Cannon. September 17, 2018

Kinsman Ridge Trail, 2,100 feet of elevation gain, 4.0 miles

Alex will post the trip report of her solo hike on her blog soon.  Make sure to keep an eye out for it.

We all had to rush a little bit on this hike, since Alex had a class at 11 a.m.  So, we started before dawn, Alex 20 minutes ahead of Mom and me.

As we got farther up the trail, it started to get lighter, and we could there was a beautiful undercast.  Also, the sky was a mixture of blue, white, and pink.

Mom resting on the almost vertical trail...

More sky and view pictures; it was truly spectacular up there. 

We continued up...

We got to the viewpoint and then continued to the flat part.  Eventually, we could see the summit platform above us.

The view going up the final push to the summit...

Yay!  Mom and I got to the summit platform to blue skies and cheerful spirits.  

Me on the summit...

Photo by Trish Herr

The sky (and the view in general) was breathtaking in every direction.

There was still a slight undercast...

Earlier in the day, I had fallen on my knee, but I only really examined the damage after we got to the summit.  Here is a close-up photo :).

We met Alex on the summit, and, after giving her a head start, Mom and I headed down the trail after her.

We made it all the way down to the car eventually.  All of us were happy to know that we would get back home in time for Alex's 11 a.m. class.  It had been a beautiful and enjoyable hike, even with the time crunch.

Post-hike selfie!

Cannon. June 3, 2018

Kinsman Ridge Trail, 4.0 miles, 2,100 feet

Alex has recently written a blog post about her solo hike of Pierce and Eisenhower.  Go here to check it out.

Union of Concerned Scientists is an organization that promotes clean energy and tries to reduce pollution in the atmosphere.  For example, they urge the public to stop deforestation and to reduce emissions of polluting gasses from things like cars and planes.

This hike was a little different than the others.  We were originally going to hike on Monday the 4th.  However, the forecast said that there would be a good amount of rain on that day; therefore, we decided to hike the day before, on Sunday the 3rd.  We decided on this in the early afternoon on Sunday however, so we ended up starting our trek up Cannon at about 4:00 p.m.

Flowers near the trailhead...

We started up feeling good.  It was just a little bit too hot, but it got cooler as the day went on.  Also, we didn't really notice the bugs that often.

Views!

The sun was bright, and as we headed up we felt really content.

We got most of the way up and to the first viewpoint.  It was a beautiful day, with a blue sky and warm temperatures.

Sideways selfie!

We headed toward the summit...

More views!

Mom and Alex heading up...

The sky was so blue that I just had to take a picture of it...

Shadows!

Yay!  We got to the top to a 360 degree view.  It was amazing.  Mom, Alex, and I couldn't stop taking pictures.

The long flights of stairs!  

After a snack and water break, we headed down.

The final stretch to the car...

Yay!  We finished our hike around 6:30 p.m.  It was a great trek on a beautiful day, with little to no bugs.  We all had a wonderful time.