3.2 miles, 950' elevation gain, 3 hrs
Mark, Nat, Jamie
Did this hike on a hot August day in 2006 and really enjoyed it. It's a short hike with good trails and moderate elevation. The views from the top of Cannon to the north and Franconia Ridge across the lake to the west are beautiful on a clear day. The sky was clear and blue when we were driving over from Crawford Notch but by the time we got to the trail head the clouds had moved in.
After the rain yesterday we were concerned that the trails might be in bad shape. Fortunately it got cold overnight and the trails were in perfect shape today. Lonesome Lake trail gets lots of use and was well broken. Could easily have bare booted but showshoes were still a good way to go.
Got to the lake quickly and headed around to the hut. Passed the AMC group that was heading to the hut to spend the night near the top. They met us at the hut and we had lunch together. As we went around the lake it started to snow pretty hard. It was really a nice addition to the hike. Nat and Jamie are obviously enjoying it.
We were the first ones at the hut for the day and had it to ourselves for a while before the AMC group arrived. It was surprisingly comfortable in there without heat and I wish we could have hung out for a while.
We ate lunch with the group before heading down.
We were looking forward to the walk through the bogs around the back of the lake but the caretaker said that the rain had probably made the trail pretty difficult back there. The bog bridges were apparently already tricky before the rain and we decided to just go back the way we came. This was sadly our last hike for the week but Nat and I had both pretty well wrecked our knees by this time so it was probably just as well.
Enjoyed the views to Franconia Ridge on the way down and the thoughts of being up there next summer.
Complete online photo album is here:
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| Lonesome Lake - 2-19-08 |
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