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October 8, 2011 / Comments (3)

North and South Kinsman

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Allison is the founder of trailtosummit.com which she began as a way to track and share her first round of the NH 4000 Footers. Now on round 5 (the first round for her dog Ruckus) she has been honored to have taken part of many people’s firsts. She is an experienced trail maintainer, speaker, and passionate member of the outdoor community. In New England, Allison enjoys trekking along the highest peaks, bushwhacking to less traveled areas, and has a fondness for sunrise and sunset trips. Outside of New England Allison has also thru hiked the John Muir Trail and explored mountains in the German and Austrian Alps, Israel, and the Azores. Her goal is to share her passion for hiking and backpacking with others, especially with women, to inspire them to experience the freedom of the trail!
Kinsman Ridge Trail

I spent a very rainy Saturday bagging numbers 9 and 10 on my list: the Kinsmans. I started on the Mt. Kinsman Trail (which was pretty difficult to find) which led to the Kinsman Ridge Trail. The peaks are very close together and you have to summit North Kinsman to get to South Kinsman so peak bagging these two (despite the rain) was no problem.

I love hiking in the fall. The gorgeous colors of the turning leaves and cooler weather made the rain worth it.

The trail started moderately as I passed an old sugarhouse- no decent picture, though! This trail is quite pretty and passes through a few brooks. For a nice view (when it’s not so foggy) you can take a trail that bears right past the flume to Bald Peak (2470 ft).

 

 

North Kinsman Summit

The Kinsman Ridge Trail leading to the summits is steep at times and had a few difficult wet scrambles up rock slabs. The summit of North Kinsman has a panoramic view of the Franconia Ridge, but as you can see, I was stuck in the fog.

South Kinsman Summit

To reach the South Summit, you will descend about 300 feet. I could almost see some views through the fog, but it was just a tease. This was an out and back trail, but there are many trail options. I am thinking about doing this trip via the Fishin’ Jimmy Trail on a day where I could enjoy the views.

Last modified: July 13, 2017

3 Responses to :
North and South Kinsman

  1. Anonymous says:
    October 24, 2011 at 10:14 am

    Love the blog. I also mostly solo hike. I tend to pick lesser used trails to and hardly ever see anyone. The forest photo with the fog is awesome!

    Reply
  2. Allison Nadler says:
    October 25, 2011 at 1:11 am

    Thanks! I love hiking lesser known trails and tend to get on the trail early for less crowds; The only reason I get up at 4 am with a smile on my face!

    Reply
  3. gerad.chris@gmail.com says:
    June 3, 2012 at 12:33 pm

    Love reading your trip reports… I recently did north and south Kinsman in similar conditions when you did your trip.. Rain was terrible, no views and super windy. I wonder if I sent you a pic of the Cairn, if you would be able to tell me if I truly did reach South

    Reply

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