poison ivy
Well-known member
It was about 8:15 a.m. when MEB, her sister Rachel, bpschroder, NH_Mt_Hiker & I set out from the Lonesome Lake trail for a gorgeous Saturday hike of Cannon. We barebooted it to the Hi-Cannon Trail in about 15 minutes and found it was still mostly covered by about a foot of snow. After donning our snowshoes, NH_MT_Hiker led the way and broke out the trail, with occasional spells from bpschroder. While it was not part of my evil plan to get hikers faster than me on this trip so they could break the trail, that’s what ended up happening… for most of the hike I was lagging too far behind to be any use for the trail breaking.
It took me about an hour to reach the Dodge Cutoff but I found it a little easier to keep up as the views began opening up through the trees as everyone was eager to stop for pictures of Franconia Ridge. Throughout the day, the lenticular clouds looked like flying saucers hovering over the ridge, producing more and more stunning pictures.
As we reached the slabs near the ladder on the Hi-Cannon trail, we initially had a hard time figuring out where to go. Fortunately, I recognized the area as a place where I got confused the last time I hiked the trail and remembered that we had to head left, which was confirmed by a quick map check. We swung around to the left and quickly found ourselves at the base of the snow covered ladder. We cleared it off as best we could, but the snow was pretty well packed it. Rachel was a little nervous about the ladder, but made it up just fine and by the time I headed up the ladder, the sides had been pretty well cleared off so there was plenty of places to grip.
Just above the ladder, we met our first hiker of the day coming down the trail, so the guys’ trail breaking duties were finished for the day. It was just a quick cruise through a tunnel of snowy trees (which made it look like the snow was piled over our heads) before we finally reached the well-broken Kinsman Ridge Trail. After a quick break enjoying the beautiful views from Profile Rock, we headed over to the summit tower for the obligatory pictures at around 11:30.
On the summit, we happened across Robohiker who I’m shocked to say didn’t appear to be wearing any clothes, despite the stiff breeze blowing up top! He posed for a quick picture but was otherwise quiet… I guess he was too busy enjoying the view for conversation!
(Apologies to Dr Wu for stealing his joke.)
We braved the winds for some quick pictures and a short snack break before heading back down the Kinsman Ridge Trail. Cannon was my 13th winter peak, bpschroder’s 9th & NH_MT_Hiker’s 15th, MEB's 15th & I'm not sure about Rachel's tally, unfortunately. We got a few nice glissades in heading down Kinsman Ridge (and only crossed paths with two hikers carrying snowboards up Cannon & their dog, Max, who they joked was a seeing-eye dog in training, hence allowed on the Cannon slopes.) They were the only other hikers we saw all day until we reached Lonesome Lake Hut.
With all the sliding, we quickly found ourselves at the junction with the Lonesome Lake Trail, which we bypassed as we headed up NE Cannonball to pick up one of the New England Hundred Highest peaks. It was a steep climb but not particularly difficult or icy. The trail, fortunately, was already broken out even past the NE summit. It took us about a half-hour to get up the slope and root around for the highest point, since there is no summit sign. Satisfied that we managed to stand on the highest point, we slid much of the way back down to the Lonesome Lake Trail junction, reaching it at around 1:30 and quickly heading back down to Lafayette Place.
While snowshoes were needed for the upper portion of the Lonesome Lake trail, it became more and more bare bootable was we approached the hut. I finally took my snowshoes off at Lonesome Lake since I knew it would speed me up a little but everyone else kept them on until they reached the car at 2:30 p.m. MEB & Rachel had to head home, but bpschroder & NH_Mt_Hiker & I headed for the Woodstock Station for a late lunch before heading home.
Thanks to everyone for coming along and making this such a fun trip (and to Bob & Brian for breaking out the trail!)
Pictures from this beautiful day are here.
- Ivy
It took me about an hour to reach the Dodge Cutoff but I found it a little easier to keep up as the views began opening up through the trees as everyone was eager to stop for pictures of Franconia Ridge. Throughout the day, the lenticular clouds looked like flying saucers hovering over the ridge, producing more and more stunning pictures.
As we reached the slabs near the ladder on the Hi-Cannon trail, we initially had a hard time figuring out where to go. Fortunately, I recognized the area as a place where I got confused the last time I hiked the trail and remembered that we had to head left, which was confirmed by a quick map check. We swung around to the left and quickly found ourselves at the base of the snow covered ladder. We cleared it off as best we could, but the snow was pretty well packed it. Rachel was a little nervous about the ladder, but made it up just fine and by the time I headed up the ladder, the sides had been pretty well cleared off so there was plenty of places to grip.
Just above the ladder, we met our first hiker of the day coming down the trail, so the guys’ trail breaking duties were finished for the day. It was just a quick cruise through a tunnel of snowy trees (which made it look like the snow was piled over our heads) before we finally reached the well-broken Kinsman Ridge Trail. After a quick break enjoying the beautiful views from Profile Rock, we headed over to the summit tower for the obligatory pictures at around 11:30.
On the summit, we happened across Robohiker who I’m shocked to say didn’t appear to be wearing any clothes, despite the stiff breeze blowing up top! He posed for a quick picture but was otherwise quiet… I guess he was too busy enjoying the view for conversation!
(Apologies to Dr Wu for stealing his joke.)We braved the winds for some quick pictures and a short snack break before heading back down the Kinsman Ridge Trail. Cannon was my 13th winter peak, bpschroder’s 9th & NH_MT_Hiker’s 15th, MEB's 15th & I'm not sure about Rachel's tally, unfortunately. We got a few nice glissades in heading down Kinsman Ridge (and only crossed paths with two hikers carrying snowboards up Cannon & their dog, Max, who they joked was a seeing-eye dog in training, hence allowed on the Cannon slopes.) They were the only other hikers we saw all day until we reached Lonesome Lake Hut.
With all the sliding, we quickly found ourselves at the junction with the Lonesome Lake Trail, which we bypassed as we headed up NE Cannonball to pick up one of the New England Hundred Highest peaks. It was a steep climb but not particularly difficult or icy. The trail, fortunately, was already broken out even past the NE summit. It took us about a half-hour to get up the slope and root around for the highest point, since there is no summit sign. Satisfied that we managed to stand on the highest point, we slid much of the way back down to the Lonesome Lake Trail junction, reaching it at around 1:30 and quickly heading back down to Lafayette Place.
While snowshoes were needed for the upper portion of the Lonesome Lake trail, it became more and more bare bootable was we approached the hut. I finally took my snowshoes off at Lonesome Lake since I knew it would speed me up a little but everyone else kept them on until they reached the car at 2:30 p.m. MEB & Rachel had to head home, but bpschroder & NH_Mt_Hiker & I headed for the Woodstock Station for a late lunch before heading home.
Thanks to everyone for coming along and making this such a fun trip (and to Bob & Brian for breaking out the trail!)
Pictures from this beautiful day are here.
- Ivy
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