WeRmudfun
New member
On our continuing effort to try and keep the videos updated on our Fire Tower Map, we revisited Cannon Mountain. There was no Fire Tower List when we first completed Cannon. This was the first 4K we ever hiked. Heck it was really the first mountain we ever hiked and it didn’t go well. We were in jean shorts, cotton tee shirts, our back packs came from the dollar store and to top it all off we thought we’d take our 4 month old new puppy who didn’t really know her name yet. That was over 6 years ago and now with roughly 250 summits under our belt, we know a little bit more than we did then. 
We decided to take the same trails we did 6 years ago, making this trip a walk down memory lane. We parked at Lafayette Campground and it seemed strange to see it so empty, but summer is over and this was a Wednesday. We no sooner got on the Lonesome Lake Trail and found the 1st geocache. Continuing along the trail is well maintained and easy to follow. There is about 1000’ of elevation gain by the time you reach the lake. Walking around the lake on the bog bridges is about the only place we encountered any signs of water on the trail. No long after that the trail started to climb over boulders. It becomes a steady up right until the junction with the Kinsman Ridge Trail.
The Kinsman Ridge Trail is the trail I remembered most from the first hike. This trail seemed to go straight up at times and 6 years ago, I had a small meltdown while hiking it. I could not believe, I thought it would be a fun day out for the family. About half way up I couldn’t go any further I thought and looking back, I knew I couldn’t go back down. This time though, it was a fun scramble and we enjoyed it very much. I tried to capture it with the video because last time there was no videos, or pictures of this part of the trail. This section is very steep, but is less than ½ mile long, so before you know it, you are at the junction with the Hi-Cannon Trail.
After the junction it’s like a walk in the park, seems flat almost. The next thing you hit is the Rim Trail which goes around the summit. We headed off to the right first. Stopping to catch the views, we saw our beautiful day at the base of the mountain didn’t apply to the summit. Franconia Notch was socked in the clouds. That was very disappointing, but we could see clearing also. We decided to head to the tramway and café and wait it out a bit.
BTW for dog owners who bring your pets with you, dogs are no longer allowed in the tramway/café area. When we came 6 years ago, we were able to sit outside with our pup and watch the tram. There are signs now on the Rim Trail, saying they are not allowed. They are still allowed on the summit though.
The summit was packed with people, again it was after summer and a Wednesday. The tramway can carry 80 people and it appeared to be full every time it came up. We ate in the café and chatted with some of the riders who were amazed we hiked up. The skies cleared and we went to the observation tower for our views and saw the footings from the fire tower that once sat next to the tower.
We left the summit and headed down the trail to the Hi-Cannon Trail for our hike down. This trail has a ladder, which I found cool even the first time. There is also some good views of Lonesome Lake and route 93 along the way. Other than that, this trail is also showing strong signs of trail erosion to the point that some sections should probably be rerouted.
We made it back down without any problems, but before we left the mountain, I want to try and see it we could find the reason Cannon is called Cannon, we went to where to we thought we could see it, but to no avail. We asked one of the workers, who had to ask another worker who had to ask another worker, who finally told us we’d never be see this time of year. Never say never, we searched along the mountain at different angles and found the oblong boulder on top of the other boulder that formed…the Cannon.
The video is best viewed at 1080p60 for anyone interested in seeing it.
We decided to take the same trails we did 6 years ago, making this trip a walk down memory lane. We parked at Lafayette Campground and it seemed strange to see it so empty, but summer is over and this was a Wednesday. We no sooner got on the Lonesome Lake Trail and found the 1st geocache. Continuing along the trail is well maintained and easy to follow. There is about 1000’ of elevation gain by the time you reach the lake. Walking around the lake on the bog bridges is about the only place we encountered any signs of water on the trail. No long after that the trail started to climb over boulders. It becomes a steady up right until the junction with the Kinsman Ridge Trail.
The Kinsman Ridge Trail is the trail I remembered most from the first hike. This trail seemed to go straight up at times and 6 years ago, I had a small meltdown while hiking it. I could not believe, I thought it would be a fun day out for the family. About half way up I couldn’t go any further I thought and looking back, I knew I couldn’t go back down. This time though, it was a fun scramble and we enjoyed it very much. I tried to capture it with the video because last time there was no videos, or pictures of this part of the trail. This section is very steep, but is less than ½ mile long, so before you know it, you are at the junction with the Hi-Cannon Trail.
After the junction it’s like a walk in the park, seems flat almost. The next thing you hit is the Rim Trail which goes around the summit. We headed off to the right first. Stopping to catch the views, we saw our beautiful day at the base of the mountain didn’t apply to the summit. Franconia Notch was socked in the clouds. That was very disappointing, but we could see clearing also. We decided to head to the tramway and café and wait it out a bit.
BTW for dog owners who bring your pets with you, dogs are no longer allowed in the tramway/café area. When we came 6 years ago, we were able to sit outside with our pup and watch the tram. There are signs now on the Rim Trail, saying they are not allowed. They are still allowed on the summit though.
The summit was packed with people, again it was after summer and a Wednesday. The tramway can carry 80 people and it appeared to be full every time it came up. We ate in the café and chatted with some of the riders who were amazed we hiked up.
The skies cleared and we went to the observation tower for our views and saw the footings from the fire tower that once sat next to the tower. We left the summit and headed down the trail to the Hi-Cannon Trail for our hike down. This trail has a ladder, which I found cool even the first time. There is also some good views of Lonesome Lake and route 93 along the way. Other than that, this trail is also showing strong signs of trail erosion to the point that some sections should probably be rerouted.
We made it back down without any problems, but before we left the mountain, I want to try and see it we could find the reason Cannon is called Cannon, we went to where to we thought we could see it, but to no avail. We asked one of the workers, who had to ask another worker who had to ask another worker, who finally told us we’d never be see this time of year. Never say never, we searched along the mountain at different angles and found the oblong boulder on top of the other boulder that formed…the Cannon.
The video is best viewed at 1080p60 for anyone interested in seeing it.
