Hiked October 13, 2007 by Tim and Valerie
It was a beautiful clear day as we drove up through Franconia Notch. The tops of all the ridges were white with significant frost. We came around the "backside" of the Kinsmans on Rt 116 to find the trailhead. I'm not sure why, but we really expected to be the only ones headed to this little rocky outcropping on the side of North Kinsman mountain. When we arrived at the trailhead, we were about the sixth car to park there.
The hike up was beautiful. Blue skies, colorful leaves. Three reasonable brook crossings and soon we were at the intersection. Left to North Kinsman, right to Bald Knob. We headed right and passed through a gorgeous elfin forest on our way to the "bald" summit. We spent quite a while alone - with a gorgeous 360 degree view. The Kinsmans were frosty. Mt Moosilauke was in the distance, and in the clouds. The colors across the valley were just unbelievable. While we were up there, a glider plane was getting a tow up to "cruising altitude". After a long time watching the towing process, they finally cut the glider free and it was gone.
After lounging for awhile, we started back down. We stopped in the forest to take pictures of some interesting lichen/fungus/moss (???). We saw quite a few people coming up the trail as we headed back down.
Back at the car, we took the scenic way home, through back roads. Enjoying the gorgeous autumn day.