DiamondRidge
New member
- Joined
- May 27, 2009
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- 14
Planned a fun Memorial Day Weekend trip with MooseMaiden and Waterhorse. We thought we'd start on Saturday, hike up to Kinsman Pond, camp, summit North and South Kinsman on Sunday, camp again, and then come down the same way on Monday... Saturday evening's weather forecast resulted in a last minute change of plans (Trish, Alex and Sage - who we were planning to meet up with - agreed that it was best to wait until Sunday)...
Early Sunday I got up, got last minute stuff packed, and headed into the girls' room to wake my sleeping hikers... MooseMaiden woke up slowly, but Waterhorse bounced right up, ready to go. Got everyone dressed and ready and into the car we went. Got on the road right about 4:45am with plans for boots on trail at 5:30. The Lafayette Place parking lot was significantly emptier than I expected it to be, leaving me wondering if I had missed something in the forecast. Put boots on the trail at 5:40am, pretty close to on target. Made our way as quietly as a six and ten year old can through the campground and then onto Lonesome Lake Trail. Waterhorse started to struggle pretty early on, needing frequent breaks and getting a bit whiny. Now, she's six, and I got her up early, so I had expected some whining, but its not like her to stop as often or for as long as she was asking to, so I was worried that this might not be the day we were planning... We got about 1/2 way to the hut and Waterhorse had had enough - she just wasn't feeling it. My ultimate goal on any of our hikes if for everyone to be safe and to have fun. If she wasn't feeling it, she wasn't going to be having fun, and Fishin' Jimmy wasn't going to be safe. So we turned around. Fortunately, her Nonie was able to meet us back in Lincoln and Waterhorse got to hang with the grandparents for the weekend while MooseMaiden and I continued on as planned.
We got back to the trailhead and put boots back on trail somewhere right around 9:00. Made good time to the hut and then worked our way slowly up Fishin' Jimmy to the Kinsman Pond Tent Sites. Got lucky and snagged a platform as folks were leaving for the day (good thing too, since all of the platforms would be taken that night). Met up with Trish, Hugh, and the girls, who were just headed up to do the Kinsmans. We passed on the summits for the afternoon, deciding that, mentally, we'd do better to summit the next morning when we were fresh. Set up camp, crawled into the tent, and fell asleep for a bit. I woke up to MooseMaiden poking me and saying she was hungry.. Eventually, she got me to get up and we shared some yummy food. Went exploring around the shelter and the pond, enjoyed the views and the solitude of the pond... Had a bit of grub with Trish and the gang after they returned from their hike and then went to bed.
The thunderboomers were GREAT! MooseMaiden had her first "backpacking in a thunderstorm" experience and, with the exception of jumping out of her sleeping bag with the first big boom, she slept right through it. I enjoyed the show and was eventually lulled to sleep by the rain on the tent fly.
Monday morning brought us a leisurely start and a day that promised to be lovely. Packed up camp fairly efficiently, bid our good days to Trish and the fam, and headed up Kinsman Ridge Trail to attempt North and South Kinsman. MooseMaiden had declared that we were NOT going back down Fishin' Jimmy after the rain we had on Sunday night, so we had decided to head down Mt Kinsman Trail, which worked out well because we got to drop our heavy packs at the trail junction and head up to the summits with just the essentials. Made good time up to North Kinsman, enjoyed some non-existant views, then headed down to go up South Kinsman. The views were interesting off of South Kinsman, it was still fairly early in the day and the fog hadn't burned off yet, so we could only see the outlines of the mountains in the distance - it was pretty neat. Also found one of the DC memorial rocks that had been placed on the summit cairn - MooseMaiden thought that was a nice remembrance.
The way out took longer than expected due to the mud and overall tired nature of our beings. But we had fun on our way down, stood in the stream crossings to cool our feet and legs - amazing what a little cold water will do for a body
. Made it down to the parking lot where we waited for the ride that we had called for. Another family came down a bit after we did and offered us a ride to meet our ride, which was wonderful - THANK YOU!
Got home, put MooseMaiden directly into the shower, hugged my little Waterhorse, and finished my weekend with a smile.
Congratulations to MooseMaiden on numbers 17 and 18!
Early Sunday I got up, got last minute stuff packed, and headed into the girls' room to wake my sleeping hikers... MooseMaiden woke up slowly, but Waterhorse bounced right up, ready to go. Got everyone dressed and ready and into the car we went. Got on the road right about 4:45am with plans for boots on trail at 5:30. The Lafayette Place parking lot was significantly emptier than I expected it to be, leaving me wondering if I had missed something in the forecast. Put boots on the trail at 5:40am, pretty close to on target. Made our way as quietly as a six and ten year old can through the campground and then onto Lonesome Lake Trail. Waterhorse started to struggle pretty early on, needing frequent breaks and getting a bit whiny. Now, she's six, and I got her up early, so I had expected some whining, but its not like her to stop as often or for as long as she was asking to, so I was worried that this might not be the day we were planning... We got about 1/2 way to the hut and Waterhorse had had enough - she just wasn't feeling it. My ultimate goal on any of our hikes if for everyone to be safe and to have fun. If she wasn't feeling it, she wasn't going to be having fun, and Fishin' Jimmy wasn't going to be safe. So we turned around. Fortunately, her Nonie was able to meet us back in Lincoln and Waterhorse got to hang with the grandparents for the weekend while MooseMaiden and I continued on as planned.
We got back to the trailhead and put boots back on trail somewhere right around 9:00. Made good time to the hut and then worked our way slowly up Fishin' Jimmy to the Kinsman Pond Tent Sites. Got lucky and snagged a platform as folks were leaving for the day (good thing too, since all of the platforms would be taken that night). Met up with Trish, Hugh, and the girls, who were just headed up to do the Kinsmans. We passed on the summits for the afternoon, deciding that, mentally, we'd do better to summit the next morning when we were fresh. Set up camp, crawled into the tent, and fell asleep for a bit. I woke up to MooseMaiden poking me and saying she was hungry.. Eventually, she got me to get up and we shared some yummy food. Went exploring around the shelter and the pond, enjoyed the views and the solitude of the pond... Had a bit of grub with Trish and the gang after they returned from their hike and then went to bed.
The thunderboomers were GREAT! MooseMaiden had her first "backpacking in a thunderstorm" experience and, with the exception of jumping out of her sleeping bag with the first big boom, she slept right through it. I enjoyed the show and was eventually lulled to sleep by the rain on the tent fly.
Monday morning brought us a leisurely start and a day that promised to be lovely. Packed up camp fairly efficiently, bid our good days to Trish and the fam, and headed up Kinsman Ridge Trail to attempt North and South Kinsman. MooseMaiden had declared that we were NOT going back down Fishin' Jimmy after the rain we had on Sunday night, so we had decided to head down Mt Kinsman Trail, which worked out well because we got to drop our heavy packs at the trail junction and head up to the summits with just the essentials. Made good time up to North Kinsman, enjoyed some non-existant views, then headed down to go up South Kinsman. The views were interesting off of South Kinsman, it was still fairly early in the day and the fog hadn't burned off yet, so we could only see the outlines of the mountains in the distance - it was pretty neat. Also found one of the DC memorial rocks that had been placed on the summit cairn - MooseMaiden thought that was a nice remembrance.
The way out took longer than expected due to the mud and overall tired nature of our beings. But we had fun on our way down, stood in the stream crossings to cool our feet and legs - amazing what a little cold water will do for a body
. Made it down to the parking lot where we waited for the ride that we had called for. Another family came down a bit after we did and offered us a ride to meet our ride, which was wonderful - THANK YOU!Got home, put MooseMaiden directly into the shower, hugged my little Waterhorse, and finished my weekend with a smile.
Congratulations to MooseMaiden on numbers 17 and 18!
