Mt. Pemigewasset

Saturday's two-hour hike was sandwiched in between rain in the morning and thunderstorms in the afternoon. It was also a warm-up to Sunday's longer 4,000 footer.

I've said it before -- this trail rewards you with stunning views for relatively little effort. Though it only takes an hour to get to the summit, the trail is unrelentingly up-up-up the entire way. No switchbacks and no level stretches to catch your breath! A great workout!

At the summit, we enjoyed sun while we ate our lunch, and within 15 minutes, storm clouds rolled in and we could see rain in the distance. As the thunder got closer, we moved quickly to descend before the storm hit the mountain. I am always amazed as how fast the weather moves in the Whites!

3.4 miles, ~1,250' elevation gain
Summit: Mt. Pemigewasset = 2,557 feet
Route: Mount Pemigewasset Trail from the Flume Visitor Center parking area

Cannon Mountain

We saw a red-tailed hawk only a few feet away on a branch on the trail!

Casual hikers be warned: Hi-Cannon is a difficult and challenging trail, and includes a wooden ladder to scale some particularly vertical boulders! The ladder is not as difficult to step off of as the ladder on the Mt. Morgan-Percival trail, though. To avoid the ladder, we returned via the Kinsman Ridge trail, which was as difficult and challenging as the Hi-Cannon. Nearly as challenging as the Laura Cowles Trail on Mt. Mansfield.

I was impressed by the number of parents who took their children up the Lonesome Lake trail. I wonder how many of them made it to the summit of Cannon?

The views on top are 360 degrees around:

• North and South Kinsman to the southwest, with Mt. Moosilauke peeking behind them about 9 miles away
  
• Mt. Liberty and the stunning Franconia Ridge Trail (Mts. Haystack, Lincoln and Lafayette) to the east

As soon as the weather is predicted to be clear (read: no thunderstorms), we'll be on that ridge!

The summit of Lafayette is behind us in the photo.

5.9 miles (according to the White Mountain map, though it is probably more), ~2,350' elevation gain
Summit: Cannon Mountain = 4,100 feet
Route: Lonesome Lake, Hi-Cannon and Kinsman Ridge trail to summit; Kinsman Ridge trail to Lonesome Lake Trail back to Lafayette Campground

Geocaching with family in Michigan

I've now added a fifth state to my list of states where I've found geocaches! This past weekend my brothers, nieces, Uncle Rod, Mike and I searched for 4 and found 3 geocaches in the Tawas City, MI area.

My favorite, pictured here, was Buck Creek Pond, Iosco County, north of Tawas. What a beautiful area! I really enjoyed walking along the shore to find the cache. My niece traded a box of Big Boy crayons for two NRA stickers -- which we later learned was actually placed there by our uncle several years ago! How ironic is that?

Uncle Rod took a lot of great shots of us geocaching, but I captured this shot of him (holding his camera) and my brother Steve at the BBQ Sunday night! Thanks, Uncle Rod, for joining us in the geocaching adventure!

Special thanks go to Aunt Paula and Uncle Gerry for their generous hospitality over the weekend. I'm so glad that my brothers had the opportunity to get to meet them and our other uncles. It is a strong possibility that we'll (or at least I'll) be back again for the Baker reunion and Brown get-together next year. Second weekend in August.