Copy/Repost Hike

On Sunday, August 15th, Tom (and Bailey) and myself met up at the trailhead parking lot at Lafayette Place Campground.  We were both there early and we waited a bit for Eric, who had also signed up.  After checking my messages and noticing that Eric had removed himself, we started the hike.

It was around 9:10AM, when we headed through the campground and up the Lonesome Lake Trail.  It was overcast and already warming and humid.  It took us only 15 minutes before we made it to the junction with the Hi-Cannon Trail.  We turned onto this trail and began the relatively steep hike up to the junction with the Dodge Cut-Off, where the trail leveled out for a short time.  We also took a short break here.  It was 9:50 and we pressed on despite the increasing heat and humidity (I was already drenched in sweat).  The trail again proceeded at a fairly persistently steep grade up to several views, which we reached by 10:15.  We could see Route 3/93 below, but the cloud ceiling was still rather low on the ridge on the opposite side of the notch.  By the time we got to the last view below the ladder, the clouds had begun to reveal the Bridle Path ridge.  It was only another 5 minutes before we were standing at the base of the ladder.  This isn't typically a big deal, but it was a challenge for Bailey...the ladder was not dog-friendly to say the least.  Tom hoisted him up each rung.  At the top, the trail leveled out for the most part as the trail headed southwest towards a couple of open ledges with beautiful views over Lonesome Lake.  From this point the trail moderated in grade as it approached the summit.  At 11AM we joined the Kinsman Ridge Trail.  From here it was a only another 15 minutes to the summit of Cannon Mountain (4100').  There was a huge viewing platform and weather station sitting on the summit.  Despite that the peak was totally in the clouds at this time, we climbed up to the top of the platform.  We were the only ones on the platform, when we first arrived, but as the Cannon gondola was running for "tourists", a number of people subsequently showed up.  After a short time, we descended down towards the gondola station and circled around the Rim Trail.  There were a number of nice ledges, but the views were still largely obscurred by the clouds (at times we could see Route 3/93 below, but that was about it).  We stopped at one of these ledges to take an early lunch break.  It was about 11:45AM.  We hung out here for about 20 minutes before continuing on.

After lunch we continued along the Rim Trail back to the Kinsman Ridge Trail.  We turned onto this trail and re-traced our steps back to the junction with the Hi-Cannon Trail.  Here we stayed on the Kinsman Ridge Trail and began the relatively steep descent into the col with the Cannon Balls.  The trail was alright, but there were a few brief sections, with which Bailey had a difficult time.  Along the way down, views of the highest Cannon Ball was front and center.  Also, further down there was a large rock, which upon climbing provided a view back to the summit, which was now out of the clouds.  We continued and reached the junction with the Lonesome Lake Trail.  It was almost 1PM and we turned onto this trail.  The initial part of this trail was very rocky as it descended moderately towards the lake, but by 1:20 the trail was flat as it meandered through wet lands along the lake.  There were views along the way up to the Cannon Balls.  At 1:30 we reached the little beach below the AMC hut.  There were limited views of the Franconia Ridge over the pond, as the clouds were still covering the peaks.  Also, the shoulder of Cannon was prominent on the north side of the lake.  We took an extended break here.  As soon as Bailey was let off lease he jumped in the water to "play" with the ducks, which were swimming around.  A little later Tom took a dip and I waded in the shallow part just off shore.  It felt cold, but was refreshing.  By 2PM Mts. Lincoln and Lafayette had totally emerged from the clouds.  After re-filling my water bottle up at the hut, we decided to head back down...taking the Lonesome Lake Trail all the way back.  This was fairly easy, but there was a fairly steady stream of people on this trail.  We reached the parking lot again by 3:05PM.  Tom and Bailey needed to get back home, so we called it a day.  

Despite the cloud cover, it was a decent day out to hike (although the heat and humidity took its toll on the way up).  We missed the views off of the summit by about half an hour, but things improved a little through the day, as the views of Franconia Ridge opened up while we were on Lonesome Lake.  A big thanks to Tom for joining me.  It was great to catch up and to hang out with Bailey again!

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