Ritzhikes

Where: Kinsman Pond When: 2/23-24/02 With: Chip Back around the holidays I got the usual "Winter hike this year?" email from Chip, to which I replied, "Maybe." We chatted a bit and marked our traditional Superbowl weekend as a target date. We considered a number of routes and destinations and decided to revisit Kinsman Pond Shelter. Several years ago we'd made three attempts to reach it via various routes (the Hell & High Water series of hikes) before finally succeeding by coming in from the west. This time we planned to try a new route from the east, a direct line from the highway using the Lonesome Lake and Fishin' Jimmy trails. Only about 3.5 miles total distance, with a couple of 1000-foot climbs along the way. It fit our new criteria for winter hikes (shorter, easier routes) and offered a shelter and nice surroundings for the night. To make things interesting we figured we could return via a ridge walk to Cannon Mt., making the hike a loop and p...