The Feathered Hat
Active member
We had a family obligation on Saturday, and on Sunday Cindy needed the car (we're trying hard to remain a one-car couple), so if Tuckerman and I were going to get any hiking done this weekend, it had to be on Sunday and it had to be local.
So our plan was to have Cindy drop us off in the Cannon Mountain tram's parking lot on her way south of the Notch, then Tuck and I would climb Cannon via the Kinsman Ridge Trail. Once at the top, we'd veer westward down the Taft ski run to the old Mittersill ski area, and once there bushwhack down the old ski trail that hopefully would take us all the way down to the top of Tuckerbrook Road. (I should probably put "bushwhack" in quote marks, because, after all, this would be whacking down a ski trail, albeit an old one that's not been serviced for 20 or 30 years.) From there we could catch one of the now-snowless XC ski trails that brings us practically to our front door. If we got tangled up or lost among the offshoot Mittersill trails, I knew we could reverse course and go down the central Mittersill trail to Mittersill village, and if that didn't work I knew we could backtrack to Cannon Mountain's runs and hike down to the Peabody Lodge and from there walk to the Mittersill village, where it's possible to catch a bare XC ski trail to get back to Franconia and home. Exit strategies are nice to have in one's back pocket.
That was the plan, anyway. The KRT up Cannon is a familiar old friend, and I've skied Cannon's Taft and the central Mittersill runs plenty of times. Honestly, though, I didn't know what to expect to find once we got off the main Mittersill path. All I knew is that down at the Tuckerbrook trailhead there's a sign that reads "Caution: Alpine Downhill Skiers" (one of my favorite trail signs in the Whites), so at one time, at least, skiing down the mountain to Tuckerbrook Road had been possible.
We got underway at about 8:30 a.m. beneath a grey, soggy sky, the upper half of Cannon lost in the cover. After barebooting the first quarter-mile or so on the KRT, I pulled on MicroSpikes at the 2,400-foot elevation, and at 2,600 feet Tuckerman and I entered Cloud World.
Cannon is probably the first 4,000-footer that a lot of people summit. The views from the tower at the top are stunning on a clear day, you can reward your climb with a hot meal when the tramhouse is open, and if you get in trouble the tram, in season, will get you down the mountain quickly. But Cannon does not give up its difficulty easily. The KRT from the tram parking lot is relentlessly steep, often muddy, and at certain times of year very icy -- April being one of those times. The stretch across the rocky slides that begins at about 2,700 feet and continues until the trail turns sharply left at 3,400 feet is particularly nasty right now, with some of the steeper pitches featuring bulges of smooth blue ice or running water or, usually, both. I remained in MicroSpikes for the climb, but some hikers might be more comfortable in crampons on this part of the KRT. Then, after the slides, there's lots of postholing to contend with on the way to the summit -- the monorail is very narrow in several places.
Once you get up to the rocky ledges just below the summit, which are now bare of snow, you'll be tempted to remove whatever traction you're wearing, but don't: there are still ice and snow patches, including a few stretches of monorail, to cross in the trees before you're at the summit tower. Tuck and I reached the tower in two hours, maybe my slowest climb ever, due to the time-consuming trickiness of negotiating the rocky slides. In the cold wind up on the tower's upper deck Tuckerman seemed much more interested in smelling for the possibility of other animals than in the fact that he'd just made his fourth NH 4,000-footer.
I put on snowshoes for the walk down the broad Taft ski run, but MicroSpikes would've probably worked just as well or better. The snow cover on the run is now pretty thin, so you're not going to posthole very deeply if you posthole at all, and there are some large bare spots. At the end of Taft Tuck and I kept moving west on the well-worn trail to the top of Mittersill; the final 100 yards to the top is bare. Then we began our descent in snowshoes on the still-snow-covered main Mittersill run and shortly came to the spot I'd hoped to find: the offshoot trail heading west-northwest while the main run continued northeast down to Mittersill village.
This side trail was both snowy and icy, and steep in places, until about the 2,700-foot elevation, when the snow patches got smaller than the bare patches. Within the ski run, which is covered by small spruce saplings, there's a thin trail to follow some of the time; other times you find your own route over rocks and through shrubby spruce. At 2,500 feet there's a big turn to the right -- and the world changes.
The spruce disappears, the ski run drops into a mixed birch-conifer woods, and the path becomes grassy, mossy and leaf-covered (and soggy in spots). Considering that it's on the flank of a steep mountain, the run becomes about the most pleasant hiking trail ever. Not only that, but it concludes -- voila! --just where I thought it would, at the top of Tuckerbrook Road. Taking it in reverse would be a fantastic alternate route to the top of Cannon. (Bear in mind, though, that you're not supposed to hike on Cannon Mountain's ski trails, and this route includes hiking on the Taft run.). It's longer than the KRT route up Cannon by a mile, maybe a mile and a half, but the only stretch of any real difficulty, once the snow's gone, is from 2,500 feet up to the top of Mittersill, and it's only difficult because you're picking your way up on old ski run that's overgrown in a few places. If you're not doing an out-and-back you'll need a car spot at the trailhead at the top of Tuckerbrook Road (which is off of Wells Road), but there's plenty of room for parking. You won't see many people either. Indeed, Tuckerman and I met not a single person on our entire hike. Okay, Sunday's weather was lousy, but still.
We walked down Tuckerbrook Road's quarter-mile length, then walked down Wells Road to where the Ham Branch Loop XC ski trail crosses, and from there followed the Glide Path to the airfield meadow opposite the Franconia Inn, crossed that meadow, then crossed the meadow that leads to our house on Lafayette Road. Tuckerman, who hadn't hiked in a couple of weeks due to getting The Big Snip from the vet, sprinted across the second meadow, ran up our front stairs, and immediately collapsed in his bed. He barely moved until this morning.
The entire trip, car door to front door, about six miles, perhaps seven, took us five-and-a-half hours. With a car parked at the top of Tuckerbrook Road, cut 45 minutes, and cut another 45 minutes to an hour when there's no snow and ice.
It's a great hike. From the top of Mittersill down, kind of a secret great hike too.
Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/sets/72157617262787023/
/Steve B
The Feathered Hat
[email protected]
_________________________________________
Tuckerman's report for dogs:
Lots of steep, bad ice on the KRT up to the top of Cannon.
Lots of soft snow elsewhere: puppy postholing!
Lots of water everywhere: never thirsty. Mud!
Coyote poop. Deer poop. Bear poop!
**Two sniffs (out of four). Tuck-Dog says check it out.
So our plan was to have Cindy drop us off in the Cannon Mountain tram's parking lot on her way south of the Notch, then Tuck and I would climb Cannon via the Kinsman Ridge Trail. Once at the top, we'd veer westward down the Taft ski run to the old Mittersill ski area, and once there bushwhack down the old ski trail that hopefully would take us all the way down to the top of Tuckerbrook Road. (I should probably put "bushwhack" in quote marks, because, after all, this would be whacking down a ski trail, albeit an old one that's not been serviced for 20 or 30 years.) From there we could catch one of the now-snowless XC ski trails that brings us practically to our front door. If we got tangled up or lost among the offshoot Mittersill trails, I knew we could reverse course and go down the central Mittersill trail to Mittersill village, and if that didn't work I knew we could backtrack to Cannon Mountain's runs and hike down to the Peabody Lodge and from there walk to the Mittersill village, where it's possible to catch a bare XC ski trail to get back to Franconia and home. Exit strategies are nice to have in one's back pocket.
That was the plan, anyway. The KRT up Cannon is a familiar old friend, and I've skied Cannon's Taft and the central Mittersill runs plenty of times. Honestly, though, I didn't know what to expect to find once we got off the main Mittersill path. All I knew is that down at the Tuckerbrook trailhead there's a sign that reads "Caution: Alpine Downhill Skiers" (one of my favorite trail signs in the Whites), so at one time, at least, skiing down the mountain to Tuckerbrook Road had been possible.
We got underway at about 8:30 a.m. beneath a grey, soggy sky, the upper half of Cannon lost in the cover. After barebooting the first quarter-mile or so on the KRT, I pulled on MicroSpikes at the 2,400-foot elevation, and at 2,600 feet Tuckerman and I entered Cloud World.
Cannon is probably the first 4,000-footer that a lot of people summit. The views from the tower at the top are stunning on a clear day, you can reward your climb with a hot meal when the tramhouse is open, and if you get in trouble the tram, in season, will get you down the mountain quickly. But Cannon does not give up its difficulty easily. The KRT from the tram parking lot is relentlessly steep, often muddy, and at certain times of year very icy -- April being one of those times. The stretch across the rocky slides that begins at about 2,700 feet and continues until the trail turns sharply left at 3,400 feet is particularly nasty right now, with some of the steeper pitches featuring bulges of smooth blue ice or running water or, usually, both. I remained in MicroSpikes for the climb, but some hikers might be more comfortable in crampons on this part of the KRT. Then, after the slides, there's lots of postholing to contend with on the way to the summit -- the monorail is very narrow in several places.
Once you get up to the rocky ledges just below the summit, which are now bare of snow, you'll be tempted to remove whatever traction you're wearing, but don't: there are still ice and snow patches, including a few stretches of monorail, to cross in the trees before you're at the summit tower. Tuck and I reached the tower in two hours, maybe my slowest climb ever, due to the time-consuming trickiness of negotiating the rocky slides. In the cold wind up on the tower's upper deck Tuckerman seemed much more interested in smelling for the possibility of other animals than in the fact that he'd just made his fourth NH 4,000-footer.
I put on snowshoes for the walk down the broad Taft ski run, but MicroSpikes would've probably worked just as well or better. The snow cover on the run is now pretty thin, so you're not going to posthole very deeply if you posthole at all, and there are some large bare spots. At the end of Taft Tuck and I kept moving west on the well-worn trail to the top of Mittersill; the final 100 yards to the top is bare. Then we began our descent in snowshoes on the still-snow-covered main Mittersill run and shortly came to the spot I'd hoped to find: the offshoot trail heading west-northwest while the main run continued northeast down to Mittersill village.
This side trail was both snowy and icy, and steep in places, until about the 2,700-foot elevation, when the snow patches got smaller than the bare patches. Within the ski run, which is covered by small spruce saplings, there's a thin trail to follow some of the time; other times you find your own route over rocks and through shrubby spruce. At 2,500 feet there's a big turn to the right -- and the world changes.
The spruce disappears, the ski run drops into a mixed birch-conifer woods, and the path becomes grassy, mossy and leaf-covered (and soggy in spots). Considering that it's on the flank of a steep mountain, the run becomes about the most pleasant hiking trail ever. Not only that, but it concludes -- voila! --just where I thought it would, at the top of Tuckerbrook Road. Taking it in reverse would be a fantastic alternate route to the top of Cannon. (Bear in mind, though, that you're not supposed to hike on Cannon Mountain's ski trails, and this route includes hiking on the Taft run.). It's longer than the KRT route up Cannon by a mile, maybe a mile and a half, but the only stretch of any real difficulty, once the snow's gone, is from 2,500 feet up to the top of Mittersill, and it's only difficult because you're picking your way up on old ski run that's overgrown in a few places. If you're not doing an out-and-back you'll need a car spot at the trailhead at the top of Tuckerbrook Road (which is off of Wells Road), but there's plenty of room for parking. You won't see many people either. Indeed, Tuckerman and I met not a single person on our entire hike. Okay, Sunday's weather was lousy, but still.
We walked down Tuckerbrook Road's quarter-mile length, then walked down Wells Road to where the Ham Branch Loop XC ski trail crosses, and from there followed the Glide Path to the airfield meadow opposite the Franconia Inn, crossed that meadow, then crossed the meadow that leads to our house on Lafayette Road. Tuckerman, who hadn't hiked in a couple of weeks due to getting The Big Snip from the vet, sprinted across the second meadow, ran up our front stairs, and immediately collapsed in his bed. He barely moved until this morning.
The entire trip, car door to front door, about six miles, perhaps seven, took us five-and-a-half hours. With a car parked at the top of Tuckerbrook Road, cut 45 minutes, and cut another 45 minutes to an hour when there's no snow and ice.
It's a great hike. From the top of Mittersill down, kind of a secret great hike too.
Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/sets/72157617262787023/
/Steve B
The Feathered Hat
[email protected]
_________________________________________
Tuckerman's report for dogs:
Lots of steep, bad ice on the KRT up to the top of Cannon.
Lots of soft snow elsewhere: puppy postholing!
Lots of water everywhere: never thirsty. Mud!
Coyote poop. Deer poop. Bear poop!
**Two sniffs (out of four). Tuck-Dog says check it out.
