(Almost) Halfway Through the NH48: The Kinsmans

View of the day: Franconia Ridge from North Kinsman lookout

The day started out as many early departures to the Whites do. The clouds above were showing the last warm hues of the sunrise. The first rays of sunlight were just hitting the tips of the trees as I merged onto I-93N headed for the mountains. The interstate, which was bustling with end-of-the-work-week traffic the night before, was now sparsely dotted here and there by a few other cars along the way, an early precursor to the solitude I looked forward to on the trail up to my next two 4000-footers (#'s 22 and 23 overall for me): North and South Kinsman.

For this hike, I chose to take what is described as the "scenic" route by many up to the Kinsmans, the oh-so-well-named Kinsman Mountain Trail off of NH-116 in Easton. Heading south on NH-116, the parking area can be easily missed, but the best way to know you're there is when you pass the Tamarack Tennis Camp. The parking area is almost immediately on your left after you pass a very small pond, also on your left, at the camp. A short gravel road led into a much larger parking area than I expected, with easily enough room for about 10 cars at the main area, and probably 15-20 overall including the edges of the gravel road.

For being the lesser-used route to the summit, I was surprised there were already 7-8 cars in the lot when I arrived. This had me worried that my hike up wouldn't be as singular as I had hoped, but in the entire 3.7 miles up to the ridge I only passed one small group of hikers the whole time.

Old sugar house about 0.6 mi. in on the Kinsman Mountain Trail

Roughly the first 1.5 miles climbed at a easy to moderate grade, starting off as an unjulating trail in open forest that led to an easy, sometimes sandy woods road walk that passed a neat sugar house on my way to entering the bounds of the White Mountain National Forest at 1.1 mi. From there, it was off the woods road and onto the usual exposed roots and rocks of the White Mountains leading up to some beautiful brook crossings between 1.5 and 2.1 miles in.

A few small cascades from a brook crossing

After 1.5 miles the trail's pitch steepened, but nothing that had my legs screaming at me. Plus, crossing several brooks along the way made it an enjoyable climb. At 2.1 miles in I reached the junction with the short side trail to Bald Peak. It is well worth the extra 0.4-mile round-trip to get a good early visit on your way up to the ridge. It's also a good place to take a breath and get ready for the trek to get even steeper.

Nice view from Bald Peak

From the junction with the side trail to Bald Peak the Kinsman Mountain trail started on a flat grade that quickly progressed into what felt like a long trudge up to the ridge. It was in this 1.6 miles to the junction with the Kinsman Ridge Trail that I could really feel the ascent working its dubious deeds on my legs. With it also being a particularly toasty day even in the mountains I had to take several more stops than usual to take a swing of water and catch a breath to keep going up.

Once at the ridge, just when I wanted the climb to level out, it got to a semi-crazy level of steep. The 0.4 miles to the summit of North Kinsman was a steeper-than-steep, "gauntlet of scrambles" as I wrote in my trail notepad. As I looked at each little section I climbed up, I had to chuckle and simply say "Well that'll be fun on the way down."

Panoramic standing views from South Kinsman

The lookout on North Kinsman was crowded when I first arrived, so I decided to head on, nab the South Kinsman summit, and hope for smaller crowds to take in the view on the way back. From the north to south summit it was a steep drop to a wooded col, followed by slow, steady, moderately difficult rocky climb to the south summit. I stayed there eat some lunch and take in the semi-awesome standing views, before I headed back to the North Kinsman lookout.

Hazy mountains fading into the horizon as seen from North Kinsman

The North Kinsman lookout had thinned out when I arrived back on the summit, so I sat down and took in the highlight of the day: the fantastic view of the Franconia Ridge and hazy blue mountains fading into the horizon. With only another couple with my there for a good while, I let the rolling clouds and jagged summits paint a wonderful backdrop for a peaceful rest. I was glad I was able to enjoy this view after a tough but enjoyable day of hiking. The climb was probably just on the difficult enough side that the Kinsmans will be a one-and-done set for me, but if so, I was treated to some beautiful views for the effort.

Below is the breakdown of my hike:

• Start at Kinsman Mountain Trailhead - 8:00 a.m.
• Entered White Mountain National Forest bounds - 8:35 a.m. (35 min., 1.1 mi.)
• Junction with Bald Peak side trail - 9:18 a.m. (43 min., 2.1 mi.)
• Bald Peak Summit - 9:24 a.m. (6 min., 2.3 mi.)
• Junction with Kinsman Ridge Trail - 10:38 a.m. (1 hr. 12 min., 4.1 mi.)
• North Kinsman summit - 11:00 a.m. (22 min., 4.5 mi.)
• South Kinsman summit - 11:35 a.m. (35 min., 5.4 mi.)

And the return route:

• Left South Kinsman summit - 11:59 a.m.
• North Kinsman lookout - 12:35 p.m. (36 min., 0.9 mi.)
• Left North Kinsman lookout - 12:57 p.m. 
• Junction with Mount Kinsman Trail - 1:12 p.m. (15 min., 1.3 mi.)
• Junction with Bald Peak side trail - 2:05 p.m. (53 min., 2.9 mi.)
• Left WMNF bounds - 2:57 p.m. (52 min., 3.9 mi.)
• Back at Kinsman Mountain Trailhead - 3:15 p.m. (18 min., 5.0 mi.)