North and South Kinsman, 7 July 2015
We started from the Lafayette Campground up the Lonesome Lake Trail. This trail is relatively easy, some steep areas with no stream crossings or scrambling. We took a short break at the AMC Lonesome Lake Hut (2760 el) we downed some soup and cake and continued on Fishin Jimmy Trail. It was raining periodically which made this a difficult and at times dangerous trail to climb. The trail is covered in moss which made the hike slow. Some minor stream crossings, plenty of rock scrambling. Our objective for the day was to summit North and South Kinsman, camp overnight at the Kinsman Pond Shelter (3700 el) and climb Cannon Mountain the next day.
As the day wore on it was apparent that we would have to summit all three mountains tomorrow, the day was getting late and the rain made the hike to Kinsman Pond difficult and slow. We arrived at Kinsman Pond Shelter around 4PM and were able to camp inside a platform shelter with four thru hikers from Georgia. We heated up some noodles, sat by the lake for a while and called it a night. Savannah complained that her feet were dirty so I told her to go inside my backpack and use some baby wipes to clean them, I should have been more specific and told her to only use one or two wipes because before bedding down I discovered the PILE of wipes that she had used, an entire package of about 100 to clean her two tiny feet!! Closed out day three with a decent back to the Lafayette Trailhead and headed home. Overall another great trip, we never made it to Cannon Mountain but will eventually.
3550 Total Elevation Gain 11.4 Miles total.
