Cannon Mt. - NH 4,000'er Series #36 of 48

To travel as many trails as possible, all over the world.

New Hampshire, USA has 48 mountains over 4,000' (1,200 m) high.  Since 1957, the Appalachian Mountain Club has awarded nearly 10,000 hikers admission to the AMC Four Thousand Footer Club for climbing all 48 peaks in a lifetime.

Cannon Mt. (4,100' or 1,250 m) was the site of the Old Man of the Mountains, the granite face that was the symbol of New Hampshire until it collapsed in May, 2003.  The stone profile was first seen in 1805, and immortalized in the Nathaniel Hawthorne story, The Great Stone Face.  For that reason, it was originally called Profile Mountain, or Old Man's Mountain.  An 1816 map identified it as Freak Mt.  It is now known as Cannon Mt. for an oblong rock near the summit that resembles a cannon.  It is the home of Cannon Mt. Ski Area, which allows non-hikers to reach the summit by gondola.  It is also treasured by rock and ice climbers for Cannon Cliff on the east side of the mountain.  This cliff is 1,000' high and more than a mile long, making it the largest vertical rock face in the Northeast US.

There are three common dayhiking routes up the mountain.  Many go up the Lonesome Lake and Kinsman Ridge Trails, which passes the AMC's Lonesome Lake Hut.  This is a roundtrip of 6.2 miles with 2,300' of elevation gain.  A slightly shorter route that bypasses the hut is to take the Loneseome Lake Trail to the High Cannon Trail  before connecting with the Kinsman Ridge Trail.  This is 5.6 miles rountrip with the same 2,300' elevation gain.  The third approach is to use only the Kinsman Ridge Trail from the north.  This is a roundtrip of just 4 miles with 2,100' of elevation gain.