"After waking up at Lafayette Place Campground, I hiked up the steady trail to beautiful Lonesome Lake. Then, I followed the Fishin' Jimmy Trail through stunning forests of balsam and moss, and over sections of unparalleled trail work. There were steps carved into the rock slabs, and excellent sections of boardwalk, preventing any mud. The trail up North Kinsman was simple, and I bypassed the summit ledge to reach South Kinsman. The way in between the two peaks was rocky and had a few scrambles, but was still quite manageable. There are great views from the alpine zone at the top of South Kinsman. However, the views were much better from the rock ledge near North Kinsman's summit on the way back. The views of the Franconia Ridge were the best, but there were also excellent views of Mt. Flume and Mt. Liberty, Lonesome Lake, and Cannon Mt. and the Cannon Balls. On the way back, I traversed around the other side of Lonesome Lake, which was incredible. The boardwalk on the trail was endless, and the trail led through a really cool bog with views up to Cannon Mt. and East Cannonball. Awesome hike! 16/48" — elimihuta • Aug 29, 2025

"Despite the forecast calling for a cold and cloudy day, the sun broke through the early morning mist and kept me warm throughout the partly cloudy day. I set off from the Lonesome Lake Trailhead just after 8:45am - exactly two minutes after the official Autumnal Equinox, making the Kinsmans my first NH 4000 Footers hiked in the Fall. I walked south along the Franconia Notch Bike Path towards The Basin, enjoying the warm Fall colors and the quiet babbling of the Pemigewasset River. The water feeding into the various pools around The Basin, and The Basin itself, was crystal clear. The trek up the Basin Cascades Trail, despite being a very moderate 1 mile, took me nearly an hour because around literally every bend was a breathtaking waterfall, gorge, or slide. I took many detours to get a closer look at these views, but several stream crossings brought the beautiful water features right to me. Coupled with the Fall leaves catching the morning sun, I had to constantly stop to take pictures and take in my surroundings. The Basin Cascades Trail quickly became my favorite below-treeline trail in the White Mountains. Once this trail connects with the Cascade Brook Trail, the constant photo..." — JCalautti • Sep 22, 2024

"A solo hike after dropping my stuff at Lonesome Lake Hut on a beautiful day. Parked at Lafayette Campground. Lots of stone and wooden steps, drilled out rocks, and wooden ledges. Lots of fun navigating to the top! Nothing too crazy, just long. Camping at Kinsman Pond. " — lfrancois • Sep 9, 2024

"4th consecutive New Year's Day hike. 1st time for a winter 4K. Lots of ice and some snow but wore microspikes from the first brook crossing. Sun came out as I was approaching the Ridge trail. Although low clouds were still around, views from the summit above the clouds were awesome! Unfortunately not enough time to go on to South." — SteveM_StickMan • Jan 1, 2024

"Very nice weather for a trip across Kinsmans Ridge. It was busy up there, we ran into several AT thru hikers. Took side trip to Kinsman Pond. A beautiful, peaceful gem in the Whites. Also checked out a very interesting Kinsman Flume after hitting No. Kinsman and Bald Peak." — Alohabuffy • Aug 2, 2023

"An out and back via Mt Kinsman Tr. 4 of us headed up to the Kinsmans and back. Not much snow on the ground. We did use spikes after the major water crossing. Beautiful day to have views. " — newenglandwarrior • Jan 8, 2023

"Radically different day compared to Waumbek yesterday. Now there is snow at higher elevation. Molly and I met up with Katie at Lafayette Campground and hiked up to Lonesome Lake, then along the disgusting Fishing Jimmy Tr. Lots of mud and snow. I gained a Calendar Day and Molly gained a couple of grid peaks." — newenglandwarrior • Nov 14, 2021

"25 & 26/48. Solo. Started out at Lafayette campground around 07:15. Only 7 cars in the lot, all of which had dew on them, probably overnight campers if I had to guess. It was about 40°. Feeling stiff and creaky this morning even with a hearty breakfast of ibuprofen and a banana. Felt weird to walk directly next to people’s camp sites to get onto the trail for Lonesome Lake. This trail (~1 mile) was mostly hard packed dirt with a steady but not grueling incline. My legs were in no mood. A little bit before the lake, there were many plank bridges and i was on level ground again. Lonesome Lake was absolutely stunning, the water was incredibly calm and reflective. I didn’t linger at the hut, just continued on to Fishin’ Jimmy, which remained plank filled and flat for a bit. Between mile 2-3 I encountered a lot of mud and distressingly, rock slabs and scrambles heading downhill. Then uphill. Then downhill again. The worst. Hate going down to go up. I picked my way down the wet rock faces carefully and rock hopped over all of the mud that didn’t have planks. The uphill in earnest following this was punishment to me. Lots of interesting cut outs in the rocks, ladders, meta..." — kellieirene • Oct 7, 2021

"I’ve always found Fishing Jimmy to be a tough trail- today was no exception. Rocks and roots were slick and all the steeps required a bit more care than a speedy ascent and descent provide. Kinsman Pond was magical with the cloud cover but there were no long views" — hiking4000 • Jul 1, 2021

"Hiked up Mt. Kinsman Trail to N. Kinsman and then over to S. Kinsman and back. Steep rock slides in places. Trail was nice to hike up. Saw bear claw marks in a couple of trees. Cloudy and light rain at times. Views were very limited until we hit N. Kinsman on the way back from S. Kinsman. We got to see a rainbow too! 10 mile hike taking 9.5 hours to complete. 38 degrees at the start and 51 when we finished." — GreggC • Oct 3, 2020