"Cannon Conquered"

May 7th, 2005 White Mountains (Cannon Mt.)

Trail:  Kinsman Ridge

Elevation:  Cannon Mt. - 4100'

Elevation Gain: 2100'

Miles:  4.0

An omen helped get this hike off to a good start:  I finally photographed a bear!  And I didn't get a picture of just one, but three. And before you make fun of my picture because the bears were so far away, just realize that it's jealousy talking.  The bears are the three black dots near the top of the ski trail.  I have only seen a bear in the wild once before, and even then it was from a car.  For years since, I have vowed to get a picture of a bear.  I saw the bears while I was getting my gear ready for the hike in the parking lot of the ski lodge near the trailhead, when a woman pulled up and asked if I was planning on climbing Cannon.  I said yes, and she warned me to be careful since she had just seen a mother bear and two cubs near the lodge (presumably where she worked).  As she was telling me this, she looked over my shoulder and said, "oh look, you can see them there, up on that ski trail".  Sure enough, there was a black dot and two smaller ones moving slowly on the grassy slope.  I thanked her and observed the bears for a while, wishing they were closer.  A couple of hikers then pulled up and I pointed out the bears to them.  Luckily, they had binoculars and they shared them with me.  Yup, definitely a big mother bear and her two cubs.  Neat!

The trail wouldn't go near the bears, so I wasn't worried about that, and I was off.  I looked forward to this hike, since I had tried Cannon a couple of times before, but each time, deep unbroken snow forced a decision to turn around.  And, despite weather forecasts of steady rain and snow today, at least for now there wasn't anything falling from the sky.

The trail up was easy to moderate, and I flew up the face with little effort.  There were still small amounts of snow and ice on the trail at the lower elevations, and the amounts increased the higher I got.  But even so, it was packed down and there was no need for crampons. 

I reached the lookout about a quarter of a mile away from the summit and stopped to take in the views.  Across the valley, the imposing Lafayette and Lincoln mountains rose from the ground like a stationary tidal wave of earth and rock, contrasted against a dark and foreboding sky.   Looking south, I could see I-93 meandering around the hills before disappearing all together near the horizon.  A few minutes later, the view of the mountains to the east grew hazy, and I realized that it was from snowfall.  It hadn't reached me yet, but would soon.

I continued the final stretch to Cannon.  At the summit is an observation tower, and I climbed up it and once again took in the views.  Now, to the south, I had a clearer view of North and South Kinsman, which I had climbed a few weeks earlier.  After a few minutes, it began to snow.   The hikers that shared their binoculars with me at the trailhead now arrived, and we chit-chatted a bit before I headed back down.  Before I descended, I walked over to the top of the ski trail to see if I could see the bears, but no luck.

The snow continued to fall as I hiked down, and changed over to sleet at around 3000'.  After descending a few more hundred feet, it changed to rain.  I mused at how I lucked out with the weather, as I expected rain during the entire hike, even at the top.  So to only have pure rain during the last half hour or so of the hike was kind of welcome.   I got to my car, changed into dry clothes, and was off.   31 down, 17 to go.