Cannon Balls! 7/27/13

On July 27, I set out for another hike with the Random Group of hikers.  The plan for this hike was to hike almost 12.5 miles up to Cannon Mountain over the 3 Cannon balls and to North and South Kinsman Mountains.  

I drove up by myself this time and left West Boylston at 5:30 which would get me to the Lonesome Lake trail head in the Lafayette Place parking lot well before the group was scheduled to start at 8:30. The forecast for the day was to be clear with temperatures on the summits to reach around 60 degrees. When I got to the trail head parking lot Mike who I had seen up on Tecumseh and the Osceolas pulled into the lot.  I went over to say hi and he told me that he was only planning on hiking Cannon on this day and coming back in two weeks to bag the Kinsmans.  On the way back to the car I ran into Lisa who was hiking with the group and at about 8:45 Ted, the group leader pulled in with the rest of the radomites.

We started our hike on the Lonesome Lake Trail which led us by some campsites at the Lafayette campground and soon we were quickly at the junction of the Hi-Cannon Trail.  The Hi-Cannon trail was steep and followed switchbacks for most of the way up.  Ledges off the trail offered views of the Franconia Ridge, Rte. 93 looking Southbound, and Lonesome Lake.  Also on the Hi-Cannon trail were 2 sets of weathered ladders made of 2 x 4's which made for some fun climbing on the way up.  At the top of Cannon there was a fire tower which offered 360 degree views.  There were lots of people on the top of Cannon most of which took the tram up.

Franconia Ridge from outlook on Hi Cannon trail.

The longer of the two ladders on Hi-Cannon trail.

Lonesome Lake from scenic overlook.

Through the pines on the Hi Cannon Trail.

View of the Cannon balls and North and South Kinsman (our upcoming route) from the observation tower.

Never ending northwesterly view from the Cannon observation tower.

The group from left to Right (Me, Lisa, Delphine, Ted, Debra and Ricardo)

When we all finished our snacks and were done taking in the views, we took off on the Kinsman Ridge and towards the Cannon balls.  The descent down Cannon was brutally steep.  I took out my hiking poles at this section of the hike and ended up never putting them away again.  At one point Lisa fell on the trail and scraped the underside of her arm up pretty good which would ultimately lead to her bailing out before summiting the Kinsmans.  Ted also drew some blood on his leg and I found a couple cuts and nicks later on in the hike which must have happened on this portion of the trail.  There were plenty of people on the trail who had camped out at Lafayette place and decided to go on a day hike who were having a wicked time getting down this section of the trail.  According to our estimation, it had taken us almost an hour to go 0.5 miles!  The Cannon balls may have been the toughest part of this hike as they seemingly kept coming at us.  And once we were finished with the them, there was still one more "hump" as described in the AMC guidebook that we had to go over before the ascent to North Kinsman.

Distant view from first Cannon ball of steep section of Kinsman Trail with observation tower at top left.

Another ladder on Kinsman Ridge Trail.

When we finally reached the Fishing Jimmy Trailhead junction at about 3:00, I ran over to Kinsman Pond to see if I could grab any drinking water to fill my empty Camelbak as well as my 1 liter Nalgene.  I had almost run out of water on the Cannon balls and was rationing it along the way.  I found a trail sign which pointed to water and it seemed as though the drinking water was to be drawn from the pond.  No way I was drinking that with only a filter, so I ran back to the group and we said goodbye to Lisa and headed up to North Kinsman.  The view on the ledge near the peak of North Kinsman was even better than I had remembered it.  And since we had just come all the way from Cannon, it was good to see the route we accomplished this far.  But, we didn't stay long because we were already behind schedule and headed over toward South Kinsman to take in some more views.  We kept comparing the hike to the Cannon balls which made this portion of the hike seem like a piece of cake.

Franconia Ridge and Lonesome Lake from a rock outcrop near North Kinsman Peak

Southerly view from South Kinsman towards North Kinsman on the left and Cannon on the right.

The cairn marking the top of South Kinsman with Ricardo holding it up.

Once we descended the Kinsmans we stopped to take a break at the Fishing Jimmy/Kinsman Pond trail junction.  I was dreading this portion of the hike because I remember the last time heading down the F'ing Jimmy trail in September, it was steep and long.  Well the trail was still steep and long!  After hiking for a while you expect to see the Lonesome Lake hut around the next corner or after climbing every hill but it doesn't.  Part of it is fatigue and another part of is that damn F'ing Jimmy Trail!  This time it didn't help that I was out of water too!  When we finally got to the hut it was almost 7:00.  Dinner was being served to the guests and I made a b-line straight to the drinking water faucet in the kitchen.  We hung out for a while taking in more views of Franconia Ridge and it's reflection on Lonesome Lake.  We took off for the last mile to our cars and again the trail seemed much longer than it was.  When we finally got to Lafayette Campground, I took a few minutes to use the bathroom to wash up instead of driving home with my calves covered in mud.  I finally started my car at 8:00 and got home at 10:30.

A peaceful Lonesome Lake reflecting the Franconia Ridge.

The daunting steep trough from Cannon to the first Cannon ball.

Osceola with a Random Group 7/13/13

Now that I'm married with two little children I have the responsibility of staying safe on the trail.  This means no more solo hikes in the Whites.  This winter I signed up to Meetup.com.  Meetup.com has a group for anyone with any kind of interest.  I signed up to hike Mt. Osceola (4,340) and East Osceola (4,156) with the Random Group of Hikers.  I believe this would be my fifth time on Osceola and second time on the East peak.

As the day of the hike came closer one of the participants or "randomites" named Sandy emailed me asking if I wanted to carpool.  The request was rather peculiar to me and the first thing that came to mind was the Craigslist Killer.  This person had no idea who I was nor did I know her.  I agreed to carpool with her thinking that if I said no, it could be a little awkward situation when we met at the trail head.  So I agreed to meet her at the Park and Ride in Berlin, MA at 6:00 to be at the trail head when the hike was proposed to start at 9:00.  I misjudged the time a bit and got to the park and ride around 6:10.  Sandy had tried to call me to see if I was coming and I passed on my incorrect cell phone number to her by email.  I did this during work and must have been distracted because work has been ridiculously hectic lately.  Anyway, the ride up wasn't so bad as we talked about hiking, the meetup group phenomenon and carpooling with complete strangers.  Leah called to check in during the ride to see if my passenger was "CooCoo na Cabeca?" and I told her all was well.

There were only a couple of spots left when we got to the trail head parking lot at about 8:45.  A little after 9:00 the trip organizers (Monica and Michael ) pulled into the lot and our group of 10 pulled together for greetings and to sign an AMC liability waiver.  At 9:15 we hit the trail.  The trail was in great condition but the initial pace was a little slow and we took a couple of long breaks early.  We must have been about 45 minutes into the hike when one of the group members started feeling ill and had to stop.  Monica held back with her and we continued on to the top via several switchbacks.

At about 11:30 we reached the top and I instantly remembered why this was one of my favorite mountains to hike.  The views are phenomenal and the rock ledge of Osceola is a great place to relax, take in the views and eat some lunch as many other hikers were already doing.  The group stopped to take pictures and I took the opportunity to call Leah to let her know that I made it to the trail because there was no service at the parking lot.  I saw one of the hikers I met two weeks ago on Tecumseh (Mike) who had done his first 4,000 peak and stopped to chat with him a bit.

Me with a portion of the group

Hikers hanging on the peak of Lafayette.  I was pointing out some peaks to Sandy and Gene

Mt. Washington from the Osceola summit

The ridge line to East Osceola

Mt. Tripyramid and the North Slide

We left Osceola Peak at about 12:00 and headed 1 mile towards the wooded East Osceola peak.  The pace on this portion of the hike was a lot faster and the trail was a little more rugged.  About 1/3 of the way towards the East peak we hit a steep chimney which probably dropped down about 100 feet. This portion of the trail required very careful with footing and the use my arms to drop myself down to the next foothold.  It was fun and I looked forward to climbing it on the way back.  There were some pretty long steep climbs that finally led to the top of East Osceola.

Looking down the Chimney

The group making it's way down the chimney

When we got to the wooded East peak there was a large cairn and no views.  I heard "This is it?" from some group members as well as hikers walking by as we hung out to take a break.  On the way back to Mt. Osceola, Ihad a chance to stay in between the fast group and the slow group to get some quiet time to myself.  The climb up the chimney required good handholds and footing and I tried to use some upper body strength to pull myself up in spots as if I was free climbing.  When we reached the summit of Osceola again, I saw Tecumseh Mike and he wasn't feeling well and ended up laying down just after I spoke to him.  Hopefully he made it down OK.

Michael and Gene talking near the cairn on the top of East Osceola

The group heading up the chimney

Chimney bailout trail

Looking down at the group coming up

Lafayette, Owls Head and Garfield from a vista by the Oseola summit

Lafayette, Cannon and the cannonballs and North and South Kinsman from the vista

The way down was pretty easy and fast.  For while I was walking behind Michael and listened while he told stories to another group member about some of his hikes and future hiking aspirations.  As usual the end of the trail never seemed to come.  I had predicted at the beginning of the hike that we would finish at about 4:00 and we reached our cars just after that.  On the way home we stopped for Ice Cream served at a little shed off the road near Woodpeckers Pub & Tavern.  When we finished the group headed their separate ways.

It was a great hike.  I had my doubts about hiking with such a large group and at the beginning of the hike I wondered what I got myself into.  There was a slow pace and lots breaks at the beginning.  After summiting Osceola the group broke up into segments and we all had a chance to hike at our own pace while staying together as a group.  We hiked 8.4 miles in 7 hours which was over an hour more than book time but that extra hour was welcomed with the views on what is still one of my favorite mountains in the Whites.