Cannon Lakes, June 2003 ...

I've never really gone on a `shake-down' hike before, but that's what this one turned out to be ... brakes got hot going down Whitebird Grade, muffler came off on the climb to Seven Devils CG, Candace's boots didn't work, didn't bring night-crawlers, got sunburned, didn't get as far in as planned, and ran out of fishing line.  But otherwise it was great.

  We hit the trail about 10 pm, and walked by twilight and flashlight.  There was significant downfall on the trail, making night travel cumbersome.  We decided to pitch camp about 3 miles in where the Trail 101 goes around the nose to Cannon Creek.  Candace's feet hurt bad. 

Left: Jackie on Trail up to Lower Cannon Lake.  Peaks: Goblin on far left, Ogre to right (and behind), no-name, and She Devil in distance right above Jackie.  Tower of Babel on right obscured partly by tree.
     
  7 am I decided to go back for another pair of shoes for Candace. 2 hours and 6 miles later I was back at camp and we headed out.

Left: Goblin and no-name.
     
  There were what appeared to be a million people at Lower Cannon ...

We left the trail at Lower Cannon, and headed cross country UP to Upper Cannon.
     
  Whereas Lower Cannon is a `run-of-the-mill' lower elevation lake, Upper Cannon is spectacular, and relatively high. 

Pictures don't capture the magnitude of the terrain.  Nor the beauty.

From Upper Cannon we watched a number of Goats between and on She Devil and Tower of Babel.  It was absolutely mind boggling the terrain they were negotiating.  (Totally un-hunt-able - most of it.)  I saw only nannies and kids, that I could tell.  Finally I reasoned that the nannies had taken their kids up to the most precipitous terrain to teach them to climb, and to get them away from predators.
     
  We tentatively set camp about a third of the way around the north shore.  Duane took a short trip to the outlet and came back beckoning me to take a look.  Something inside said I should take him seriously.  The outlet of Upper Cannon is one of the most unique scenes I have ever encountered.  The end of the lake and outlet literally daylight  into thin air - with the Salmon River country miles, and thousands of feet, below.
     
  The outlet cascades over the cliffs below, with Cannonball mountain and the Salmon River drainage far in the distance.  The situation was so unique - we moved camp and slept a short distance from outlet pictured here.  I warned the girls that if they had to get up in the middle of the night - they had to go west, not east toward the edge.

The sun rose early here - blazing by 5 am ... by 6 am, like noon-day.
     
  It was more of a grind than I expected, but I did crank out 6 extra miles for Candace's shoes, and I was carrying 3 sleeping bags and most of the stuff - a heavier pack than what I should have had for this kind of endeavor.

Jackie was awesome - always scampering ahead.  Candace dragged at times - but I am immensely proud that she kept going. 

Left: Candace and Jackie at lake.
     
  I'm sure Candace's face was a full 5 inches longer at times.  Once back to civilization and a hamburger and some french fries (from Cattleman's), her face returned to normal shape, and again shined.

It was a good trip.  We took it easy on Big Jeep (our rig) on the way out - and did fine. 

 
     

Endnotes ... here