Tank 227

Total miles: 77422. Trip miles: 291.1. Gallons: 6.789. Price per gallon: $3.709. Screen mileage: 45.2 mpg. Tank mileage: 42.9 mpg.

Tank 226

Total miles: 77131. Trip miles: 282.8. Gallons: 5.906. Price per gallon: $3.599. Screen mileage: 52.2 mpg. Tank mileage: 47.9 mpg.

Tank 225

Total miles: 76848. Trip miles: 341.9. Gallons: 7.192. Price per gallon: $3.579. Screen mileage: 50.8 mpg. Tank mileage: 47.5 mpg.

rime on summit tower

As I climbed to the top of the summit tower, I could hear ice crashing down. It turned out there was rime on the antennas that were attached to the tower. The sun was hot enough that there was a pretty constant sprinkling of ice coming down. I managed to avoid getting hit.


Here's the trip summary:

The elevation gain from the hikers' parking lot to the summit of Cannon is approximately 2100 feet with about 2 miles of hiking. I made it in about 2 hours for a pace of 1 mph. I was faster on the way out - it only took about 1.5 hours to get down, with a pace of 1.3 mph. This was despite the fact that the trail had accumulated more ice above 1000 feet (I think ice had been melting off trees, hitting rocks on the trail, and re-freezing).

Not bad for a late season hike! Normally I would have preferred something longer. But given that this is my first hike of the season, it was probably good that it was so short. My feet hung in there pretty well - no blisters for a change!

Soon after leaving the parking lot, there was a minor traffic jam where the highway is still only one lane. I saw a bus and a truck and a number of cars pulled over at the side of the road, and thought it was a multi-car pile-up. But in fact, it turned out that there were a couple of moose at the side of the road - a very large one and a smaller one (mother and child perhaps). People were slowing down to pull over and take pictures. I just kept driving!

summit station

As I went on, I caught a glimpse of the summit tower to my right. It looked like a boulder-y trail went up to it, but when I clambered up, I found the way was roped off with a sign declaring the area "environmentally sensitive." So I came back down and continued on the trail, wondering if there was a way up.

Soon, I heard voices and laughter up ahead. I met a couple who had just eaten lunch (so they told me!). I asked them if they knew how to get to the summit, and they told me to just keep going...

After another minute or two of easy hiking, I finally got to the base of the summit tower! At this point, I'd been hiking for about 2 hours. Book time is 2 h 5 min, so I did pretty well, despite the slippery trail conditions.

memorial bench

Next to the binoculars was this new memorial bench. It's in honor of Jerry Warlop, a man who was killed by a skidding car as he was trying to assist at the scene of a traffic accident.

I guess it would be nice to be remembered this way.

I passed the bench and hiked on. At this point, the trail was really very level, sandy, and easy.

Rim Trail junction

As I neared the summit, I came to a confusing sign at a junction. The sign says "Rim Trail" (which is not a trail on the AMC guide map).

The sign doesn't tell you which way to go to get to the summit. I wandered over to the aerial tramway station. I'd seen a couple trams moving slowly up and down on my way up, so I thought this might be the summit.

The station had a cafeteria and restrooms, but I didn't bother to go in. I could tell the summit was higher up, so I wandered back the way I came, passing the sign again.

Just past the sign is a set of stationary binoculars. You need to put in two quarters to use them. Reminder for next time; I don't usually carry spare change with me when hiking.

overlook view

The Kinsman Ridge Trail goes straight up via a series of switchbacks. I didn't find it too difficult because it's not very lengthy, compared to other hikes I've done in the Whites.

Down low, you soon pass over some very sandy gullies, and meet some small boulders that need to be clambered over. As you go up higher, you find a series of rock slides. As usual, it was a bit of a chore to bypass some of these, because they were pretty wet. (On the way down, some had become icy.)

After passing the section of the trail with slides, you soon come to a section which is littered with boulders that you have to scramble over. Fortunately, I expected this hike to be relatively short, so I was carrying a fairly light pack. The scrambling was kind of fun.

Abruptly the trail stopped climbing and I hit a long flat section that was covered in mud puddles. I thought I was at the summit, but no. After passing this area, I saw the summit station off in the distance, higher up.

Here's a view of Route 93, off the Overlook trail, a few hundred feet from the main trail.

frost

The first sign of frost appeared after about 50 minutes of hiking. I think I was near 1000 feet up here.

Cannon Mountain

I hiked Cannon Mountain today, my first and probably last 4000-footer of the season.

It had been a cold night, dipping below freezing in NH. By the time I reached the hiker's lot off Exit 34B of Route 93, it was about 55 F. Still, I was concerned that there'd be ice along the trail, and I wasn't wrong. But it wasn't too bad, and I made it to the top.

The Kinsman Ridge Trail has a number of slides on the way up. Some of them are hard to avoid. This first one was pretty easy to bypass. There was no ice at this point, which helped.

Tank 224

Total miles: 76506. Trip miles: 338.7. Gallons: 5.745. Price per gallon: $3.779. Screen mileage: 53.2 mpg. Tank mileage: 59.0 mpg.

I don't think the tank was totally filled up.

Tank 223

Total miles: 76167. Trip miles: 391.8. Gallons: 8.755. Price per gallon: $3.939. Screen mileage: 50.8 mpg. Tank mileage: 44.5 mpg.

Tank 222

Total miles: 75776. Trip miles: 341.9. Gallons: 7.702. Price per gallon: $3.799. Screen mileage: 45.2 mpg. Tank mileage: 44.4 mpg.