Sunday, July 29, 2007

Mnt Kinsman

A hike up Kinsman mountain in New Hampshire.

I had taken a few short hikes with Matt and after discussing the next project,  our hiking friend John suggested a trail that we could try on our own.  I wanted to do a hike that involved an overnight stop.


The New Hampshire 4000ft hikes are impressive and quite daunting if you have never done them.  You don't have much idea of where the steep, relentless uphill will end and you have no idea of how long it might take to get to the summit (usually a few hours but it can feel like the whole day).

So Matt, Nick and I set off up the Fishin Jimmy trail to Lonesome Lake and then on to the Kinsman campsite.



We started at about 10 am and were exhausted when we arrived at the Lonesome lake (barely half-way up).  The Hut is an AMC supported hut and has lunch, cookies and lemonade for sale so was a welcome relief.

We arrived at the campsite in the late afternoon and unpacked the tent.  We had split the load but were carrying some rather heavy food with us (cans of food).

The evening was misty and we had a great time getting everything set up for bed.

In the morning we left our packs behind and headed off to find the Kinsman summit.  Neither Matt nor Nick were much interested in doing South Kinsman, which we subsequently discovered is only really reachable from this side so I am going to have to do this one again if I intend to get all the 4000ft mountains under the belt.