Sunday February 27, 2005

North & South Kinsman

Today we headed to the summits of North & South Kinsmans with a stop at the AMC hut at Lonesome Lake.

This is the route we took today up to the summit of Kinsmans.

Directions to the trailhead: Rte 93 north to exit 34c (1st exit for Kinsmans Mountain). Go under Rte 93 and turn left to head south on Rte 93. A mile or south of the exit turn into the Layfayette Place Campground.

Time to summit:
North Kinsman - 3:00
Sotuh Kinsman - 3:40

This is the profile of the hike.

A 3-D view of our hike.

We started our hike under blue skies at the Lafayette Campground. 15 minutes later it was time for Geri to loose a layer.

Looking across Lonesome Lake we see our destination for the day.

Looking back across the lake we have a nice view of Lafayette and Lincoln. These were the only clouds we would see all day.

Across the lake we join the trail again which leads up to the AMC hut.

Just under 1 hour after we started we reach the hut. The temp had warmed up to 10 degrees.

Inside the hut is a large stuffed snake.

There were about 15 people in the hut finishing breakfast when we arrived. We stopped 15 minn to 'reorganize' and check the posted weather report. Forecast from the hut said winds would be blowing 70-100 mph on the summits! No wonder the clouds over Lincoln/Lafayette were moving so fast.

There is a lot of snow high up in the mountains.

This is the only ice we saw all day. Last month when Bob was here this was a solid chunk of glare ice.

The trail was very well packed by prevous hikers. We bare-booted the entire way to both North and South Kinsman.

Through the trees we could see the bright blue sky. Although with the views came an opening for the wind. It was indeed gusty, but protected enough that we never experienced the forecasted winds.

Almost there! Geri viewing the summit of North Kinsman. As you can see we carried our snow shoes and crampons with us, but did not use them.

One down - one to go! 3 hours from the parking lot we reached North Kinsman. We ran into a couple just below the summit who were descending and stopped long enough for a warm hello.

We paused on the summit long enough to snap some pics and eat an energy bar before moving on. The trail from this point on was not packed out as well as it was up to the summit of North Kinsman - it was still easy to do in just boots, just rougher and narrower.

Geri managed to grab the camera again!

The last leg is basically above tree line. The winds were gusting to 50+ mph.

And here we are at the summit of South Kinsman - about 40 minn traverse from North K.

Another angle showing Liberty and Flume in the background. The views were 360 degrees and just spectacular. As a hiker mentioned yesterday - the sky was so blue it was purple.

Looking South West we see Moosilauke with its snow covered summit.

Geri decided you all needed to see me again.

Time to head back before we freeze. That's North Kinsman in the background.

So pretty - the camera just doesn't do it justice.

A shot of North Kinsman with Kinsman Pond below.

Back at North Kinsman we stop at the 'view' on a ledge out of the wind and enjoy some lunch.

The trip back to the AMC Hut was almost an hour shorter than our ascent. Here is Geri demonstrating good sliding technique. Overall we finished the hike in just under 7 hours -- this included hut stops both directions and many photo ops.

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