Elevation: 2,149 ft (overall) 2,644 ft (total)
Time: 2:07 (Summit) 3:44 (Total)
Trails: Kinsman Ridge Trail
This year for Flags on the 48 our group had picked to hike Cannon Mountain. Our group leader's father has helped out with our flag pole setup, but isn't much for hiking big peaks. The idea was he could come see it in action using the tram. Of course the weather ended up being cool, windy, cloudy, and a bit rainy. So not many of the non-hiking crowd ended up coming along as it wasn't going to be as enjoyable with the weather and lack of views.
We met in the dirt parking lot near the tramway parking lot. Shortly after I got there, everyone was there and ready to go. So we gathered together and headed up the Kinsman Ridge Trail. It was cloudy and a little breezy, but wasn't raining so a wind breaker was good enough to keep me warm until we got further up the mountain and my body warmed up. The trail today would be a mix of a big eroded ditch, some wet potentially slippery rock slabs, and rocky sections following ski glades.
Very eroded lower section of the Kinsman Ridge Trail
Wet rock slab section of trail
The trail following the ski glades
It's been 12 years I think since I have been on this trail, but it was rockier than I remembered it being. It wasn't bad with big rocks, just more rocks than I remembered. As we were getting to the spur that goes to the lookout above the old profile we started to run into a little bit of mud as well. The wind was also picking up by this point, so I decided it was time to put my rain jacket on to stay dry and warmer. As we came out of the trees more above this it was certainly windier.
Coming up towards the top
We made such good time hiking up that we were at the top of the tram with plenty of time before noon and we needed the flag up. So we all went into the building to stay out of the wind and warm up a bit before taking the short walk to the summit tower. Given the summit conditions, we got our flag up pretty quick. With the wind we needed to tie and clamp the pole a bit more to the railing at the top of the tower. With all of the wind, we also had a brief failure where our flag counter weight blew off and fell to the ground below the tower. Luckily no one was down there and got hurt. We had to adjust how it was attached after so that it wouldn't come off again. We flew our flag most of the two hour time frame we ask flags to fly, but with our crew getting cold and at least one dog in our group shivering, we packed up a bit early. Some of our gear was brought down by a helper on the tramway, but almost all of us hiked back down afterwards.
The flag flying in the clouds
The flag flying in the clouds
No views today
Visibility was about 200 feet
The tram was running, and people were taking it
Wires from the tram going off into nothingness
The trek back down went smoothly for everyone. It didn't rain any more and as we got further down the wind got lighter. We never did have any views, but we always find things to talk about instead. Everyone made it down safely even with damp rock slabs to come down on sections of the trail. We all went at our own pace and everything worked out fine. After the hike and more talking in the parking lot, we decided on a place to eat supper and went and told more stories while checking online to see how many other peaks we could confirm.
Google Earth representation of the hike
For all the pictures from the hike, just go to my gallery on SmugMug
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