I went to Cannon mountain with a friend yesterday. I've been wanting to to there since 3 years ago after me and others friends went Mt. Lafayette. I still remember that day, after a toiling effort, walking the loop of Mt. Lafayette, we finally reached parking lot. It was twilight already, the sun shone bright on the rocky face of Cannon Mountain. Didn't know what attracted me to it. But attraction it was.
We got to the mountain parking lot around 1230 pm. It's a place for ski in the winter. And there's a tram station to bring people up to the summit. It's nice to have a clean bathroom. And there's no entrance fee either. We were surprised to see an old ranger guiding us to the trailhead. I guess it's kind confusing for people to find their ways here. Or maybe that youtube video prompts the management to it. There's a youtube video showed a family climbing Cannon Mountain, it's very helpful all the way through, even told us the trailhead for kingsmen ridge trail has a distance from the ski center. Anyway, a guide to the trailhead is a welcome gesture.
We were not climbing from the rocky side I saw 3 three years ago, but from the back. I am not sure I ever walked pass that rocky side. The climb was steep right from the start. The dirt road was filled with loose stones, really slippery. the the woods were thick, sun light had difficulty penetrating, so more than half the road was wet. And most of the path were rocky. Wet rocky surface was perfect condition for sliding. And the road was so rocky, I had to really watch my footing. Even then, I stepped on the edges of rocks more often than I want to. We rested quite often. The bugs did not help at all. I thought we already pass the season, so I forgot to prepare deet this time. Though my mom remembered and put by my packs. She even prepared my water with wlemon wedges. I truly appreciated after I got on the trail. Beat plain water 40%!
I felt this was the least hikers I've seen since I started hiking Mt. Monadnock 20+ years ago. Mt. Lafayette was filled with people. There were vistas spots on the way up. The view was quite amazing. The weather was sun with clouds. And as you climb up, you can start to appreciate Mt. Lafayette even more. It was beyond the tree lines! There was a spot just under the summit where it took you to a grand view of the valley under. The 93 was zigzagging underneath, and it stretched far beyond. My friend and I took turns to take picture on the spot. And if you too a wide shot or a panorama, squeeze Mt. Lafayette and 93 into a frame, it is beautiful. The all the other white mountains were in different shade of blue. It was quite a few.
We started to eat the sandwich we made ourselves early into the trail. Because we both had breakfast quite early. I even prepared 海苔 as a finger food. I made sandwich with egg avocado spread, bacon and 海苔，smashed between two pieces of sandwich bread. It was lovely. If I say so myself. My friend made tuna salad with some nuts and a sausage from whole food beef jerky section. I have to say that sausage is pale in comparison Greenridge farm beef sticks. We had our lunch at about 3 pm. Because it's a ski area. There is a lift and tram station and indoor sitting with food and beverage right below the summit. I was expecting to see a 4 lb brownie. But it's not being sold today. There's a watch tower on the summit with 360 views. Very windy. Quite a few people there, a lot more than on the trail. Somebody was joking that she will try coming up from trail next time. Some people were serious though, they had 40 lb backpacks with camping gears and everything. There're extension of trails around CM, I guess those people were doing a multi-days hiking. Some people are doing one way hiking. For example, we met a woman and a child, who claimed to be from Maryland, but the woman was from Russia. We were looking for a path to the summit, they asked us if we were from the parking lot. I was a bit confused at first, they explained they came up from the tram and wanted to go down hiking. We told them the condition of the trail and some other pointers. As we headed down, we met another couple, an older pair, they saw us and was joking, we met again, this time we are going up. We met them on the way up, they were trying to climbed down then. But must've found it difficult, so came backup for the tram.
We were discussing briefly ourselves, should we use the tram to go down. But just very briefly. I know if I went down the tram, I'd kick myself. But there were moments I said to myself, why on earth would I find this much trouble for myself!? It was a lot harder on the knees on the way down. And because of wet rocks, we need to slide with our feet and butt in some places, I was scared for my knees. And this time, I was surprised to actually find people coming up!? Maybe they are doing a multi-day hiking? Don't know... Anyway, we skid, squat, walked, ran, sliding, falling, until we finally reach the parking lot. It's so weird that I can feel the parking lot just by the temperature! It was hot yesterday! But when I was in the mountain, I did not notice anything. We spent 1 hr 45 min down climbing down. Compared the the 3 hr climbing up.
On the way back, we tried China Buffet, I haven't been there for 1 year and some months. There were still quite some people there. Food was alright, but the variety was cut. It was a regret to China Buffet, because mom prepared much better food, 杏仁豆腐 和肉醬麵。。。
I have to say, I really appreciate the challenge. I wish to go do another one this year, after I recover a little.
On a side note: I saw so many dead animals by the high way, including 2 deers and 1 black bears, which sat by the high way slumping like he's resting. But I'm pretty sure, he's dead... It's very sad that we created high way for our convenience but cut other animals out. At this modern time, we really need to think a way to lessen the impact of high way around animals' habitat. I read somewhere that people are building path under or over highways to so animals can safely cross them.
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