In our quest for the 48 4K peaks, we’ve incorporated an annual hike on 9/11. As we discovered last year, there’s a movement each year to post flags on each of the 48 peaks on 9/11 to remember those lost in that tragedy. You can read about that movement here: http://www.flagsonthe48.org/

This year, our 9/11 remembrance took us to the Kinsmans, both North and South. We made a weekend of the effort, playing hooky on Friday to bag Moosilauke, a day off on Saturday, followed by the Kinsmans on 9/11.

Friday’s hike of Moosilauke was mostly sunny, though windy. Our route was a loop of the Gorge Brook, Carriage Road and Snapper trails (7.5 miles, 2,450 feet, 5:00). A fairly easy loop, nothing particularly step or treacherous. The summit of Moosilauke is open/exposed – which provided some great views!

The Moosilauke trails started/ended at the Ravine Lodge owned by the Dartmouth College Outing club.  As it happens, there was a large group of kids there, as we found it, it was the freshman having their first outing, organized by the upper classman – passing along tradition. Though that ‘tradition’ is a bit questionable, especially since the upper classman were in dresses and wigs so they could be easily identified by the newbies.   Oh the college days!

Our day off was grand – bright sunshine, little wind. We’d decided to stay in a real hotel for the weekend, so we spent the day relaxing – rented some kayaks for a ‘float’ down the Pemi. And we saw some of the devastation from Hurricane Irene only a few weeks beforehand (14″ of rain in 8 hours – washed out the bridge to Loon Mtn!).

For the Kinsmans on Sunday, 9/11, we decided on the Lonesome Lake, Fishin’ Jimmy trails (10.0 miles, 3,550 feet, 6:45) – a common route.

After leaving the parking lot at 8AM, we met up with the “Flags on the 48” crew for N. Kinsman and were with them for part of the trip, though left them behind once we left the Lonesome Lake hut.    The Fishin’ Jimmy trail was a fairly steep climb, with many places including steps in the rocks.    We’d seen ladders built out of logs, but never just steps on the rocks – someone spent alot of effort here – thank you!

After a brief stop at North Kinsman shortly before noon – we headed toward South Kinsman – a quick ridge walk. The South peak was a bit more exposed than the north and with partly cloudy skies and a bit of a breeze, we ate lunch quickly and headed back to the North peak. By then, the flag crew had arrived and setup the flag:

This was the 10th anniversary and perhaps by coincidence, we were treated to a Huey fly-by – which added to the experience of remembering those who had perished:

The balance of our hike was (mostly) uneventful – a minor trip/fall reminded me to take care even when the trail isn’t rough or steep. The entire round trip took about an hour longer longer than book time, though we were still down off the mountain and back in the car by 3pm.