Cannon Mountain
What we thought was going to be a clear day to see some of those Cannon Mountain views turned out to be quite the opposite. Now don’t get me wrong, any day in the Whites is phenomenal but it has been a rough stretch of weather and bad luck.
The alarm sounded at 4:30am and hopped right out of bed, made a pre hike smoothie and an egg sandwich. I then woke Kyle and Rocky up and got them going as well. We departed the house at just about 5am and planned to be on trail by 6:30-6:45. On our drive over the Kanc we saw the sun coming up and blue in the sky so we thought this would be a good day weather wise. Ummm…Franconia Notch had other plans just like our hike up Liberty and Flume two weeks prior. The one thing you learn pretty damn quick in the Whites is that the weather could not give a fuck about you and your plans but like we do in these situations, just make the most of it and have fun. Now this wasn’t horrible weather that made the hike less pleasurable, it was more the nuisance clouds and fog rolling in as we were halfway up.
We hit the Lonesome Lake trailhead at 6:45 and began our trek up to Cannon. We would take the LL Trail to Kinsman Ridge Trail and end up at the tower on Cannons summit. Started out steep (~1000 foot gain) the first mile then you get a nice 0.6 mile flat section to get that heart rate down for a few. We checked out Lonsome Lake and it was spectacular as it was still clear skies and sunny at this point. After the flat we start to go up again about 700 more feet of gain in a half mile before meeting up and getting onto the Kinsman Ridge trail. This was the steepest but actually the most fun throughout the hike. The gain here is about 600 feet in 0.4 miles and most of it is rock scrambling over huge boulders. You definitely have to keep your focus at this point of the hike. We had to grab tree roots more than a few times to get from rock to rock. After a grueling 0.4 miles we were at last back on some flat terrain. The last 0.1 to the tower was easy and we went headed straight to the cafeteria at the tram station and grabbed a snack and sat out on the deck looking at nothing but fog and clouds! Couldn’t see anything!!! Luckily we have skied Cannon multiple times so we were aware of some of the view points but never have been on the other side of the rim trail to check those views out. We hit Lonesome Lake Hut on way down, purchased a few patches for our packs, had a drink and continued to the car. Bottom line, it was a fun hike and we will do it again on a clear day. 🤞
Kyle and I all smiles after completing #16 on our journey to 48!
Lonesome Lake early morning before the clouds rolled in. The lake is almost 3000 feet above sea level.
Our spectacular view (sarcasm) from the rim trail on the summit of Cannon.
The crazy steep scramble on Kinsman Ridge trail.