Tram Shram
I was determined not to let the weather keep me indoors yet another day. I was antsy. I was on a quest to hit all 48 4,000-footers in New Hampshire, and every peak counts.
So, I decided to hit Cannon Mountain, which is probably better known as a ski area and the home of Old Man in the Mountains _ that rocky oddity that from its profile looks like a stubborn old man with his square jaw jutting out.
It took me forever to just find the trailhead, which is tucked away in a far corner of the tram parking lot.
The bottom part of the Kinsman Ridge Trail to the top of Cannon (4,100 feet) is sandy _ more like a walk along a beach than hike through the woods.
It makes for slippery footing. It's not at all like hard-packed dirt and rocks that _ for the most part anyway _ remain firm and sturdy.
I ploddingly made my way through the woods, which offer little in the way of a view _ unless you count peeking through some trees about halfway up to spy the tram that runs to and from the summit. I wondered if the tourists in the tram were gazing at the woods, and pondering the fate of the hikers in them.
Probably not. Probably just oblivious to all the physical labor that goes on behind those trees.
It’s about halfway up that the trail gets rocky and somewhat steep, and there are switchbacks that curve their way up to the summit. I was very much alone on the trail _ I couldn't hear any other hikers and didn't see any either _ and I made sure to tread carefully on the rocky ledges so I didn't slip and fall. A tumble on this hike might have left me without any rescue for a long time.
I didn't run into any fellow hikers until I was nearly at the summit. It's at the very top when the trail breaks through the trees and the route becomes more New Hampshire-like: more boulders than dirt along the trail and above treeline.
Two hours after starting, I hit the summit. It felt like a resort: There was a ski lodge complete with a restaurant and a souvenir shop. At the true top, a lookout tower had been erected.
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