OldMan
New member
I pulled into the Lafayette Campground parking around 7:30 AM. The air was cold and it was snowing lightly as I geared up. Just as I was leaving another car pulled up, a hiker on an AMC hike that was meeting his group for 8:00. I was thankful to find the Lonesome Lake Trail was packed out with a light dusting of fresh snow that had fallen this morning. I did not expect to be as lucky beyond the hut. The hike up to Lonesome Lake went by quickly. Lots of wabbit tracks as I approached the lake.
I did not see any fresh snowshoe tracks across the lake so I decided not to chance a crossing and took the trail around. I stopped at the hut to have a snack and drink and chat with the caretaker. She had just arrived the night before and wasn’t sure about the trail conditions to the Kinsman’s. As I was leaving the hut a mother and daughter hiking team just arrived and headed into the hut. I got about 100 yards down the Fishin Jimmy Trail to find the snowshoe tracks turn around. Looks like I’ll be breaking trail today. The snow on the trail was powder and varied from 6” to a foot or more deep. I kept moving slowly forward, getting a great workout! After a while the mother/daughter team had caught up to me and offered to break trail for a while. Sounded good to me… We traded off a few times along the Fishin Jimmy Trail. On the last section before the Kinsman Ridge Trail they got a good lead on me and continued on breaking trail up to the north summit. Boy I felt like and old man. The fresh snow along the Kinsman Ridge Trail was easily a 12” to 18” of powder. The trail sign at the Kinsman Pond junction was nearly buried.
I ran into the mother/daughter team again just before the north summit as they were heading down. They decided on not continuing on to the south summit. I apologized for not being able to keep up with them to trade off the trail breaking and thanked them for all their hard work.
On North Kinsman I stopped for a quick picture before heading off to break trail to South Kinsman.
The snow in places was very deep but the trail was easy to follow. I had a track on my GPS from the same trip last summer so a quick check now and then gave me the reassurance that I was still on the trail. Every once in a while the sky opened up to expose some blue providing a great contrast against the very white snow.
As I arrived on the south peak it was later than I had planned, 1:30. South Kinsman has 2 bumps. Not being sure which was taller so I hiked to both. The southern bump had a large cairn. My GPS showed the peak on the 1st bump but the GPS elevation on the 2nd bump appeared higher.
I had not yet stopped for lunch but it was to windy and cold on the summit so I hiked down a ways and stopped to eat. I wasn’t worried about the time as I knew the trip out on a broken trail would be quick. Just as I finished my lunch, the AMC group was coming down the trail. This was great. With 8 or so hikers the trail was now very well packed and my return trip would be easy.
Every so often the sky presented an opportunity for a picture.
Some of the steep sections of the Fishin Jimmy resulted in unplanned butt slides. I’m practicing sliding down the steep sections on my snowshoes and getting better at it but when I fail, it turns into a butt slide. On one particular steep section I was gliding down on my butt when the trail suddenly makes a sharp left… my body did not…. whoosh into a spruce trap. With my legs tucked under me my calf muscles instantly cramped. I quickly rolled over onto my stomach to stretch out my legs. My arms stretched out and nothing. I could not touch bottom and my face was sucking snow. It would have made a funny picture. Bending my knees I managed to find a branch and right myself. Man the unpacked snow was deep. I was soon back on the trail and looking forward to the sight of the hut.
Down at the lake I could see that some brave souls had tracked across the ice so I decided to take the short cut. The view in both directions from the middle of the lake was incredible.
The rest of the trip out went by quickly and I arrived back at my car by 4:00. A great day to be hiking!
I did not see any fresh snowshoe tracks across the lake so I decided not to chance a crossing and took the trail around. I stopped at the hut to have a snack and drink and chat with the caretaker. She had just arrived the night before and wasn’t sure about the trail conditions to the Kinsman’s. As I was leaving the hut a mother and daughter hiking team just arrived and headed into the hut. I got about 100 yards down the Fishin Jimmy Trail to find the snowshoe tracks turn around. Looks like I’ll be breaking trail today. The snow on the trail was powder and varied from 6” to a foot or more deep. I kept moving slowly forward, getting a great workout! After a while the mother/daughter team had caught up to me and offered to break trail for a while. Sounded good to me… We traded off a few times along the Fishin Jimmy Trail. On the last section before the Kinsman Ridge Trail they got a good lead on me and continued on breaking trail up to the north summit. Boy I felt like and old man. The fresh snow along the Kinsman Ridge Trail was easily a 12” to 18” of powder. The trail sign at the Kinsman Pond junction was nearly buried.
I ran into the mother/daughter team again just before the north summit as they were heading down. They decided on not continuing on to the south summit. I apologized for not being able to keep up with them to trade off the trail breaking and thanked them for all their hard work.
On North Kinsman I stopped for a quick picture before heading off to break trail to South Kinsman.
The snow in places was very deep but the trail was easy to follow. I had a track on my GPS from the same trip last summer so a quick check now and then gave me the reassurance that I was still on the trail. Every once in a while the sky opened up to expose some blue providing a great contrast against the very white snow.
As I arrived on the south peak it was later than I had planned, 1:30. South Kinsman has 2 bumps. Not being sure which was taller so I hiked to both. The southern bump had a large cairn. My GPS showed the peak on the 1st bump but the GPS elevation on the 2nd bump appeared higher.
I had not yet stopped for lunch but it was to windy and cold on the summit so I hiked down a ways and stopped to eat. I wasn’t worried about the time as I knew the trip out on a broken trail would be quick. Just as I finished my lunch, the AMC group was coming down the trail. This was great. With 8 or so hikers the trail was now very well packed and my return trip would be easy.
Every so often the sky presented an opportunity for a picture.
Some of the steep sections of the Fishin Jimmy resulted in unplanned butt slides. I’m practicing sliding down the steep sections on my snowshoes and getting better at it but when I fail, it turns into a butt slide. On one particular steep section I was gliding down on my butt when the trail suddenly makes a sharp left… my body did not…. whoosh into a spruce trap. With my legs tucked under me my calf muscles instantly cramped. I quickly rolled over onto my stomach to stretch out my legs. My arms stretched out and nothing. I could not touch bottom and my face was sucking snow. It would have made a funny picture. Bending my knees I managed to find a branch and right myself. Man the unpacked snow was deep. I was soon back on the trail and looking forward to the sight of the hut.
Down at the lake I could see that some brave souls had tracked across the ice so I decided to take the short cut. The view in both directions from the middle of the lake was incredible.
The rest of the trip out went by quickly and I arrived back at my car by 4:00. A great day to be hiking!
