Bald Peak
Saturday, 05-Sep-2015
Tags: NH / Hiking
This is not a trail guide. If you are planning to hike any of these trails refer to a real trail guide such as
(for the White Mountains) the
AMC White Mountain Guide.
Saturday, 12-Oct-2019 We hiked Bald Peak again. We updated a few things in the post and added some fall pictures near the end.
Another pleasant hike, not too hard, not too steep, great views. Unfortunately it is not on the 52 With A View list, maybe because the peak only has an elevation 2450 feet, but it should be.
Bald Peak (not to be confused with Bald Mountain which is a fun romp at the top of Franconia Notch directly across from Cannon Mountain) is one of the western foothills in the Kinsman Range. It is almost directly west of the peak of Cannon Mountain.
Bald Peak is reached via the Mt. Kinsman Trail which starts on Route 116 in Franconia about 1.7 miles north of the Easton Town Hall. There is a parking area right off of the east side of Rt. 116.
The trailhead is at an elevation of about 1030. It starts heading west, climbing at a mild grade through hardwoods and conifers. This trail has been well maintained. The footing was good and it was freshly blazed (blue blazes).
The trail turns sharp right about 0.5 miles in (elev. about 1335 feet). (Note that there is a trail to the left at this turn. The Mt. Kinsman trail used to start a bit farther north on Rt. 116 and this is where the old trail meets the current trail).
About 0.1 miles after the right turn there is an old Sugar House.
Nice spider web along the way.
The trail enters the White Mountains National Forest at about 1 mile (elev. about 1520 feet) and immediately turns sharp right, and then turns left in a few yards.
The left turn.
There are three brook crossings after this. All of these crossings were “easy”. But note that this was in September of a dry year. The first two of the crossings will likely not cause problems in other circumstances, but the third crossing might be challenging earlier in the season or during a particularly wet year. The first crossing was at about 1.5 miles (elev. about 1870 ft.). After this crossing the trail got noticeably steeper. (But not difficult).
The second crossing was about a quarter mile on (elev. about 2120 feet — so this gained about 250 feet in about a quarter mile or 1000 feet per mile which falls into the “steep” category in our ratings.) This crossing features a beautiful mossy ledge.
The third crossing, of Kendall (Flume) Brook, was another quarter mile (at about 2 miles, elev about 2350 ft.). There are notes that you can take a side path on the right to see the flume, but footing is tricky and we did not go.
About 3 minutes after the third brook crossing, the spur trail to Bald Peak leaves to the right and the Mt. Kinsman trail turns left and continues to North Kinsman.
Double blaze means turn or change ahead for the Mt. Kinsman trail.
The spur is only about 0.2 miles long and very pretty. It is blazed in yellow. It climbs a bit then drops a bit and then climbs to the open summit, 2.25 miles from the start at an elevation of 2450 feet. The trek up took us about 90 minutes.
The open top of Bald Peak immediately presents a view to the southwest with the large mass of Mt. Moosilauke filling the vista. It was a clear day and everything was bright and crisp. North Kinsman was to the near south. Rotating eastward (counter clockwise) presented the backs of some of the “Cannon Balls” terminating at the Mittersill Peak of Mt. Cannon.
First, Moosilauke. This is a panorama. Moosilauke is the large mass on the left in the distance with the Benton Range to the right.
Then, North Kinsman.
Finally, the Mittersill peak of Cannon.
Rotating westward (clockwise) from Moosilauke provided views towards the Connecticut River valley and the Benton Range, including Black Mountain (which was the first hike that we blogged, see here).
Walking off the peak a bit and rotating a bit more towards the north are the Pilot and Pliny Ranges with Mt. Cabot and Mt. Waumbek.
Following are some fall pictures taken in October 2019, including a very pretty American Mountain Ash with berries.
12-Oct-2019
12-Oct-2019
12-Oct-2019
After relaxing on the top, having some lunch, and taking pictures of some flowers we headed down. The entire trip was about 4.5 miles and took about 2 hours and 45 minutes (about 1:30 up and 1:15 down) of hiking.
With an elevation gain of about 1420 feet in 2.25 miles, the average ascent was only about 630 feet per mile (although as noted there was a steep stretch in the middle). The views were great and this was definitely a great “bang for the buck”.
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Larry and Eileen Samberg
