Northeast Cannon Ball (3,769 ft) 5-28-16

Distance: 9.40 mi.
Elevation: 1,909 ft (overall) 3,152 ft (total)
Time: 2:48 (NE Cannon Ball) 7:13 (Total)
Trails: Lonesome Lake Trail, Kinsman Ridge Trail, Fishin' Jimmy Trail, Lonesome Lake Trail

With the forecast being for hazy skies and possible rain showers, it was a good day to grab another NEHH peak that wouldn't have much for views. Unfortunately, the forecast was also for hot temperatures and higher humidity. This made the hike go a bit slower than normal with more and longer stops. Also, plenty of fluids to carry in my pack while traversing the ridge.

The hike from the parking lot to Lonesome Lake isn't all that bad normally, but today it was a bit uncomfortable. You could just tell the humidity was high this morning and I was sweating significantly early on. The trail itself is somewhat gradual with a long switchback built into it. A bit rocky in places due to the traffic it sees, but leveling off nicely before the lake. Only a few others were out this early with a couple just going up to the lake and then back down. Getting to the lake, it appears that materials have been dropped off for some new bog bridges.

Supplies at the lake

View at the lake with overcast skies

Continuing around the lake, the trail is mostly on bog bridges. These ones are still good, so they aren't likely the ones being replaced. As the trail leaves the lake though, that is when you find the bog bridges I expect are going to be replaced. Many of them in this section are getting pretty bad. As you get further from the lake though, the trail gets steeper and you lose the bog bridges all together. However, it gets pretty rocky and stays kind of steep for a while. Today there was also water in many places and damp rocks from the morning and the humidity. The trail does level out some again shortly before its end at the Kinsman Ridge Trail

A bit steep and rocky

Heading south on the Kinsman Ridge Trail (KRT), you head steeply up the NE Cannon Ball. It stays like this most of the way up, helping you gain elevation quickly. Once up near the summit, the trail levels out. I walked back and forth here a bit while looking at my GPS to help me decide which rock or opening was the actual high point. I didn't notice any cairns and didn't expect there to be a sign. With limited views over the trees and hazy skies in all direction, I didn't spend much time here. I changed into a dry shirt, had a snack, and took a few pictures.

View from the summit

Heading south along the KRT goes pretty well for a while. It isn't as steep as coming up the NE Cannon Ball and appears to see less traffic, so it isn't as worn. There are a few wooden steps/ladders in a couple steep spots to help out as well. Since you go behind the second Cannon Ball, the trail is a pretty steady decline over some rocky patches and some wet patches. I took a short break at a nice spot that had a bit of an opening to the north.

Limited view from the trail

Eventually you hit a small brook crossing and the start of the steep climb up the third Cannon Ball. This starts off rocky, but gets better as you get higher. The map makes it look like you might not go all the way up and over the summit here, but it seems in reality that you do. I was hoping for a bit less gain here, but didn't get it. After the high point, the trail has a couple more ups and down with the ups being a bit longer as you work your way up to the next intersection. Once there, it's mostly downhill back to the parking lot.

Climbing the 3rd Cannon Ball

Of course this means going down the Fishin' Jimmy Trial, which many consider rough and difficult. If nothing else, a little less enjoyable than most trails. The trail is steep and rocky for the first half as you descend. There has been some nice stone work since I was last here and the existing wooden steps added to the smooth rocks help. I didn't find it too bad going down today, but heard from another going up that he fell multiple times on the slick rocks. The second half of the trail is much smoother and more gradual. It does have some short climbs up though before you reach the lake. Today, this was the section that I seemed the slowest on. I think I was just getting too hot coming back down into the lower elevations and not drinking quite enough fluid.

Wooden steps on the Fishin' Jimmy Trail

I stopped at the hut to have some nice cold water and take a break. I also filled my bottles in case my water bladder ran out on the descent. Any extra could also be used to wash off at the car or just dump over my head to refresh myself. Heading from the hut to the car went pretty quick, even though there was much more traffic now than this morning. I've done this descent a few times and it's easy to carry a bit faster pace after resting at the hut. It also seemed to go quicker as I caught up to a few people that were good to talk too as we all headed down.

View from the porch on the hut

In the end, the hike went well considering the hot temps. I've bonked hard in similar weather before near the end of the hike, but today I kept a more casual pace with more breaks and drank plenty of water. In the end, I probably drank about 4.5-5 quarts of water while hiking and stopped at the hut.

For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE

Map of the hike

Cannon Mtn (4,100 ft) 3-18-14

Distance: 3.70 mi.
Elevation: 2,143 ft. (overall) 2,320 ft. (total)
Time: 2:22 (Summit) 4:01 (Total)
Trails: Kinsman Ridge Trail, Rim Trail

With most of this winters few hikes being peaks I have already done in winter, I wanted to make sure to get at least one more new winter peak. I scheduled this day off from work since I would be up north all weekend snowmobiling. As it got closer, the forecast kept getting better.

With the forecast for clear skies and knowing some of my future hikes I want to do, I decided that a nice few of Franconia Ridge was what I would be looking for today. Having hiked up Cannon Mountain twice from the Lonesome Lake side, I decided to hike from the tramway side today (although I have come down this way once). Being a Tuesday and having the tram closed, there were hardly any cars in the parking lot and most seemed to be employees. I headed up the trail on snowshoes and was reminded that it starts climbing from the very beginning. It was 17 degrees when I left the car, but the immediate climb and the sun through the hardwoods was warming me up some already. But entering the softwoods soon after cooled things back down. The trail here is eroded so you are down in the ground some so to speak and there was snow slopping up both sides of me. This made the air quite cool as you hiked through.

Between two walls of snow

In what seemed like very little time, I was at the first crossing of the Kinsman Glade ski trail. The hiking trail heads right across, but is also blazed quite well through here with blue blazes. The hiking trail crosses the ski trail 4 times while switch backing up the mountain before finally following along the left edge briefly before turning left and back into the woods. Traction was good when crossing the ski trail, but I still took care since it was packed well from the skiers and didn't offer much in ways to slow yourself down right off if you did slip. Just looking ahead to pick the best route to cross was enough.

Ski slope crossing

Once turning back into the woods, the trail was still well packed from snowshoers and also skiers/snowboarders that had come down the trail as well. At this point, you are also past the steepest parts of the climb. The trail was easy to follow through here, but some branches were getting low and near face level with the increasing base of snow on the ground. Soon I was at the side path to the viewpoint and had my first view of the summit. I decided to do the viewpoint on the way down and headed back into the trees. One section of trail through here had some old drifts that seemed deep and had added lots of snow to the trees. While they looked neat, the path through one was only wide enough for one snowshoe. This meant I either had to lift the other one high and over the drift or shuffle my feet to get through.

First view of the summit

Narrow path

Coming back out of the trees to the rocky area before the summit, you could easily make out the trail ahead and also see some people on the observation deck. The trail was nice and hard through here and followed a good path. From comparing my GPS tracks, this path is a little off from the actual trail, but I'm guessing the skiers tend to make the path here based on what works for coming off the ski trails. After coming out onto the ski trails briefly, I decided I would try to take the Rim Trail around to the left and come up to the summit that way. This was definitely the less traveled route I would find. While it was solid enough to hold me, it was pretty choppy from the few snowshoes that had been through. Like most others, I also bailed off of this and went directly up to the summit tower rather than follow it all the way around.

Following the Rim Trail

The stairs up to the observation deck were mostly filled with snow meaning I could snowshoe up them easily. On the deck were two others that had taken a break from skiing to enjoy the views. I talked with them for a while before they headed back off for some more runs. I then had the top to myself the rest of the time I was up there. Views were great in all directions with clear skies. I spend almost a full hour taking in the views and taking pictures. It was certainly a great day. The temp on the summit was 13 degrees with a wind blowing around 7-10 mph. This made for a wind chill of 1. All I put on for this was a partial face mask and I was comfortable since it was so sunny.

Panoramic views today

The Kinsmans

Quite a few skiers for a Tuesday

I kept thinking I saw hikers on Lafayette, but the spots I was looking at never moved

Finally it was time to head back down taking the same route. The sun hadn't softened anything up and skiers had kept things packed well as I had noticed from the summit that a group of about 6-8 had ventured down the trail. Before going back into the trees before the viewpoint, I had a nice conversation with another hiker named Frank. Of course we talked about the great day for a hike and some other things before we both continued on our journeys. The hike back down the mountain went smooth and I didn't run into any other hikers or skiers after this.

From the view point

Back down onto the ski trail briefly

This hike ended up going great with perfect weather for the day and my last winter peak of the season. With two nice weather hikes in a row, I'm looking forward to (and anxious for) the rest of the hikes while trying to hit my goal of all 67 New England 4Ks this year.

For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE

Cannon Mtn. (4,100 ft) 6-15-13

Distance: 5.491 mi.
Elevation: 2,359 ft.
Time: 5:07
Trails: Lonesome Lake Trail, Hi-Cannon Trail, Kinsman Ridge Trail, Around Lonesome Lake Trail

With Cannon Mtn. being the first 4,000 footer I hiked, it had been a while since I was here. Today my plan was to hike a similar route as last time to start, but then a different route down that would hopefully include the Northeast Cannonball on the way.

I started up the Lonesome Lake Trail from Lafayette Place Campground like I did last time. This time I turned off at the start of the Hi-Cannon Trail though as opposed to going to Lonesome Lake first. The trail gets a bit steep in places from here, but includes some small switchbacks to make it easier. There is also some interesting terrain and boulders that you go past.

After passing the Dodge Cut Off, it was familiar trail again. The trail passes by a tree I didn't notice my last time here. It appears to have been partially blown over, but is still alive and doing well. The roots that pulled up partially formed a small jail cell like hole under the tree. The trail soon starts to work across the side hill over more rocky terrain. Before long though, the trail turns uphill and comes to the wooden ladder. Just after the ladder is a great view down over Lonesome Lake from a rocky outcropping. After this, the trail gets a little bit easier before leveling off quite a bit as it works to the summit.

Jail cell tree base

Ladder

View over Lonesome Lake

Summit view

After taking in the views and talking with some other people, it was time to head back down the trail. I headed down the Kinsman Ridge Trail towards the Cannonballs. This trail is steep as others have said, but wasn't too difficult. One side hill section over a narrow section of large rocks looks like it would be tricky with snow or ice on the ground.

Rocky side hill section of trail

Once I got to the intersection with the Lonesome Lake Trail, I checked the time. I had to be home at a certain time for father's day supper at my parents. I didn't look like I would quite have the time to climb the short distance to the Northeast Cannonball. So instead I headed down towards Lonesome lake and would just have a bit more time there to enjoy the loop around the back and the hut. The hike down went smooth and quick with quite a few other people headed up.

View from Lonesome Lake

For all pictures from the hike, click HERE