After breakfast at the Greek restaurant / diner in town, we checked out of the Autumn Breeze Motel (nice place) and called the Shuttle Connections lady again and got shuttled back to the trail around 9:45am. It was overcast mostly today, but the temperature stayed nice and cool for hiking. We ascended up to the Kinsman Ridge, which was rocky and slow hiking, but not too bad. We spent a chunk of the time remaining in the morning navigating through that and then we started the big climb of the day up to the Kinsman Mountains. We had heard that the ascent up to South Kinsman was a real tough rock scramble and indeed it was.
Trippy navigating up the rocks
The last mile was very slow going. We popped out above the tree line for a short while though once we hit the summit. The views were outstanding.
View from South Kinsman
Cairn marking trail in foreground with White Mountains looming in the background
More views off South Kinsman
Franconia Ridge (we climb that tomorrow)
It was really cool to have these great views after the hard work. We then crossed over to the North Kinsman summit and then descended. The descent was very rocky and slow, also. We made our way down and found a small established campsite maybe a 1/2 mile from Lonesome Lake and it’s hut. They have these rustic huts up here in the Whites that are available for people to rent. They are apparently popular with many day hikers, but are a bit pricey ($125 per person) for having no showers and “composting” toilets. I can not take a shower for free out here!
We are scaling our planned daily miles back here in the Whites to between 13-15ish because it’s so challenging. Today we were a little short due to the late start, but it seems like finding stealth camping here is going to be tough, so we figured we shouldn’t pass up a nice flat spot.
Vital stats for Saturday, August 16th :
Milestone – 1800 miles in the books
Miles hiked today – 12.7
Mood – good
Physical state – feeling it in the knees and legs a bit more after the tough descents
Smell – aight, for now
Song stuck in my head – Today by The Smashing Pumpkins
So good to see a new post and to know that you are doing fine…albeit feeling the affect of the challenging climbs and descents! Those sneaker wings must be helping, though! đŸ™‚ Your photos are outstanding; the in-person views must be spectacular. Again, thank you for sharing and letting us experience your journey from our comfy chairs. Keep up the good, safe hiking! Congrats on yet another milestone…1800 miles…over-the-top amazing! Sending careful-climbing thoughts, many prayers and lots and lots of love.