Jason Berard
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I reserved three bunks at Lonesome Lake Hut a few weeks ago, to celebrate my birthday, and hike the Kinsmans with a couple of friends. I always wonder if the weather will cooperate when I reserve a bunk somewhere for hiking. As the 24th approached, the forecast kept getting better and better. I couldn't believe our luck. Sunday was forecast to be mostly sunny, with temps around 20 degrees, and winds around 30mph at 4000ft. Past of me figured, this being New England and all, that this was too good to be true, and we would wake up to a cold grey sky sunday morning.
On Friday Greg had to cancel, so it was just John and I in the pick-up on the way to Franconia Notch saturday afternoon. When we got to the trailhead both of us geared up and put on our snowshoes, and headed up the well packed trail. Headed in the opposite direction were a bunch of kids flying down the hill, being trailed by a couple adults, all with perma-grins! It was definitely a good start to our weekend in the woods.
We got to the hut ( around the lake, not over it, as there was a sign warning of thin ice....which I thought was strange) around 3:30, grabbed our bunks, and went to sign up for a cooking time. While we waited, we played a couple hands of cribbage, both of which I lost! I thought I was pretty good, too! After that, we just hung out and talked with the people around us. We met some people from Quebec, and Mass.who were up for Friday and Saturday night. I went over to the log book to sign us in, and saw Albee's entry for his 48w! congrats ! Outside it was 0 degrees, but with 48 hot sweaty hikers, a 6 burner gas stove going full bore, and a wood stove that just got loaded up, it was nearly 60 degrees and 85% humidity in there according to the weather unit on the wall!
At 9:30, as the caretaker was getting ready to shut off the gas lights, we headed off to bed. The sky had completely cleared off and the stars were beautiful! When we got to bunk room #6, we were warned by all 6 other people in the room, that they all snored!!
Fortunately, I had my trusty earplugs, and slept like a baby! When I woke up at 6:30 the next morning, there was ice all over the front of my sleeping bag, as well as the walls of the room, but I was toasty in my new sleeping bag!!
We got up, had breakfast, packed up, and hit the trail. Fishin' Jimmy trail was beautiful, although it was hard to get a rhythm. Lots of short ups and downs.The sky was crystal clear, and it was 15 degrees. As we rounded a bend we got our first glimpse of North Kinsman. It looked like the wind was blowing up there, but nothing too major. We could see some snow blowing off the summit. From there to the Kinsman junction we were serenaded by chickadees. We also saw something that looked like a female bluebird, although I can't imagine thats possible. We also heard, but did not see a bird that sounded like a robin!!
We didn't head to the pond, as I had a birthday party to go to for my nephew later that afternoon. As we ascended up the Kinsman Ridge Trail, the views began to open up towards Franconia Ridge, which was so clear, it looked like you could reach out and touch it! To the North, we could see Mt. Pisgah, Miles Mtn., and the back side of Burke! By now we were on a somewhat exposed stretch of trail, just below the top, and realized there was NO WIND! About the same time we started to see views to the west of the Greens from below Killington(I think) all the way north to Jay Peak!!! I just couldn't get over how much we could see. When we got to the top, we went straight to the lookout, and got a good view of Lonesome Lake below us. A minute later 3 kids ages 9 to 11 and an adult came up to check out the view. They unfolded summit flags they had made, and had their picture taken. We told them they rocked, and I thought to myself "I cant wait till I can share a moment like that with my kids."
We headed off to S. Kinsman and decided after hitting the bottom of the col, that we'd leave our packs and head up without them. The trees here looked like crazy drip castles at the beach.....really cool! From the cairn on the top of S. Kinsman we could see Bondcliff and Bond in the sag between Liberty and Haystack, as well as the Osceolas, Hancocks, Chocorua, Passaconaway, and Carrigain. There was still no wind, and no clouds at all. I just couldn't believe our good fortune, to be out here on such a rare day in the whites, in the winter. Just to the south, we could see Moosilauke, which looks absolutely massive from this vantage point. We took a few minutes to gawk and take pictures, and then headed down, where we met 3 more hikers who had followed our lead and left their packs in the sag.
After picking our packs back up, we made good time back to kinsman Junction, where we grabbed a bite to eat, and a guzzle off the water bottles, and headed up, and down , and up, and down the Fishin' Jimmy trail. The end of this trail, the ups in particular, kicked my a$&! I really needed a break when wee got back to the hut, so we dropped our packs and headed inside. There was no one around except the caretaker, what a difference from when we'd left that morning! She said they were empty till friday night. I asked her about the birds on FJT, and she said several other people had also claimed to have seen bluebirds and robins that winter....weird!
The rest of the trip back to the truck was uneventful, and we were back at the road at 4:15( plenty of time to get me to Barnet, VT in time for the birthday party! Thanks John, for coming along! Sorry you had to cancel Greg.
slideshow here
On Friday Greg had to cancel, so it was just John and I in the pick-up on the way to Franconia Notch saturday afternoon. When we got to the trailhead both of us geared up and put on our snowshoes, and headed up the well packed trail. Headed in the opposite direction were a bunch of kids flying down the hill, being trailed by a couple adults, all with perma-grins! It was definitely a good start to our weekend in the woods.
We got to the hut ( around the lake, not over it, as there was a sign warning of thin ice....which I thought was strange) around 3:30, grabbed our bunks, and went to sign up for a cooking time. While we waited, we played a couple hands of cribbage, both of which I lost! I thought I was pretty good, too! After that, we just hung out and talked with the people around us. We met some people from Quebec, and Mass.who were up for Friday and Saturday night. I went over to the log book to sign us in, and saw Albee's entry for his 48w! congrats ! Outside it was 0 degrees, but with 48 hot sweaty hikers, a 6 burner gas stove going full bore, and a wood stove that just got loaded up, it was nearly 60 degrees and 85% humidity in there according to the weather unit on the wall!
At 9:30, as the caretaker was getting ready to shut off the gas lights, we headed off to bed. The sky had completely cleared off and the stars were beautiful! When we got to bunk room #6, we were warned by all 6 other people in the room, that they all snored!!
Fortunately, I had my trusty earplugs, and slept like a baby! When I woke up at 6:30 the next morning, there was ice all over the front of my sleeping bag, as well as the walls of the room, but I was toasty in my new sleeping bag!!We got up, had breakfast, packed up, and hit the trail. Fishin' Jimmy trail was beautiful, although it was hard to get a rhythm. Lots of short ups and downs.The sky was crystal clear, and it was 15 degrees. As we rounded a bend we got our first glimpse of North Kinsman. It looked like the wind was blowing up there, but nothing too major. We could see some snow blowing off the summit. From there to the Kinsman junction we were serenaded by chickadees. We also saw something that looked like a female bluebird, although I can't imagine thats possible. We also heard, but did not see a bird that sounded like a robin!!
We didn't head to the pond, as I had a birthday party to go to for my nephew later that afternoon. As we ascended up the Kinsman Ridge Trail, the views began to open up towards Franconia Ridge, which was so clear, it looked like you could reach out and touch it! To the North, we could see Mt. Pisgah, Miles Mtn., and the back side of Burke! By now we were on a somewhat exposed stretch of trail, just below the top, and realized there was NO WIND! About the same time we started to see views to the west of the Greens from below Killington(I think) all the way north to Jay Peak!!! I just couldn't get over how much we could see. When we got to the top, we went straight to the lookout, and got a good view of Lonesome Lake below us. A minute later 3 kids ages 9 to 11 and an adult came up to check out the view. They unfolded summit flags they had made, and had their picture taken. We told them they rocked, and I thought to myself "I cant wait till I can share a moment like that with my kids."
We headed off to S. Kinsman and decided after hitting the bottom of the col, that we'd leave our packs and head up without them. The trees here looked like crazy drip castles at the beach.....really cool! From the cairn on the top of S. Kinsman we could see Bondcliff and Bond in the sag between Liberty and Haystack, as well as the Osceolas, Hancocks, Chocorua, Passaconaway, and Carrigain. There was still no wind, and no clouds at all. I just couldn't believe our good fortune, to be out here on such a rare day in the whites, in the winter. Just to the south, we could see Moosilauke, which looks absolutely massive from this vantage point. We took a few minutes to gawk and take pictures, and then headed down, where we met 3 more hikers who had followed our lead and left their packs in the sag.
After picking our packs back up, we made good time back to kinsman Junction, where we grabbed a bite to eat, and a guzzle off the water bottles, and headed up, and down , and up, and down the Fishin' Jimmy trail. The end of this trail, the ups in particular, kicked my a$&! I really needed a break when wee got back to the hut, so we dropped our packs and headed inside. There was no one around except the caretaker, what a difference from when we'd left that morning! She said they were empty till friday night. I asked her about the birds on FJT, and she said several other people had also claimed to have seen bluebirds and robins that winter....weird!
The rest of the trip back to the truck was uneventful, and we were back at the road at 4:15( plenty of time to get me to Barnet, VT in time for the birthday party! Thanks John, for coming along! Sorry you had to cancel Greg.
slideshow here
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