OldMan
New member
I was looking for a quick hike today as the weather forecast was for a partly sunny mornng. Cannon Mountain looked like a good choice for a winter hike as it’s short and I familiar with the Kinsman Ridge Trail, having hiked it twice before. I arrived at the tramway parking shortly after 8:00 and started to gear up. By 8:20 I was heading up the Kinsman Ridge Trail in my EVO ascent snowshoes. The trail is steep so I locked in the televators to make the ascent easier. The snow was a hard frozen crust but the teeth on the EVOs had no problem grabbing hold. The trail had boot prints and snowshoe prints frozen in the snow. It looked like that someone hiked up in boots and down in snowshoes when the weather was warm. This left the trail a bit of a mess with the frozen prints and the many postholes. The upper rocky sections of the trail were very icy and again the EVOs saber teeth kept me trucking up the mountain. Careful foot placement on this icy steep trail slowed my ascent but better to summit slowly without slipping and getting injured that to rush recklessly.
I stopped at the east peak outlook for a few minutes to take in the view. The forecasted partly sunny day did not seem to apply to Franconia Notch which as usual was making its own weather. Looking toward Lincoln, you could see some rays of sun hitting the ground but the entire notch was overcast. The final approach to the summit had lots of bare and icy rock so I switched to my microspikes. Reaching the Rim Trail I hiked over to the summit tower. The winds were really howling on the tower. I took a quick summit photo before heading back down into the shelter of the trees to have some lunch. After a few more pictures I headed back down the mountain. I kept my microspikes on the entire way down and did not bother with the snowshoes and the frozen crusted snow had no problem supporting my weight. The rest of the trip down was uneventful. Careful foot placement was still required but I made much better time on the way back. As I drove back towards Lincoln the sun was shining and I left the Franconia Notch clouds behind.
Garmin: 4.4 miles, 2875' of ascent, 4:20 duration, 1.0 MPH average
Photos: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/569423717yZkmQC?vhost=outdoors
I stopped at the east peak outlook for a few minutes to take in the view. The forecasted partly sunny day did not seem to apply to Franconia Notch which as usual was making its own weather. Looking toward Lincoln, you could see some rays of sun hitting the ground but the entire notch was overcast. The final approach to the summit had lots of bare and icy rock so I switched to my microspikes. Reaching the Rim Trail I hiked over to the summit tower. The winds were really howling on the tower. I took a quick summit photo before heading back down into the shelter of the trees to have some lunch. After a few more pictures I headed back down the mountain. I kept my microspikes on the entire way down and did not bother with the snowshoes and the frozen crusted snow had no problem supporting my weight. The rest of the trip down was uneventful. Careful foot placement was still required but I made much better time on the way back. As I drove back towards Lincoln the sun was shining and I left the Franconia Notch clouds behind.
Garmin: 4.4 miles, 2875' of ascent, 4:20 duration, 1.0 MPH average
Photos: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/569423717yZkmQC?vhost=outdoors
