[February 9-12, 2018, AMC Hut at Lonesome Lake] Gigi Estes organized an overnight hike to the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) Hut at Lonesome Lake, Franconia Notch, New Hampshire. Dallas and I drove up to Plymouth, New Hampshire on Friday, arriving a little before sunset. We spent about an hour roaming around the fields behind the Plymouth elementary school, me on snowshoes and Dallas on her new pair of Sporten Ranger 68 backcountry skis. The snow was about two feet deep and very fluffy. The ski trail took us along the bank of the Pemigewasset River, which was mostly iced-over. Think plates of ice, dangling on the bank well above the water level, suggested that an ice dam had raised the water level to near flood stage, but later had broken up. We had dinner at Paul and Gigi Estes at their house in Plymouth, enjoying Gigi’s fish chowder, and were joined by Chris Buckley, a member of the local conservation council whose brother Brendan is a coworker of ours.

[January 10]. It’s a grey day with temperatures in the mid twenties Fahrenheit, and with a little light snow. Dallas, Gigi, Chris Estes, Lisa Doner and I all squeezed into my Jeep Cherokee and drive up to the Lonsome Lake Trailhead, located at the Lafayette Place Campground in Franconia Notch. We meet the other members of our party: Al Davis, Anne Packard, Roger Pedigo and Sue Swope. The parking lot was crowded and we grabbed one of the last slots. We donned our snowshoes and set off up the Lonesome Lake Trail (blazed in yellow). It crosses the Pemigewasset River, which is much narrower here than in Plymouth, and heads westward and steeply up into the hills, though woods with a high percentage of conifers (and especially Spruce).

We reached Lonesome Lake, about a mile and a half away, in a little over an hour. The trail approaches its northeast corner; we could see the AMC Hut directly across the lake on the southwest corner, built amid trees on a small rise. The lake is oval in shape and its long axis is about a quarter mile in length. Its basin was formed by glacial scouring during the Ice Age – a hanging cirque on the west wall of Franconia Notch. It’s surrounded by hills, including Cannon Mountain and the smaller Cannonballs to the north, but with the low overcast, we could see only the closest Cannonball. The lake’s shores are lined with Spruce, with some Larch and Mountain Ash, too. The lake was frozen-over and snow-covered, and an informal trail leading to the hut cut straight across it. In a few minutes, we were at the Hut.

The Hut is actually a complex of four building: the main lodge, with it octagonal common room with windows looking out towards the lake, two bunk houses and a bathroom building. We dropped off our gear and had lunch. I did not eat much but had several cups of dilute hot chocolate, made from water from the Hut’s urn. I introduced myself to J..O, the caretaker, who assigned Dallas and me to Bunk Room 1.

We then took a hike around the lake, following a trail counter-clockwise along its shore. The trail crosses Cascade Brook, the outflow of the lake, just south of the Hut. The valley of the brook was full of wind-sculpted snow formations, which together with the snow-covered Spruce trees was very beautiful. The northwest side of the lake must be very boggy in the summer, for the Spruce trees are sparse and small, and many have branches just at their crown, a pattern that I associate with wetlands. (Later, J.P. speculated that these trees are so stressed by the harsh environment of the marsh that they can only keep their seed-producing upper branches green). Several small streams were flowing, and they had melted troughs through the four-foot deep snow to expose a puncheon, below.

The group returned to the hut, but I, still feeling energetic, continued to hike, taking the Fishin’ Jimmy Trail (also the Appalachian Train, blazed in white) west from the hut. It wound through snow-decorated Spruce trees, following a more or less horizontal path across the north wall of another cirque. I walked a little less than a mile, but turned back when I was about halfway to Kinsmas Pond, because the day was getting late.

Back at the hut, we had hors d'oeuvre and chatted with one another, with J.P. and with the leaders of a group of Boy Scouts from Southborough Massachusetts. When our turn to cook came at 6PM, Sue heated up the lamb stew that she had previously prepared, Gigi cooked rice and Dallas and I set out roasted asparagus and eggplant that we had brought. We sat around talking until 9PM or so, and then retired to out bunk rooms. They were quite cold! Mine had frost on the walls. But my sleeping bad was warm and I passed the night uneventfully.

[February 10, 2018] When I arose at 7AM, the overcast was high enough for me to see all the surrounding mountains. The view across Lonesome Lake to Mt Lafayette, on the opposite side of Franconia Notch, is particularly impressive. J.P. has made big pots of coffee for everyone. I cooked an omelet and say by the window watching clouds form on the mountains. They started as wisps hugging the slopes, but soon grew to obscure the whole view, so that even the lake was in fog.

We hiked out shortly after breakfast. I helped the Boy Scouts take a group picture before crossing the lake and descending back down into the notch. The weather was warmer than yesterday, with a little wet mist, and much of the snow that yesterday had clung to the trees had melted off.

Back in Plymouth, we had lunch with Chris Estes and Lisa Doner and then drove over to Holderness NH and relaxed in the Jacuzzi at Cold Spring Resort. We had a pizza dinner at Paul and Gigi’s house before heading back to New York. The weather has deteriorated, temperatures just above freezing and light rain, so we drove very cautiously and more slowly than usual, in case we encountered ice. We stayed at the Motel 6 in Holyoke Massachusetts overnight and drove the rest of the way the next morning, when the weather had improved.