Cannon Mountain: 4k #10 for 2019

Eric and I had exactly enough time on July 4th to do a small hike, so we decided to brave the potential crowds at Cannon.
We weren't terribly concerned about trail traffic, but Cannon has a Tram to the summit which is wildly popular and brings quite a crowd to the top. It is a zoo.

We headed off in the hot (80 at the base) and humid (VERY) conditions. We took the Kinsman Ridge trail, which is easily found all the way to the left hand side of the Cannon Mountain Tramway lot.

Right away, the trail is quite steep and it never really lets up. That is what one gets for trying to do a 4100 foot hill, in 4 miles round trip!

It was steeper than it looks

We tried to take it easy because of the heat, but Ellie wasn't a big fan of that plan. She ran like a lunatic, climbing extra rocks and generally tearing it up.

"don't tell me to be slow"

The trail winds through the woods, and throughout what I believe were some wicked dangerous looking glade ski trails. No thanks. I'll pass on skiing down ANY of this.
(for those not in the know, Cannon is a ski mountain.)

You don't get any feeling of being "remote" what so ever during this hike. If course, it is very popular due to being smaller, because you can always take the tram down if you can't make it on your own feet, and Franconia is just crazy pants busy all summer long. We saw about 50 hikers, all happy and sweaty, so there was not an insane amount of trail traffic. The noise of I-93 in the distance though, reminded us that we weren't far from civilization.

Looking out onto I-93 and Echo Lake

About half way up, I heard what I thought was a lawnmower (why that would be, nobody knows!)
Clearly, it wasn't a mower on the mountain. It was the tram!! It was really fun to see it zip on by.

Smart humans in there

The best thing about Cannon, is that you get an incredible chance to get great views many times. This is by FAR the best of the shorter 4k footers in the scenery department.

Scenic overlook about 3/4 of the way up. HAZE

After the little scenic viewpoint the trail continues through some trees, then pops out above treeline. This part of the trail was great fun, with some rock hopping, amazing scenery, and a variety of beautiful alpine flowers.

Once you reach the (almost) top, the trail follows the Ridgeline towards the observation deck, and the crowds from the tram become intense. The views along the ridge are stunning, and you get a great look at the Franconia ridge.

We didn't spend a ton of time in the observation deck because it was both crowded and hot, but the views were impressive.

We also got a family photo which is always good!

It was so hot that Ellie was even hot

We headed back down, waved to the departing tram, accidentally frightened some very fearful children with our dog (who literally ignored the children....) and took a few extra minutes for more photo ops. Really, the motto of this hike was to move slowly and enjoy looking at things.

Ellie thinks we are nuts

The hike down was uneventful. Steep, as expected. The trail was in good shape, and very very easy to follow. Nothing technical, but some fiddly rocks here and there.

Fussy little rocky stretch through a ski trail #nope

Finally, covered in SWEAT SO MUCH SWEAT, we made it to the finish!

One of our better photos

It was almost too hot for a parking lot party. ALMOST.

It was really hot though

So anyway. A solid 4th of July hike. This hike wasn't my favorite, for no particular reason. I would highly recommend it to hikers in decent shape (because it's fairly steep in an unrelenting manner for the first mile or so) but it is short. The views for a short 4k footer just can't be beat. I love the trail on Hale- but we know the views leave something to be desired. You couldn't ask for better scenery on Cannon.

Strava data: (we take this with a grain of salt) 
-elevation climbed: 2,250
-miles covered: 4.1
-elapsed time: 3:08

Difficulty: This is a very short trail with absolutely nothing technical (not even a stream crossing to be found.) However, it is a steep little asshole for the first mile-plus. I'm in decent shape and I was still like, come ON!!! But it's short. You can't get too mad. So this is somewhere between easy/moderate for me.

Views: Excellent and numerous. Impressive.

Bugs: Black flies were out, and were mildly annoying

Dog friendly trail? Yes, nothing challenging for the canine friends on this trail