North and South Kinsman Mountains 9/22/12

On Saturday September 22, 2012, I met up with a coworker at my office in Hudson, MA at 5:00 AM for the 2.5 hour drive to the trail head in Franconia Notch State Park in New Hampshire.  It was dark and drizzly when we left and we began questioning the weather reports.  Once we got to NH, the drizzle seemed to subside to a heavy fog.  It was so foggy that on the way up we saw emergency response vehicles around the Plymouth area.  It looked like an F-250 had went off the highway and took out about 50 feet of guardrail.  We wondered if he was avoiding a moose.

We arrived at The Basin parking lot at about 7:30 and headed out on the Basin Cascade Trail at about 8:00 in the fog.  It was about 45 degrees and we could feel the chill in our fingers.  The waterfalls I read about on the trail lived up to my expectations.

Kinsman Falls

Rocky Glenn Falls

We followed the Basin Cascade Trail for 1 mile to the Cascade Brook Trail which obviously followed Cascade Brook.  There were a couple of river crossings on the Cascade Brook Trail one of which was the result of a washed out bridge which we were told was only about 3 years old before it was cleared out by the rushing waters of Cascade Brook.  We stayed on Cascade brook for 2 miles until we came to the junction of the Kinsman Pond Trail.

A very mossy Kinsman Pond Trail

Kinsman Pond Trail was smooth and seemed to follow a logging road for a good stretch, but that changed quickly.  The trail turned to the north and followed a mossy brook which we cautiously followed to to Kinsman Pond.  It felt at times we were hiking in the pacific Northwest.  It was still foggy but we occasionally noticed the brightening of the skies with the sun trying to burn it's way through the clouds.   It was a long stretch and the footing was tricky.  We were making excellent time and saw one person on the way to the pond.

A socked in Kinsman Pond

We finally made it to a foggy Kinsman Pond at about 9:30.  With the fog, wind whipping and small waves crashing near the rocks on the edges of the pond, it felt we were walking near the ocean.   We took a break at the Kinsman Pond Shelter where we met some through hikers who seemed to have stalled out at the Kinsman Pond Shelter.  They said they started at Mt. Katahdin but had been making their home at the Kinsman Pond Shelter for about 3 weeks.  They didn't know which day it was.  They were rather odd and their stories didn't make sense and we later referred to them as Mountain Hobos.  After about a 20 minute break we continued on and reached the Kinsman Ridge Trail.  This is where we met up with Kate a nurse from Scarborough, ME who had a unsettling encounter with the mountain hobos.  She asked us if she could tag along with us and we obliged.  We followed the Kinsman Ridge Trail in the fog and saw more and more patches of blue skies on the way up the sometimes steep rocky trail. 

Undercast in Franconia Notch

When we reached the North Kinsman Summit at about 10:45 it was wooded and didn't offer much of a view.  But a spur trial led to a cliff and we were then awestruck by the view of Franconia Ridge from above the clouds.  The fog we had been walking through was actually a cloud which was trapped in the notch.  The wind was whipping which was causing the thick milky clouds to move north like an ocean.

 

North Kinsman from South Kinsman

The three of us continued on to South Kinsman which was a rocky descent and climb to the summit which had 360 degree views of the area.  Looking back at North Kinsman was rewarding because we busted hump to get to the south summit. While we were on the South summit I checked the AMC White Mountain Guide which described the peak of the North Summit as actually being a pointy boulder just off the trail.  After about a 20 minute break we trekked back to the North Summit.

Clouds subside making a clear view of Franconia ridge

When we arrived back at the North Summit the clouds had broken and provided clear views of the entire valley with Lonesome Lake nestled in the middle of it.  We located the pointy boulder right off of the trail and each climbed to the top of it.

Franconia Ridge from Lonesome Lake Beach

Our next destination was Lonesome Lake.  We followed Kinsman Ridge Trail to the Fishin Jimmy Trail to get there for 2.1 miles.  The trail was steep at times and required some long striding steps on boulders which pounded the bottoms of my feet.  The footing was a little tricky and I slipped a couple of times but not enough to make me stop.  It must have been about 12:30 when we started noticing the trails starting to get busy with other hikers. 

North and South Kinsman behind a greasy thumb print

When we arrived at Lonesome Lake at about 1:45-2:00 it was crowded with sight seers.  After about a :30 break at Lonesome Lake, we separated ways with Kate and headed to what we thought was the way to Cascade Brook Trail.  A group of about 20 college kids halted us at a footbridge and some little kid with a bell strapped to his backpack threw our bearings off and we headed to the south of the Lake.  When we arrived at a trail junction we realized it was not the way we were supposed to go.  But I did manage to grab a shot of the accomplished North and South Kinsman with my greasy lens.

When we finally reached the Cascade Brook trail head we were off again and motoring down the trail.  The trail was rather easy compared to the Fishn Jimmy trail and were were able to maintain our quick pace.  We stopped again for more views of the waterfalls and made it back to the car at 3:45.