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Ascent of Cannon Mountain on 2007-12-31

Climber: Monica Trust

Others in Party:	solo
Date:	Monday, December 31, 2007
Ascent Type:	Unsuccessful - Turned Back
Peak:	Cannon Mountain
Location:	USA-New Hampshire
Elevation:	3500 ft / 1066 m
Ascent Trip Report I thought that I could get just one more 4000 footer before year end. I drove up the night before because there was a prediction of a snowstorm. I parked at the trailhead parking lot just before the Lafayette Campground and slept in my car. I got there about 8:45 PM. I read a little, typed a little and then went to sleep. I kept hearing snowmobiles outside going back and forth. They were probably wondering what I was doing parked there. The light from my laptop illuminated the inside of my car. Then it got quiet and I went to sleep. I woke up at 5 in the morning. I had a dream that my car was being towed. When I got up I couldn't see through my snow covered windows. I put my windshield wipers on to see how hard it was snowing. There was only 2-3 inches of snow accumalation and it was coming down pretty steady. I decided that I needed to get out of there and I drove to find a cup a coffee and a bathroom. I found a McDonald's and hung out there until it wasn't snowing too hard. I started to climb about 9:00. I climbed from the Cannon Ski Resort parking lot via the Kinsman Ridge Trail. The trail was well marked with the blue blazes, until I got close to the top. It was a beautiful climb up and down. The trees were covered with snow and the weather was perfect. It was snowing lightly almost the whole way up. Once I got above treeline, I could practically see the summit, but could not find a trail to get to it. I kept post hole-ing, and it made me nervous going waste deep. I decided that Cannon will have to wait and will have to try a different day, maybe a different trail. Darn my second unsuccessful attempt. This peak marked a milestone in my journey to true peakbagging. This was my first solo hike at a time when I truly thought I would be going solo in more ways than one. It was a soul searching mission, where I thought I would find some answers to questions that had lingered in my mind for months. I was torn between giving it my all to make something work or letting go of the painstaking agony of good and bad love. I had met resistence more than once, too many times to count, and yet I was persistent in finding whether it was me or something else that was being resisted. What this proved to me was that I was not done. I was not done in finding anwsers or trying to bag Cannon. I would continue to plug along, rise and fall in my journey. It wouldn't be easy but then again it shouldn't be easy.