Noon Peak and Jennings Peak - 3/9/14

Dates - March 9, 2014

Peaks - Noon Peak and Jennings Peak

Trails - Sandwich Mountain Trail and Drake's Brook Trail

Companions - Dorothy

Got a late start and hit the trail, after the time change, at 12:45 p.m. Headed up Sandwich Mountain Trail to Noon Peak without issue. Mild temperature with a little bit of wind cutting through the trees. A nice view of Tecumseh and the Tripyramids from the scenic viewpoint right before Noon Peak. Beautiful southerly view from Jenning's Peak viewpoint, where we enjoyed a couple of PB&J sandwiches. Met another hiker and his dog there, who was also interested in the PB&J's. Didn't stay too long. Turned around and headed down Drake's Brook Trail to close the loop. Was planning on doing some back country sledding on our butt sleds but found the snow to be a little too hard due to the volume of usage of the trail and the warmer weather the days before. Did get a few nice sections of sliding in, though. Finished the loop in 3:30 total. No issues anywhere re blow downs or otherwise.

Didn't cross anything off my lists, but a nice little hike anyways.

 Tripyramids in the background.

Beautiful southerly view (and girl).

North & South Kinsman and Cannonballs w/ Overnight - 3/1/14

Dates - March 1 & 2, 2014

Peaks - North Kinsman, South Kinsman, Cannonballs (43/48 and 48/100)

Trails - Lonesome Lake Trail, Fishin' Jimmy Trail, Kinsman Ridge Trail

Companions - Ted & Sonsie

Early departure on Saturday from Lafayette Place. Parking lot was full. Pretty nippy out to start - maybe hovering around 0 w/o windchill. Headed up Lonesome Lake Trail then Fishin' Jimmy Trail w/ full packs to our overnight location of Kinsman Pond. Trail was very nicely packed the entire way and we enjoyed the shortcut across Lonesome Lake. Refueled a little and refilled water at the Hut along the way. Microspikes were used and sufficient that entire time. After ditching our gear at Kinsman Pond Shelter, continued up the ridge to tag North and South peaks. Micros still sufficient throughout. Came upon a large group on our way back, likely an AMC group? Got in a little backcountry sledding on some butt sleds as well, enjoyable as always, though Sonsie is not a fan. Turned out to be some great views, despite the overcast forecast. Pics from the way up:

 Some ice and Sonsie.

 Kinsman Pond.

 Franconia Ridge!

 Loon Mountain?

 Back along Kinsman Ridge from South Kinsman summit.

 Cairn atop South Kinsman.

 Another pooch.

 On Kinsmand Pond.

Kinsman Pond Shelter.

Upon returning to the shelter we came across another group and had a chat, but they were on their way out. Thought we were going to have company in the shelter based on other gear there, so set up a tent on a platform to get some solitude, but then that group ended up leaving so we returned to the shelter for the night. Explored the pond a bit and got to enjoy a little sunlight post-hike for a change. Much warmer throughout Saturday night than it was the night before. Slept on the upper loft in the shelter and had no temperature complaints.

Sunday took our time getting up, greeted by about 3 inches of new snowfall, and eventually headed off with full packs again. When we reached the cross roads, we decided to tag Cannonballs while we were at it. Turned out to be much more strenuous than anticipated, but ultimately am glad we tagged it. Path from Kinsman Pond all the way over to where it meets back up with Lonesome Lake Trail in the notch was not quite packed enough for micros, so had to switch to snowshoes. Also did a pretty poor job of topographicating and thought we had summitted the last of the knolls when in fact we weren't even close. In any event, finally finished it up, swung back through the hut on the way back past the lake, and then sledded most of the way down to the cars. Very exhausted by the end of it due to the pack weight. Slightly less views than the day before, but decent. Some more pics:

 Cannon.

 Across Lonesome Lake.

 Tuckered out pooch.

What I Didn't Bring But Wish I Did: A third pair of socks

What I Brought But Didn't Need: Tent

Reflection: