); Cat35: 23/39; WNH4K: 29/48; NEFF: 31/50
LT NB 2009

"I don't much care where [I get to] --" said Alice, "-- so long as I get somewhere," ...
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
- Lewis Carroll

 

[bikehikeskifish]

You're no help!

I will always refer to the two 4Ks on the Kinsman Ridge Trail south of Cannon as "The Kinsmans", as in "It was a bluebird day on the Kinsmans today."

Tim

 

[Raymond]

Tim: D’oh.

Cumulus, we missed seeing you with the flag raised there in ’10, but my son and I passed you as we were heading to Middle from North and you were heading toward North.