FreightTrain
New member
We decided to go hiking in spite of the weather forecast. We needed time in the mountains. We had other hikes planned but decided that Cannon would best suit our hangovers, state of dehydration, and overall physical condition.
We started out at the tram parking lot at 8:10am. The clouds and fog were all around us, but it had not rained all morning during the drive up from Concord. The Kinsman ridge trail starts going up right from the begining. It took about 1/2 mile to get into the swing of things and settle into a good pace. We carried our snowshoes and crampons electing to bare boot our way up the trail. The snow was soft and provided good footing on the trail.
We got a little wet walking through the fog and clouds, but no real rain. It looks like they may be cutting a new ski trail that runs along side and crosses the Kinsman ridge trail. The trail flattened out briefly providing good views of Franconia ridge and the fog and clouds we had just risen above. The trail was now 6 inches of soft snow covering 4 inches of water runing down the mountain. One in our group put his snowshoes on while the other two of us continued to bare boot our way up. We reached the sign for the lookout with little trouble. The hike to the summit from there was a little icy and the trail less defined. With a little care we were all on the lookout platform enjoing the view. It was warm enough for melting snow and ice to be running off all side of the viewing platform. It was 10:20am at this point. The sun broke through the clouds briefly before the wind picked up a little. We started heading down at 11:00am. We all decided that snowshoes would be the quickest way down. We had a few spills on the walk down, but went OK. We hit another wet section passing through the clouds again. It was the type of snow that let you take a big step, plant your snowshoe, and slide 3 inches.
Back in the parking lot at 12:15pm. Started to rain at 12:30pm. Our timing was good. Thanks George and Mike for a good hike.
We started out at the tram parking lot at 8:10am. The clouds and fog were all around us, but it had not rained all morning during the drive up from Concord. The Kinsman ridge trail starts going up right from the begining. It took about 1/2 mile to get into the swing of things and settle into a good pace. We carried our snowshoes and crampons electing to bare boot our way up the trail. The snow was soft and provided good footing on the trail.
We got a little wet walking through the fog and clouds, but no real rain. It looks like they may be cutting a new ski trail that runs along side and crosses the Kinsman ridge trail. The trail flattened out briefly providing good views of Franconia ridge and the fog and clouds we had just risen above. The trail was now 6 inches of soft snow covering 4 inches of water runing down the mountain. One in our group put his snowshoes on while the other two of us continued to bare boot our way up. We reached the sign for the lookout with little trouble. The hike to the summit from there was a little icy and the trail less defined. With a little care we were all on the lookout platform enjoing the view. It was warm enough for melting snow and ice to be running off all side of the viewing platform. It was 10:20am at this point. The sun broke through the clouds briefly before the wind picked up a little. We started heading down at 11:00am. We all decided that snowshoes would be the quickest way down. We had a few spills on the walk down, but went OK. We hit another wet section passing through the clouds again. It was the type of snow that let you take a big step, plant your snowshoe, and slide 3 inches.
Back in the parking lot at 12:15pm. Started to rain at 12:30pm. Our timing was good. Thanks George and Mike for a good hike.
