Many people have a goal to do all of the NH 4000 footers at some point in their lives. I never really shared that desire until this year. Unfortunately, you need to document the dates you hiked to each summit so many of the peaks I have hiked in the past will need to be completed again so I can set a date for each peak. This trip will allow me to bag three more peaks: South Kinsman, North Kinsman and Cannon Mountain.
The hike, at only 11-12 miles could be done as a day trip but I chose to do this as an overnight backpacking weekend, staying at Kinsman Pond. With a total elevation gain of 4500 feet, it still can be a bit of a challenge for some so don’t let the short length fool you into thinking this is a beginner hike. If you do this as an overnight, the mileage is roughly 6 miles for each day.
The Trails:
You will be parking at the trailhead near Lafayette Campground to start your journey.
- Lonesome Lake Trail for 0.4 miles to the intersection of Hi-Cannon Trail and Lonesome Lake Trail. Stay on Lonesome Lake Trail here.
- Lonesome Lake Trail for 0.8 miles Lonesome Lake.
- Follow signs around the lake to Lonesome Lake Hut (0.2 miles)
- Fishing Jimmy Trail (AT) to Kinsman Pond (2.0 miles)
- The entrance to the camping area is on your left. If you are doing this as a backpacking trip, you might want to set up camp before hitting the Kinsmans. This is not a recommendation and you do so at your own risk.
- From here, you will take the Kinsman Ridge Trail towards the Kinsmans 0.4 miles before reaching the summit of North Kinsman.
- Continue on 0.9 miles to the summit of South Kinsman.
- Turn around and retrace your steps back to the camping area entrance (1.3 miles)
- If you are camping, you will be heading in here for the night.
- The intersection to head to Cannon or Lonesome Lake is a little strange so I will make note of it here. On the map, it looks like the trail to Cannon is directly across from the entrance to the camp area. It is, but it is more like a Y instead of a + if that makes any sense. It is to the left of the trail to Lonesome Lake.
- Take Kinsman Ridge Trail towards Cannon mountain for 2.4 miles. You will see Lonesome Lake Trail come in from your right but you will continue straight.
- Continue on Kinsman Ridge for 0.4 miles. Hi-Cannon trail comes in from your right so remember this spot since you will be descending down that trail after hitting the summit of Cannon Mountain.
- Continue another 0.4 miles to the summit of Cannon.
- Turn around and retrace your steps for 0.4 miles to the intersection of Hi-Cannon Trail
- Descend Hi-Cannon Trail for 1.2 miles passing the Dodge Cut off and continue for another 0.8 miles until you reach the Lonesome Lake Trail.
- Continue descending the Lonesome Lake Trail for 0.4 miles to your car
A note about mileage:
All Trails has this listed as a 10.9 mile hike but if I add the distances on my AMC maps, it comes out to 12 so I am not sure which is accurate. If you walk around camp and do a little sight seeing at the summit of Cannon, the mileage will be slightly higher anyway so it probably doesn’t matter much.
Trail Notes and Other Data:
There are some sections that are quite steep on this trip. Some people say Fishin Jimmy is a beast but I didn’t really find it that bad. There were a couple steep spots on the Kinsman peaks, but the steepest was going up Cannon on the Kinsman Ridge Trail. Speaking of the Kinsman Ridge Trail, the 2.4 mile section between the camping area and Lonesome Lake Trail was muddy as heck when I was there. It took me a lot longer on day two than I had anticipated because of the mud and then the steeps going up to Cannon. The descent down Hi-Cannon is pretty steep but the footing is good. That said, there is a ladder so if you plan on hiking with a dog, you might want to know about that in advance and possibly take another trail down. Last but not least, there is a place where you can get food and drink at the top of Cannon so stopping in for a treat can be nice.
Water:
You can get water at Lonesome Lake from the Hut, Kinsman Pond or at the summit of Cannon. Obviously, the time of year could impact the availability so please do your own research before heading out. As mentioned, Kinsman Pond is the water source for the camping area so be prepared to deal with floaters. Also, if you use something like a Sawyer Squeeze, getting the water into the squeeze bags can be a challenge when obtaining water from a pond so you might want to carry something else to help get the water in there. I typically use a Ziplock bag to collect the water and dump it into the Sawyer bags.
Final Thoughts:
I enjoyed the trip. I was in the clouds for quite a bit of the time on both the Kinsmans and also on the second morning while traversing Kinsman Ridge. Luckily, the clouds parted when I hit the summit of Cannon. I think it was a little harder than I was expecting but that could have been the mud or maybe I just didn’t eat enough on day one leaving me weak on day two. I would recommend this trip for a fun peakbagging overnight or a long day trip to knock off three more mountains from your NH48 list.