Fishin Jimmy Trail

[skiguy]

I always thought that the Fishin Jimmy Trail was a fun trail. There seems to be alot of comments in various threads to the opposite. What don't or do you like about this Trail?

 

[NewHampshire]

It may not have many, but the few PUDs it does have are monster ones. Plus, the times I have done it, it has been pretty wet. I don't know if its ALWAYS like that, I am just saying that when I was on it twice it was wet as hell.

No more F'n Jimmy for me. I will take the Mt. Kinsman trail next time to get up to the Kinsmans.

Brian

P.S. I see in my current issue of Adoption Papers some blessed soul just adopted that trail........I pity their poor soul!

 

[una_dogger]

It meanders a bit but I think its a fine trail. After all .. a day on the trail is better than...well...just about anything!!

 

[TDawg]

I found it fun back on October 31st, GOING UP IT. The PUDS are in the half nearest the hut so decending it, tired, might put you in a pissed off mood when you are expecting to see Lonesome Lake around every turn.

 

[askus3]

I like the Fishin Jimmy Trail. Hiked it in March and it was pretty both ways. Photos 16-21 cover the Fishin Jimmy Trail on that trip.

 

[Mad Townie]

I'm with Brian on this one. Seriously icy in winter, wet in other seasons, and serious elevation gain while descending.

 

[Waumbek]

Fishin' Jimmy is one of those trails that you can either hike or drop a line in, take your choice, or do both, fish while you hike, hike while you fish.

 

[Tom & Atticus]

Fishin' Jimmy is one of those trails that you can either hike or drop a line in, take your choice, or do both, fish while you hike, hike while you fish.

Or skate on, as we did earlier this week.

 

[RoySwkr]

I asked one of the LL Hut Crew if this trail was as obnoxious as ever, and he said yes, but then he probably wasn't born the first time I hiked it.

In the '70s the AMC got a lot of money to improve the AT, and they used it to install all sorts of contrivances on the existing route with nary a thought about how to improve it. For instance on FJ there is a place where you go up a rocky ridge on those timber steps and then immediately drop down the far side, it would have been better for hikers and future maintainers to go around it but the goal was to prove than Bob Proudman's boys could build a trail anywhere. There was another place where you were supposed to walk across a dip on an 8" log 3 feet in the air, that one has been removed. And in spite of all the $$ spent in the trail, it was so wet that my sister claimed it got its name because you could catch a 12" trout in the treadway.

I have climbed Kinsman lots of ways and this is about my least favorite, but at least it has good parking so I'll probably do it again.

 

[yogi]

When I hiked it a few years ago, not only was I walking up a running creek bed, but I had hard time following the trail in several places causing some back tracking. Hopefully it has been re-blazed since then.

 

[roadtripper]

I'd rather work than hike that trail

 

[Zimmer]

Love it.

But what the heck is a PUD? "Planned Unit Development" is the only thing coming to mind. I don't think that's what it stands for in this context.

 

[MichaelJ]

PUD = pointless up and down

I despise coming down Fishin' Jimmy. However, I enjoy going up it, specifically if I'm not going to come down it but instead traverse to some other trail. Somehow that makes it a lot more enjoyable.

 

[skiguy]

PUD = pointless up and down

I despise coming down Fishin' Jimmy. However, I enjoy going up it, specifically if I'm not going to come down it but instead traverse to some other trail. Somehow that makes it a lot more enjoyable.

Great comments...glad to see that I am not the only one who thinks this trail is fun. I would agree that going up is the preferred direction of travel.
I have also heard PUD referred to as PERPETUAL up and downs...as in the Garfield Ridge Trail.

 

[MichaelJ]

Great comments...glad to see that I am not the only one who thinks this trail is fun.

Thanks! I think it has a little of everything - several different variations of woods, some gorgeously green mossy crossings, some slab, some steps, some puncheons, it's a great variety. I think it's the "not all this at the end of the day" psychology that kills it for a lot of people, myself included, on the way down. With a destination of the hut (and the car beyond) in mind, the winding and twisting is just ... "suboptimal".

 

[Mike P.]

While I can't call it a favorite trail, I like it though. It's not a real hard trail to some great views. It is wetter than some trails so in wet seasons, either melting snow or water freezing can be tough.

 

[carla]

waterfall trail

the two times I hiked it, it was basically like climbing up a flowing waterfall--yuck, for me, anyway! Became comic after a certain point, though!

 

[Rols]

I've always enjoyed the variation found on Fishing Jimmy trail. As others have mentioned it has some slick sections in wet weather and some serious ice sections in the Winter. However, I've always wondered why so many people use it as the route to the Kinsmans. The Mount Kinsman trail is a little used trail that is a beautiful route to the Kinsmans. It has become my favorite route to the ridge.

 

[cbcbd]

I'm with Brian on this one. Seriously icy in winter, wet in other seasons, and serious elevation gain while descending.

A trail that defies the laws of physics!! Count me out...

 

[MichaelJ]

A trail that defies the laws of physics!! Count me out...

I'm pretty sure there's a moebius out there somewhere...