NEW HAMPSHIRE SCENES: EXCITEMENT

EXCITEMENT (a week ago) (and now)

Excitement is not exactly a "scene," as in "New Hampshire Scenes," but it is what my family (kids, grandkids and self included) are actually feeling at this point. In only three days we will be heading up Lonesome Lake Trail to Lonesome Lake hut, and onward, weather cooperating, to Kinsman Ridge. 

Mitzpah Spring Hut    Pastel    9x12

Anticipation is mounting. We've done our pre-hut hikes to test our gear…Kids grow, old gear, like rain gear, may not be working as well as it should, and of course there is always something we want to change or upgrade from the previous year's experiences. Piles are growing, backpacks at the ready. Memories of previous hikes and huts flash through our minds, as well as thoughts of what's to come. 

Mists on the Maine Cliffs   Pastel  9X12   $150

Excitement, then, is not a single scene, but a
kaleidoscope of scenes.  Mitzpah Spring Hut and Lake of the Clouds, each unique in its own way, leaving memories of the physical setting, the bunk set ups, the dining hall, the hike to reach it, the scenes visible from the windows or the immediate surroundings. And the question, the anticipation of, what will it be this year. What will the weather be? 

One of my own personal artist excitements is the morning mist, particularly if it includes trees (an obvious obsession I have). 

Morning Mists: Colorado Rockies
Pastel 9X12  $150

CONFESSION and SPOILER  At this point in my entry writing, excitement took precedence over writing. 

Now, a week later I can say, the Lonesome Lake Hut trip, with hikes to Cannon and the Kinsmen, was a family success. Lonesome Lake Hut afforded a variety of hikes to suit the varying abilities of ages 6 upward!  Trail work on Fishing Jimmy Trail was exceptional and impressive (Be sure to thank trail builders if you happen to pass them.) Hikes, views, meals, presentations, "cru," were all part of an exceptional adventure.

Morning Swim in Sunrise Reflections

Morning Mists: Lonesome Lake

Trees against morning pearl sky

AND, artist that I am, I found many scenes for future painting, including morning mist,  intriguing trees and multiple trail scenes.  (Thanks again to the Trail Maintenance Crew for ladders, wooden steps on rocks, strategically placed rocks, stone carved foot and hand holds, and multiple plank sections to let us view the bogs without disturbing them.

If you haven't been to a hut, just visit one…Lonesome Lake and Zealand Falls are both easy to visit. 

Hut trips are much more than the two or three days of adventure. They are a great way to get kids started in outdoor adventure, (or yourself if you've always wanted to get outdoors). The huts are a way of getting deeper into the woods or higher onto the mountain, WITHOUT carrying food, (except for snacks), sleeping bags, tents...
They give memories that last far beyond the days spent on the mountain, or even planning, anticipating and packing for it.  They build lasting memories, they build bonds between the participants.
Already my family is talking about next year with reference to the last three!  Give it a try!

(Check my website for more White Mountain Scenes.)

NEW HAMPSHIRE SCENES: Lonesome Lake Spring? and Spring

Micro spikes needed here.

Following through on my January resolutions to finish my painting series of the AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club) huts in their settings, I decided to hike up to Lonesome Lake, and beyond to Kinsman Ridge to get photo's of LL in its setting.

Franconian Ridge as seen from the porch of the hut.

Trail to Lonesome Lake Hut
Pastel    7 x 12

It was April 27 and Spring every where else. I expected to find patches of snow and ice, but not what I found. Trees were starting to win their jousts with the snow, though it was still three feet deep in many places, and occasional rocks were poking through the icy trail. The lake was still frozen, and Franconian Ridge, the spectacular view from the porches of the hut and bunk rooms, melted into the clouds, looking very much like winter.

Micro-spikes were required almost from the parking lot near the Lafayette Camp Grounds, but the woods were lovely and birds seemed to know it was spring. 

As with most of the other huts, the setting did not disappoint. Where the trail split to go around the lake, there was a predictable winter path that went straight through the woods and across the lake where it joined the Fishin Jimmy Trail, up past the hut and upward to the Mount Kinsman Trail, only .4 miles from North Kinsman. Although it looked like winter, on April 27 I decided NOT to cross the lake.

In the painting, follow the path as it goes up, then dips down to the frozen lake edge (two small trees poking up there). Then look across the lake. There is a hint of path going vertically up to the hut, and the horizontal bits of snow are the snow covered roofs of the hut and the row of bunk rooms. Lonesome Lake is open as a caretaker hut during the winter, so the path is well worn. Kinsman Ridge is that ridge behind the hut, another mile up. 

Curious to see the changes to the path, and collect more photos, I hiked to the hut again June 5, reconnaissance for when my "kids," and grandkids (ages 6-14) and myself return to stay over night in the hut and bag a peak or two in August. The Spring panorama of the hut will likely become another painting, or perhaps an August version when I'll have time for sketches and photos. 

Spring? or Spring, it's a good hike for kids and anyone else. I've heard there is a resident Moose that visits the lake early in the morning, and the spacious dock, just down the slope from the cabin,  is a great place to grab sun when it isn't covered with snow. 

Looking east from the hut porch
to the Franconian Ridge peaks of
Lafayette, Lincoln and Little Haystack.

Spring scene, looking across LL to Kinsman Ridge.
LLHut is between the first and second row of pines.

Be sure to check my website where I have numerous paintings of White Mountain trails and paths.