As the week was passing, I started contemplating an adventure after one weekend off from long distance travel. There is a friend of mine who I have been following for his pursuit of New Hampshire peaks, wondered what he was up to the following weekend? Turns out he wants to hike the Kinsmans. I looked up the trail and discovered that it actually traverses Lonesome Lake which I really wanted to check out from my last adventure. The friend was cool with me joining him with the caveat of going separate cars due to COVID especially since his job forces him to be around people than my comfortable WFH setup. Besides driving gives me a better chance to do my foodie adventures and check out local art along the way, its hard to find people with the appreciation of all 3 things.
So travel up to NH the night before and stayed at the same Airbnb as last time in Whitefield NH. For dinner decided to hit up Rek-Lis Brewing company. It was a brewpub with barseat dining, one of the things I love about NH. In MA, you have to sit at a table and order everything from a waiter or phone app no matter where you go. There is just this joy of chatting with strangers that you feel deprived of in MA.
So I order a Chicken Sandwich by the recommendation of the bartender. On the menu they say it is served on a Crumb Bar roll. Seems to be the name of a bakery located in nearby Littleton NH. Just because of that I give them 5 Stars, small business helping another small business is art in its finest form. Of course, I paired it with beer and I ordered their porter.
An interesting thing about the name of the beers was that they pay homage to historical hotels that burned down in Bethlehem. They called them the Up in Smoke series consist of the below flavors and the names of each is a hotel that used to exist in the town:
- THE BELLEVUE: Slightly Smoked and Full of Flavor Stout
- THE PARKVIEW: Smoked Porter
- THE SINCLAIR: Smoked Red Ale
The fella next to me was surely a hiker, he was wearing a Big Sky t-shirt on so I had to assume. He was coming from CT and planning the next day or starting 4 AM to do the Presidential Range from North to South. Kudos to him, he was 3 beers in at 9 PM, I felt my plan to do 12 miles and just 2 4k peaks was small in comparison.
On the way out admired the facade of the Colonial Theater, built in 1915 and one of the oldest continuously operating movie theaters in the United States.
Awoke the next day and wanted to start the morning right by having a good breakfast. Chose to hit up Yaya’s Market and Deli and you could easily dismiss it as a mere gas station not to mention the Cog Railway Display right across the street from it. Its family owned and they cook up mean breakfast sandwiches, I ordered me an egg and cheese on a bulkie roll.
It was already 8:30 AM and I had to rush to the trailhead at Lafayette Place Campground. This was literally an exit off I-93 South my direction, to my dismay it was full and overflow was right across the highway at the Old Bridle Path Trailhead lot, nope also full, was I screwed?? Apparently, cars can park on the I-93 north side and take the under-highway tunnel to the campground. I parked at the nearest spot and walked 1 mile. My friend was wiser than me and chose to bike from Cannon Mountain parking lot on the Franconia Notch rail trail which I am very familiar with from my last NH adventure.
We are in business:
The trail started nice and easy, I didn't even feel the time pass until reaching Lonesome Lake. Along the way we met a gentleman who’s done the whole Apalachian Trail in 2 segments. This was just leisure for him and he just decided to stay behind and enjoy the lake
The rounded mountain seen at the distance is Cannon Mountain at 4,080 ft. From Lonesome Lake decided to take the Fishing Jimmy Trail to get to the Kinsmans, it was a brisk rocky climb for a couple of hours. There also was a number of small wooden ladders and one steep section with wooden steps pinned to the rock ledge.
Once it ends we are on the Kinsman Ridge trail. The first peak reached is North Kinsman at 4,293 ft. A good view of the Franconia Ridge at the clearing
The area was crammed with people and it was tough to take pics or sit to rest so we had no choice to continue on our way to the next peak.
One of the interesting characters we meet is Moose the Mountain Bunny. Literally its 2 ladies carrying a rabbit in cage for all of their hikes. I think they are planning on doing all 48 4k footers and current tally is at 30, I believe on this day they crossed off 3 including Cannon Mountain which I didn’t even attempt today.
Not long afterwards find myself at South Kinsman summit at 4,358 ft. The only claim to fame is the King’s throne type of cairn you will find there:
Not great views there, obstructed by trees. Its supposed to be Franconia Ridge and Moosilauke at the distance:
On the way back decide to traverse a different longer path back to Lonesome lake and along the way we would climb the 3 cannon balls. The terrain along this route is fun, offering some scrambles and lots of elevation gain/loss.
All in all it was 11.18 miles of activity in 6:30 hours. I had to sadly endure the walk of shame all the way back to my car on the side of the highway but the views and foliage were breathtaking:
Now I was hungry as I had nothing but a beef jerky, CLIF bar and energy gels during these hours.
I wanted to try something new. Luck wasnt on my side until I hit the 3rd spot. Below are the 2 spots I attempted before succeeding with the 3rd:
- Iron Furnace Brewing: located in the town of Franconia and named after the only surviving iron smelter in the state of New Hampshire. I really should explore the town another time since they provide a self-directed art walk consisting of sculptures, architecture, paintings and gardens. It did not work out with the brewery, it was really busy and did not offer barseat dining, it was only tables outside
- Woodstock Inn brewery: situated in a lively part of Lincoln and housed inside an inn with an original train depot preserved and adjoined to it. They at least had bar seating but unfortunately, wait was going to be an hour. I passed.
Options in the white mountains seemed hopeless so decided upon exdploring options further south and on the way to home. Fate would take me to the Lakes Region to the town of Meredith NH and would find Twin Barn Brewing Co
As the name suggests it is a circa-1850 structure actually made of two different barns that were conjoined. Spacious and not too busy, sat down and ordered a burger and a porter . Another good weekend in the books.
