Winter Hut trip to New Hampshire's Lonesome lake hut
This was my first time taking my girlfriend Tracey out in winter, and her first time ever hiking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. With anticipated temperatures inside the unheated bunk rooms estimated at -5F for the weekend, this was NOT an ultralight trip -- I packed TONS, confident in the knowledge that I'd only need to carry it 1.6 miles up to the hut before disgorging it into the 4 person bunk room that Tracey, Myself, my brother Daniel, and our friend Jason had all reserved. Drove up sans brother on Friday afternoon in time to eat lunch at the Woodstock Inn Brewery and Pub (excellent place - highly recommend it!) .
Arriving at the Lafayette Campground parking lot by 2pm, we quickly changed into clothing appropriate for the cold 10F conditions, and headed up the trail.
Hiking across the windswept and solidly frozen Lonesome Lake, the crisp views behind us of the Franconia Ridge, and the majestic Mt. Lafayette granted a measure of high mountain thrill to Tracey, seeing it for the first time was as amazed by its grand beauty as I am every time I visit New Hampshire.
After getting to the hut at 3pm, I quickly got situated in our bunkroom and then promptly headed back down the trail to meet my brother at the parking lot and hike back up with him. Unbeknownst to him, we had bought a Growler of a nice local brew he likes, and I carried it up in my pack as we arrived at the hut just in time to turn out headlamps on at 6:20pm.
Having finished a wonderful dinner of freshly cooked chicken, roasted onions, peppers, and garlic all over some cous cous and olive oil, we enjoyed chatting and some hard-handed games of Hearts before leaving the relative warmth of the main hut, and heading for out cabin, reading a chilly -5F* as we turned in for the night, estimating that the evening's low was -10F overnight.
Up bright and early by 6:30am to frosted windows and cold air, we ate a simply breakfast of oatmeal and hot chocolate, before loading up for the day and heading off into the clear 10F air and amazing winter wonderland of the trails.
Our goal for the day was to summit North and South Kinsman, adding two peaks bagged to the ever shortening list by brother and Jason have been trying to slowly eat away over the course of a year. With packed trail speeding us along, we switched into Microspikes, and carried our snowshoes.
We had hoped to accomplish a 6 mile out-and-back over the course of the day, but finding the trail packed down, the weather mild (for New Hampshire) and the views magnificent, we decided to include Sunday's hike as well, and turn out 6 mile day into a 10 mile day, including breaking 1.5 miles of trail across the Cannonballs to summit Cannon Mt., before heading back to the hut via a different route.
Our goal for the day was to summit North and South Kinsman, adding two peaks bagged to the ever shortening list by brother and Jason have been trying to slowly eat away over the course of a year. With packed trail speeding us along, we switched into Microspikes, and carried our snowshoes.
We had hoped to accomplish a 6 mile out-and-back over the course of the day, but finding the trail packed down, the weather mild (for New Hampshire) and the views magnificent, we decided to include Sunday's hike as well, and turn out 6 mile day into a 10 mile day, including breaking 1.5 miles of trail across the Cannonballs to summit Cannon Mt., before heading back to the hut via a different route.
Great success ! Just minutes away from summiting Cannon Mt. and enjoying a quick warm up at the ski hut over the top. With two miles back to the hut, we didn't wait long, but bundled up and soon headed back toward dinner and a warm fire at the hut.
A nice 10 mile day with the smiles to prove it ! Peak-bagging Jason and Daniel led the charge in front for most of the day, and I took up the rear with Tracey and simply enjoyed the views. I was reminded of how hard hiking the White Mountain is, and was amazed that my seemingly tireless girlfriend could just up and do an all day hike that not a single other group of hikers attempted while we were there!
A nice 10 mile day with the smiles to prove it ! Peak-bagging Jason and Daniel led the charge in front for most of the day, and I took up the rear with Tracey and simply enjoyed the views. I was reminded of how hard hiking the White Mountain is, and was amazed that my seemingly tireless girlfriend could just up and do an all day hike that not a single other group of hikers attempted while we were there!
With the sun's rays basking the ridge-lines in an autumnal glow, we proudly made it back before sunset, tired but elated at the amazing day that we had enjoyed hiking 3 peaks over 4,000 feet in one day !
Shown here is the wall map of the area - showing our modified loop / out-and-back hike to summit North then South Kinsman, cross the Cannonballs and then summit Cannon Mt. before heading back down the Lonesome Lake Hut.
Sunday morning dawned cloudy and grey - furthering out joy of having hiked all our peaks on Saturday while the weather was still beautiful !
Packing up for the long drive back to MA, CT, and NY for various members of our intrepid band, we crossed over the frozen lake one final time, bidding farewell to the mountains that had provided more than we had hoped for in an excellent weekend of hiking !
Packing up for the long drive back to MA, CT, and NY for various members of our intrepid band, we crossed over the frozen lake one final time, bidding farewell to the mountains that had provided more than we had hoped for in an excellent weekend of hiking !
Smiles, sweat, butt sliding down steep trails, pushing low tree branches out of our way, calling the steep trail "ridiculous B*** S***", drinking whisky, eating cous-cous, cocoa, cards, cold beer, cold butts on toilet seats, frozen beards, fantastic photos, fabulous friends.
Another great Hike !
Another Peak - Another Valley !