By Marty Basch

The well-traveled and pungently scented Appalachian Trail thru-hiker took a few minutes for pleasant chatter while descending the Kinsman Ridge Trail in Franconia Notch.

He had spent a whopping 20 minutes atop the largely open summit of 4358-foot South Kinsman with the huge cairn and even bigger vistas of the classic Franconia Range in the east and the rippling horizon of Vermont's forests and farms to the north and northwest.

"It's been the best views so far," said the young bearded man who had left Georgia's Springer Mountain Feb. 12 and reached that peak the last day of May. For a guy like that who's been averaging about 3 miles per hour on the trail, the mighty Whites had him trekking at 2 mph.

Soulful Sisters

That would have been just fine with my sweetheart Jan Duprey and I as we hiked the 10-mile out-and-back trails of 4293-foot North Kinsman and South, the two leg-burning sisters running from Kinsman Notch to Franconia Notch.

Instead, we moved like patient snails during a pleasantly overcast morning that gave way to afternoon sun with temps in the high 70s along the Lonesome Lake, Cascade Brook, Fishin' Jimmy and Kinsman Ridge Trails scrambling over abrupt slabs, gingerly negotiating wooden steps affixed to steep ledges and cautiously and tediously overcoming the potential snafus of wet rocks and slippery roots.

While South Kinsman has a sweeping summit due to a fire that burned there in the late 1800's, North Kinsman's top is forested with a fine ledge that towers over Kinsman Pond.

The strenuous eastern approach hike to the Kinsmans named after fledging Easton farmer and settler Nathan Kinsman—an early  Massachusetts transplant—begins easily enough from the Lafayette Place Campground in Franconia Notch State Park. The fine footing was good enough for a trail runner along the Lonesome Lake Trail before walking on the bog bridges of the Cascade Brook Trail along the splendid alpine lake with dock, canoe and impressive Cannon Ball, Cannon and Franconia Range outlooks. According to the photo display inside the Appalachian Mountain Club's Lonesome Lake hut that canoe was pulled up over the snows of a recent winter.

Alluring, Not

The Fishing Jimmy Trail is the gateway to some eventual hurting on the steeps. But there are also some playful flats in the birch and fir forest, brook crossings and well-appreciated raised bridges.

However, the soul-destroying steeps are formidable during the ascent but not as much descending as confidence grows along this trek too with the help of popping ibuprofen at the summit.

With about a half-mile still to the North Kinsman summit, the pathway becomes the also rugged Kinsman Ridge Trail at Kinsman Junction. The pay-off for the steep climb is that glorious ledge but there's still about a mile to go in the col between the rough sisters.

Sister South is sweet with its pair of summit knobs and scrubby vegetation. Even the most fatigued of slow-moving hikers will feel their smiles grow and thumbs reaching up in the universal we-made-it -to-the-top (but it's going to hurt wicked tomorrow).

Such a View

It's easy to see why South is one of the peaks in "Scudder's White Mountain Viewing Guide," a book that details summit scenery from the tops of 43 mountains largely in New Hampshire but also Vermont (Burke), Maine (Old Speck) and Quebec (Mont Megantic).

The entire Franconia Range—Lafayette, Lincoln, Little Haystack, Liberty and Flume—appear majestic in the east. Stand above the Cannon Balls below.

Stroll down your own mountain memory lane. For us, seeing the Hancocks reminded us of yet another steep assault on a pair of summit sisters. Loon's ski trails prompted us to recall snowy spring skiing while seeing the Connecticut River Valley brought back a rainy paddle and camping trip that got us home the evening of September 10, 2001.

The descent over the now familiar terrain brought us back to the outstanding North Kinsman ledge where a fellow hiker making a western ascent from the Easton Valley obligingly snapped our photo.

Slow and steady was the mantra on the way down with trekking poles used as handy tools during the day-long hike. Those wooden steps, while still nerve-wracking, seemed a bit easier and no one's pride was hurt with a little sitting and sliding on some of the big, bad, wet slabs leaving those sisters with some soul.