Day 2 of my overnight trip to the White Mountains of New Hampshire began earlier than I would have liked. Seemed like I was looking at my watch all night, awake. Then my sleep app informed me of very high sleep quality. Didn’t seem possible but when I thought about it, I felt great. The 11 miles and 4500’+ feet of the previous had left no lasting pain. I sipped an iced coffee that I picked the previous evening as I packed up my site, preparing for the day’s hike of The Kinsmans.
I kind of lost track of time but I think I left my campsite around 6:30 am bound for the Mt Kinsman Trail trailhead on rt 116. I had debated between this trail and Lonesome Lake/Fishin’ Jimmy. I settled on Mt Kinsman Trail primarily due to the drama I experienced on Ammo Ravine trail the previous day. I was in the mood for a nice hike with minimal cliff and ledge crawling.
I arrived at the trailhead around 7:00 am and was hiking shortly after. The first couple miles of the trail are relatively flat over rolling hills. The trail eventually joins what appears to be an old logging road for few miles. This section was a great opportunity to pick up the pace while still enjoying the views and surroundings. It’s not always easy to appreciate the environment when the trail becomes steep and difficult which I knew eventaully was going to happen.
At about 1.5 miles from the junction of the Mt Kinsman Trail and Kinsman Ridge Trail is where things got steep. Not overwhelmingly steep but a noticeable change. Much more slab and boulder scrambling than the lower section. Unlike many trails I have hiked so far in the whites, there were a couple switchbacks which allowed a little pace increase and recovery during the steeps. Before I knew it I could hear what I thought was the summit. On many days I can hear the summit before I can see it. In this case, it was kind of a false summit with a few hundred of vertical left before the actual summit of North Kinsman.
Slab walking 
It got steeper 
The false summit 
Once I realized I was not at the top, I got back on the trail for the final section to the actual summit of North Kinsman. This section was very steep and had some technical scrambles along the way that required both hands to navigate. I enjoy these types of scrambles that require focus.
The eventual summit and view from North Kinsman are awe-inspiring. I took a break here and appreciated the fact that I was sitting on my 14 4000 footer looking over at numbers 1 and 2, Mt Lincoln and Mt Lafayette. The Franconia Ridge trail was not only my first step into the quest to complete the 4k’s, it is also one of the most spiritual and beautiful places I ever seen. I will return to the Ridge many times in all seasons.
After a sandwich, I got back on the trail for the 1 mile hike to South Kinsman. It looked a lot further than a mile as I started to get peeks at the ridge ahead. Not sure why but it always looks further and more difficult than it actually turns out to be. Well, that’s the case most of the time. I do recall that the trip from Mt Pierce to Mt Jackson looked like a long walk and was a VERY long and steep walk. Of course I had already been to Pierce, out to Eisenhower and back to Pierce which was likely having a negative impact on my attitude. The ridge between North and South Kinsman is beautiful. It also provided several of the most technical aspects of the entire hike.
The arrival at the summit of South Kinsman is breathtaking. It provides sweeping 360-degree views of where I came from as well as views of Moosilauke in the distance. Franconia Ridge can still be seen peeking over the closer ridge as well.
On top of South Kinsman I got the same feeling that I got from being on the ridge between Eisenhower and Pierce in February and Franconia Ridge in October of 2020. Am I seeing something that I am supposed to see? How can something be so beautiful yet so hard to get to? It’s a feeling of connectedness, joy, and spirituality. I am not a deeply religious person but there are locations that strike me in a deeply spiritual way. South Kinsman is one of those spots.
I headed back across the ridge to the North peak and started making my way down the mountain. I recalled passing a trail sign for a short spur trail to Bald Peak. Not knowing what was ahead of me at the time, I chose to check it out on the way down and bypass it on my way up. I took the spur the .2 miles to bald peak and was pleasantly surprised by the view,.
The Kinsmans provided a great end to my first multi-day adventure into the White Mountains of New Hampshire. A really fun hike with varied terrain that novice to advanced hikers can enjoy
| Distance | Elev gain | Duration |
| 11 Miles | 4,154′ | 6:15 |
Mountain Mike 
Wow! 3:15 for this hike is so fast, I did it yesterday and it took me 6:20 (including both spurs).
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Holy crap! That would be sprint! It was a typo. it was 6:15! Thank you!
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