Discussion: Kinsman

Rhonda and I had a memorable winter hiking trip up from the Easton side to Kinsman Pond in about 1991. Bitter cold, but not much snow, which made getting water pretty dicey. We picked up a golden retriever at a trail jct on the way up and he stayed with us the whole time. Crampons on top, as the trail was sheer ice. For some reason we decided to stay in the lean-to by the pond instead of in a tent, and it was really cold. Had to nibble on m&ms all night to stay warm enough, and since we also had to feed the dog (and wrap him up in my coat at night), we cut the trip short and went back down in the morning. He stopped at the trail jct to shake hands, and then went on his way home.

I like the Kinsman's and it seemed a good destination for Jackson. He's been backpacking now for 3 years (started in Kindergarten) and its probably his most favorite thing to do. Of course I'm carrying most of the heavy stuff - tent and food - but he's carrying water, sleeping bag, pad and clothing so its still pretty respectable. Plus he's been asking to climb Cannon Mt for a couple years now - I'm not 100% why Cannon over other 4000's, but Cannon it is...

My dad grew up over on the Easton side of the ridge, though as kids we never did any hiking in the area, but the past 25 years or so I seem to gravitate to the Kinsman/Franconia region repeatedly even though there are still many areas in the whites I haven't done.

My own memorable winter trip in the area was probably about '87 or '88 and did a winter trip with the AMC. Camped about 1/2m beyond Lonesome Lake on the Fishin Jimmy Trail. Anyway, our destination was Cannon Mtn and we had plenty of snow requiring full snowshoes. Coming down from Cannon I caught a snowshoe tip on some buried spruce and went headfirst downslope. Happened pretty fast and don't recall all the details but when I came to a stop my ice axe tip had punctured my jacket in the middle of my abdomen, but for reasons unknown stopped there. I don't know why I didn't end up impaled on the damn thing but from that day on, the ice axe stayed strapped to the pack unless we were above treeline on hardpack...

I still wear that particular jacket (oversized shell, so it only comes out in really nasty weather) with its hole and all....