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February 9, 2008 |
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Another hike with Darlene, who brought along a friend, Mike. Today's adventure started during the week with many emails trying to determine how much snow we would find in the mountains after two snow storms, and what the parking situation for the Mt Kinsmans trail would be. Friends from Rot, and VFFT came through will lots of information - thanks!
After going back and forth with email all day Friday with Darlene, we decided to take the standard route - Lonesome Lake, Fishin' Jimmy, Kinsman Ridge Trail. Turns out that 3 hikers from the online forums had hiked there on Friday and were thoughful enough to let us know that they had broken out the trail all the way to South Kinsman through @ 24 inches of fresh snow. We headed north after work Friday night amidst a steady stream of vehicles towing snowmobiles. Arriving at our trailer at a campground in Twin Mountain we were suprised to see only 4 other trailers with people there. Maybe things wouldn't be as crowded as we thought. Saturday morning we woke to cloudy skys - a very gray day, but warm at 20 degrees. After breakfast at Monroe's, we met Darlene and Mike at the trail head. By 9 AM we started out at a quick pace, deciding to forego our snowshoes until we really needed them. Turns out thanks to Tim, Dave, Marc, and a dozen boy scouts we didn't need them at all. 15 minutes into the hike the trail gets steep and we started shedding clothes. As we neared Lonesome Lake the sun came out. Starting across the lake we looked back to a great view of Lafayette and Lincoln. We had friends that were hiking there and sent them a wave. After a quick stop at the hut we started out on the Fishin' Jimmy trail - a trail that has lots of up and downs as it makes it way towards the North Kinsman summit. Along the way we saw several drawings in the snow which brought smiles to our faces. After a quick stop at Kinsman junction for a change of shirts and a snack we headed up to North Kinsman. Unfortuantly the clouds had settled so no view. But that didn't dampen Darlenes spirts - this was her 44th peak on her Winter list. Onward to South Kinsman! Not to far along we ran into Bob and Irene, a couple that we met on our hike of Washington and Monroe two weeks earlier. Some catching up and off we went, seeing trees caked with thick ice along the way. The large piles of snow on branches were rock solid - amazing that the trees can survive conditions like this. We broke out of the treeline to the first real winds of the day and limited visability. Darlene led the way as we approached the large carin that marks the sumitt. A few quick photos and we started our return trip. As we were heading off the summit we ran into another couple of old friends - Tom & Atticus. It was great to catch up with the two of them. The rest of the trip back to the cars was quick - lots of snow makes sliding (some on boots, some on their butts) down the trail quick and fun. We stopped at the hut for another shirt change, water stop, and not long afterwards we were at the cars. It was now snowing with promises of more snow overnight- Sunday was going to be another fun day in this Winter Wonderland! Thanks again Darlene for another great hike - only 3 to go! |
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and our