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