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Bethlehem, New Hampshire, United States
E-mail contact: randonneur8@yahoo.com | Facebook: facebook.com/1HappyHikerNH

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31 January 2015

Reflections About a Trek to Old Kinsman Notch via the Reel Brook Trail

WARNING:  This blog report is a bit different from my previous postings.  It's mostly narrative, and has only one photo, and one map!

Anyway, a few weeks ago, I did a relatively short 6.6 mile "out and back" trek using the Reel Brook and Kinsman Ridge Trail.  My simple destination was the point where the power line intersects Kinsman Ridge, just above Bog Pond.

Over a century ago, this location was known as Kinsman Notch, while today’s Kinsman Notch was referred to as Moosilauke Notch.  Somewhere down through the years, the name of Kinsman Notch was transferred from its original remote location to the more accessible mountain pass along Lost River and beyond toward the Wildwood Campground.

This hike was done mainly for the exercise, and for the adventure of snowshoeing along a trail that is infrequently used in winter months.  In terms of views, "they are what they are"!  The power line severely mars the vista that includes Bog Pond in the foreground with the Osceolas; Scar Ridge; Loon; Tecumseh; Sandwich Mtn on the horizon.  

The view just described is shown below in the composite photo.  For the LEFT frame, photo-editing software was used to remove the power lines and the ski runs on Loon Mountain.  The RIGHT frame shows the vista as it actually exists.


It's fun to think that the view on the LEFT frame of the photo could be similar to what Nathan Kinsman might have seen in the early 1780s when he is speculated to have traveled from the vicinity of North Woodstock to the Easton area by constructing a crude pathway through the original Kinsman Notch where the power line and Reel Brook Trail exist today.

Unfortunately, there is no written record of the route that might have been used by Nathan Kinsman in the 1780s to travel from North Woodstock to Easton where he and his family would become the first permanent settlers of that area.  However, with the aid of my friend Joanne Jones, a written reference (see below) was found which documents that a road did run through the old Kinsman Notch in the 1820s.

Excerpt from 1897 Granite Monthly; Volume 23, page 12:
"About 1820, a road was constructed through Kinsman Notch, that led by Bog lake, and which connected the valley with the town of Landaff."

Please understand that the following is pure speculation on my part.  If a rough pathway was indeed hacked out by Nathan Kinsman in the 1780s, then perhaps it continued to be used over the years, and was then eventually upgraded in the 1820s to become the road that is mentioned in the Granite Monthly article?

Although the roadway of the 1820s eventually ceased to exist, one can say with a fair degree of confidence that travel along a corridor between North Woodstock and Easton continued over the years.  One piece of evidence to support this theory is that the earliest editions of AMC's White Mountain Guide (first published in 1907) describes a trail running from Easton to the North Woodstock area.  It was referred to as the Bog Pond Trail.

On the west side of the Kinsman Ridge, the old Bog Pond Trail followed nearly the same route as the present-day Reel Brook Trail.  And on the east side of the ridge, it followed a corridor that ran along Bog Pond and then continued eastward to the vicinity of North Woodstock.  (The present-day Georgiana Falls Trail is likely the only surviving segment of the eastern portion of this old route.)

When taking a look at a current-day map of this area, one can imagine a route that could have filled the gap between today's Reel Brook Trail and Georgiana Falls Trail.

To sum it up, this blog posting is by no means intended to be a scholarly piece of work.  Rather, it's just a fun piece of speculation about the view that Nathan Kinsman might have seen in the 1780s, if in fact his route from North Woodstock to Easton took him across the old Kinsman Notch corridor.

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MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS TOPIC:

1) More in-depth information about Nathan Kinsman, and the old Kinsman Notch has been written by Mike Dickerman.  Click HERE, and then scroll down through the article to access his Kinsman essays. 

2) Click HERE for a very well researched report entitled “An Illustrated Guide to Easton’s Old Kinsman Notch” as authored by Kris Pastoriza and Susan Schibanoff. 

3) Also, there is a wealth of information contained in a 1976 publication entitled "Looking Back at Easton" written by Ruth W. Towne and Chris M. Jerome.]

05 January 2015

A Review of My Hiking Adventures for the Year 2014

My year-end reviews are published for public consumption.  However, I primarily do them for myself as a means of creating an easily reviewable synopsis of my hiking life for the past year.
  
Regarding this past year of 2014, it's going to be a very tough act to follow in 2015!  My hiking adventures in 2014 included treks to many places where I'd never been, as well as revisits to a sizable number of familiar destinations.

HIKES TO PLACES WHERE I'D NEVER BEEN:

_ NEW YORK'S ADIRONDACKS: Phelps Mountain; Ampersand Mountain; Giant Mountain; Hopkins Mountain; Big Crow Mountain; St. Regis Mountain; McKenzie Mountain; Haystack Mountain; Rattlesnake Mountain; Cobble Hill

_ VERMONT: Mt. Mansfield; Mt. Abraham; Mt. Ellen, Killington Peak; Spruce Peak; Stowe Pinnacle; Moss Glen Falls; Bingham Falls; Sunset Rock; Silver Ledge; Devil's Hill; Glen Falls; Bald Top Mountain; Wright's Mountain; Fairlee Palisades; Kettle Pond; Spice Mountain; Sawyer Mountain; Texas Falls; Cheever Falls; Stannard Pond; Victory Basin Wildlife Management Area; Hazen's Notch XC-Ski

_ MAINE: Bigelow Range (Avery Peak and West Peak); Mt. Kineo; Big Moose Mountain; Little Wilson Falls; Moxie Falls; Cascade Stream Gorge; Burnt Mountain; Little Kineo; Little Spencer Mountain; Little Squaw Mountain; Eagle Rock; B-52 Bomber crash site on Elephant Mountain

_ NEW HAMPSHIRE: Mt. Major; Mt. Cardigan; Firescrew; Jobildunk Ravine; Slide Brook Ravine; Benton Ravine; Monkey Cliffs; Bald Mountain (near Mt. Chocorua); Tin Mountain; Lone Oak Trail outlook; Duck Head Mountain (Jackson, NH); Mt. Mary (Pilot Range); Old Hill Village. And last but certainly not least was perhaps my most rewarding trek of 2014. Using information contained in an article written in a 1945 edition of Appalachia, I was able to locate a forgotten cascade near Mt. Willard.

_ CANADA: Mont Owl's Head, and Le Parc National du Mont Megantic

HIKES TO FAMILIAR PLACES:

Besides the many "first-time" hikes to destinations that were new to me, I also re-visited several familiar places in my home State of NH.  By no means is this a complete list, but here are a few of the familiar places revisited in 2014: Mt. Eisenhower; Mt. Tom; Mt. Pemigewasset; Black Cap Mountain; Mt. Tremont; Mt. Martha and Owl's Head on Cherry Mountain; Bald Cap Peak; Mt. Crawford; Mt. Crescent; The Watcher (Franconia Notch); The Nubble; Pondicherry; Greeley Ponds; several hikes in the Cooley-Jericho Community Forest; XC skiing off-trail, and at several Nordic Centers such as Bretton Woods, Great Glen Trails, Bear Notch Ski Touring, Nansen Ski Club, Jackson Ski Touring Foundation.

MORE DETAILS ABOUT MY 2014 HIKES:

For anyone who might be interested in reading my full blog postings to obtain more details about any of the hikes mentioned above, please note that at the top of each of my blog reports there are two search tools that can be helpful in locating a particular topic.  One is an icon labeled "Click Here For a List of All My Blog Reports".  And located above that icon is a search box that enables you to search my entire compendium of blog reports for specific words and word combinations.

PHOTOS:

In an attempt to reduce the "photo-fatigue" factor, I've selected only 25 of my personal favorites from 2014.

Mt. Adams and Mt. Madison as viewed while cross-country skiing at Great Glen Trails in early March
Feeding the Gray Jays on Mt. Tom in mid-March
Looking northward up the Crawford Notch from summit of Mt. Crawford in April
Glen Falls at Lake Morey (Fairlee, VT) in April
Early May trip to Plymouth Mountain. This composite is a sampling of just a few of many wildflowers that were seen (from left to right: Dutchman's Breeches; Yellow Violet; Purple Trillium)
Mt. Washington and other peaks in Presidential Range as viewed looking eastward from Devil's Hill, VT in early May
Bushwhack to ledges on Bald Mountain in May provided classic views of Mt. Chocorua, the Three Sisters and Carter Ledge rising above the Chocorua River valley
Hike in late June to Spruce Peak, VT provided a nice view. Some of more notable peaks visible include (left to right): Camels Hump; Bolton Mtn; the 'Nose' on Mt. Mansfield
Photo taken in late June during steep descent from "The Chin" (Mt. Mansfield, VT) while en route to "Adams Apple"
Photo of Mt. Kineo taken in late July during my ferry ride to the trailhead
Moxie Falls at the Forks Plantation, ME in late July
Looking southward toward Mt. Pierce and the Crawford Notch on a trek to Mt. Eisenhower in late July
On a trek to Speckled Mountain, ME in early August, there was an abundance of ripe blueberries at various points along my route.  It took only about 2-minutes to gather the handful of berries shown in this photo.
Vista seen in mid-August from a point near the summit of Mt. Ellen where the Long Trail skirts the top of ski trails
View from Phelps Mountain, NY showing Mt. Colden (left) and peaks in the MacIntyre Range (right).  This hike was done at the end of August and it was the first time I'd hiked to an Adirondack 4K peak!
Early morning vista from lakeside lodging at Rangeley, ME in mid-September
Upon arrival at West Peak, I snapped this photo looking back at Avery Peak during a hike in the Bigelow Range in mid-September
Along the Bigelow ridgeline, there are many awesome vistas overlooking Flagstaff Lake, such as the NE view shown here during a hike in mid-September
Roadside view of Little Spencer while en route to trailhead at end of September
Looking down Crawford Notch from the foot of "New Cascade" in mid-October. This was perhaps my most rewarding trek of 2014. Using information contained in an article written in a 1945 edition of Appalachia, I was able to locate this forgotten cascade near Mt. Willard
Mid-October view from Mont Owl’s Head (located on the western shore of Lake Memphremagog in the Eastern Townships of Quebec near the town of Mansonville  which is about 12 miles over the Canadian border from North Troy, VT).
Mont Megantic as viewed in mid-October from Quebec village of Notre-Dame-des-Bois
A visit to Old Hill Village, NH at the end of October
Mt. Cardigan as viewed from South Peak (along South Ridge Trail) in early November
One of several magnificent vistas that were experienced from atop Mt. Major over Thanksgiving weekend
To sum it up, if you have managed to make it to bottom of this report without falling asleep, I congratulate you and offer you my sincerest wishes for a happy and healthy New Year!