After an unsuccessful trip to complete the North and South Hancock loop earlier this year in March, I needed to get back out to North and South Hancock to "Conquer the beast".
Kyle and I left the Berlin, MA park and ride at 5:00 and arrived at the parking lot at the hairpin turn on the Kancamangus just before 7:30. The temperature was 38 degrees. At the trailhead I saw Sandi who I had carpooled with on a Random Group of Hikers meetup to Osceola. After taking a minute to say hi, our boots hit the flat Hancock Notch trail at 7:40. The trail was pretty very easy going with very little roots and rocks and was as a great warm up in the cool temps. One stream crossing at 0.6 (according to the book) required some quick and nimble footing on some pointy boulders.
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| Kyle heading down the Hancock Notch Trail |
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| Rock stairs on the Hancock Notch Trail |
We soon reached the familiar Cedar Brook Trail Junction sign. This was the first indicator of how much snow there actually was when we came out here back in March. At one of the brook crossings further down the trail there was a herd path that cut to the right and we clearly remembered that this is where our last trip went awry when we followed those two bush whackers. We knew that we had to cross the river up an embankment and under a tree to stay on the trail. For about 200 feet the trail seemed to follow a floodplain for when the brook is overflowing and this was evident by the giant puddles and mud. We were only on the trail for 0.7 miles and were soon off it when we reached another very familiar landmark at junction of the Hancock Loop trail.
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| Kyle trudging through the mud on the Cedar Brook Trail. |
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| March
2013 and September 2013, what a difference 6 months makes.
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The Hancock Loop trail was considerably drier and the river crossings were easily managed with some well placed feet. Heading to the actual loop portion of the trail, we senselessly discussed the possibility of attempting to summit North Hancock via the Arrow Slide. On the ascent to North Hancock, I kept my eyes peeled for any signs of a bush wack to the east of the trail. About 1/3 of the way up the the steep incline to the peak were a line of trees which had clearly been cut down heading in the easterly direction. I didn't get in there to explore because we had already wrote off the slide ascent, but it was most likely the way to the slide. The ascent up the trail was quick as compared to our winter misadventure. Once at the summit we headed to the outlook where the views to the south were very rewarding. We were joined at the summit by three other hikers.
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| Arrow Slide from North Kinsman trail. |
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| More stone steps heading up North Hancock trail. |
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| Looking down the Hancock Notch trail. |
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| Scar Ridge from North Hancock overlook |
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| Mt. Osceola from North Hancock overlook |
After taking a break for about 15 minutes, we hit the trail again headed for South Hancock. After a turn on a trail there sat a Spruce Grouse. He was sitting right in the middle of the trail and when we closed in on him he flew up in a tree and just sat there above us. It's was so cool when you can get so close to an animal without it flying away in fear. We continued on and surprisingly reached the South Hancock summit in a less than an hour. It seemed that all the hikers who were on the trails that day converged on the summit. The outlook gave us great views to the East.
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| Spruce Grouse on the trail |
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| Grouse in the tree |
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| Pemigewasset Wilderness with the everpresent Mt. Chocura in the background |
The trail down South Hancock was steep and rocky with some spots of scree. There were views of the Arrow Slide and the Franconia Ridge from the South Hancock trail.
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| A view of the Arrow Slide from the South Hancock trail. |
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| Mt. Lincoln and Lafayette from the South Hancock trail. |
The way back to the Kancamangus was smooth going and we saw a lot of hikers heading towards the peaks. And as we were getting closer to the Kanc we saw more and more out of place hikers. One guy wreaked of cologne and I think his wife even may have been wearing heals. I didn't know what to make of it until we got to the parking lot at about 1:00. The place was packed with people hanging out. From bikers to cotton heads but not many hikers. One couple we saw on top of South Hancock couldn't get out of there fast enough and were headed to Moosilauke. At one point there were a bunch of Need for Speed type cars that reving up their engines around the hair pin turn. It was so loud and was a real welcome back to fucking reality. Regardless of the scene at the parking lot, this was a very rewarding hike because this time we conquered what turned out to be not so intimidating mountain after all.
Stats/ route:
Hancock Notch trail: 1.8 miles
Cedar Brook trail: 0.7 miles
Hancock Loop trail: 4.8 miles
Cedar Brook trail: 0.7 miles
Hancock Notch trail: 1.8 miles
Total mileage: 9.8 miles
Total Elevation gain: 2,650
Approximate time including breaks: 5 hours 20 minutes
