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Mt. Hancock (7/48)
Once again we woke up at the Hancock campground on the Kanc, having gotten in to New Hampshire the night before at a decent hour. Of course, we woke at 3AM and couldn't get back to sleep, but figured we'd go out for a Very Early start after another half hour.
So, of course, we woke up about 7:30. The new Hubba Hubba slept pretty well, and doubling up the pad with the pack under my legs made me happy. We fired up breakfast while listening to the Mount Washington Observatory forecast, which repeated "unseasonably warm" over and over. This was supposed to be a winter warm-up hike and I was still wearing my trail runners.
About 8:30 we reached the hairpin in the Kanc and the new overlook.
The Hancock Notch Trail now officially starts in the parking lot
before dropping downhill and crossing the Kanc...in the middle of the hairpin, with no crosswalk of any sort, which is mildly disconcerting.
My shoulder was acting up for some reason, but shuffling the pack and clamping down the straps seemed to help. It was a pretty easy roll along the trail
We were sorta saddled with electronic gadgetry. Erik kept his new scanner on most of the time. I occasionally fired up my HT to check some repeaters, and I had a new GPS I'd picked up at the REI garage sale for cheap ($100 for a $550 unit: who cares it looks like it got dropped off a cliff?). So lots of toys to distract and slow us down.
We crossed over a lovely rocky cascade crossing the trail and soon reached another crossing onto the Cascade Brook Trail, where we started to climb.
At the junction with the Hancock Loop Trail (really a lollipop), we paused to strip off thermals. I broke out some marshmallow/rice bars (yay recipes from Good Eats!). Then 'twas along the trail, easy and flat for now. The arrow slide (original route to the north peak) showed through the trees, with the summit in cloud.
Although there wasn't any snow, there was plenty of wet on the trail.
From the junction we dropped quickly to a stream crossing, elevation we hated to lose since we knew we'd have to gain it back. We ran into somebody coming back the other way who said it wasn't too bad although he'd been under cloud on the summit.
After the stream it was a steady, steep, but nontechnical climb.
I was watching the GPS for elevation as this was hardly an exciting part, just a tough grind. After a solid climb the trail passed through a fir wave.
We poked out above the trees and looked across at the south peak...and another wave.
Here we hit the turn in the trail and went left to the outlook.
We got a great view of the south peak, even being able to make out the trail down.
I managed to hop on a repeater and swap a few words, proving reception on top of a mountain is of course great. For the most we sat and admired the clouds blowing past.
Eventually we figured out that the summit must be where the sign was on the loop trail and went for the official photo.
Then it was back to the summit for lunch. All told we spent over an hour on the summit and let ourselves chill a bit too much...was a windy day and cold rock to sit on.
So, of course, we woke up about 7:30. The new Hubba Hubba slept pretty well, and doubling up the pad with the pack under my legs made me happy. We fired up breakfast while listening to the Mount Washington Observatory forecast, which repeated "unseasonably warm" over and over. This was supposed to be a winter warm-up hike and I was still wearing my trail runners.
About 8:30 we reached the hairpin in the Kanc and the new overlook.
The Hancock Notch Trail now officially starts in the parking lot
before dropping downhill and crossing the Kanc...in the middle of the hairpin, with no crosswalk of any sort, which is mildly disconcerting.
My shoulder was acting up for some reason, but shuffling the pack and clamping down the straps seemed to help. It was a pretty easy roll along the trail
We were sorta saddled with electronic gadgetry. Erik kept his new scanner on most of the time. I occasionally fired up my HT to check some repeaters, and I had a new GPS I'd picked up at the REI garage sale for cheap ($100 for a $550 unit: who cares it looks like it got dropped off a cliff?). So lots of toys to distract and slow us down.
We crossed over a lovely rocky cascade crossing the trail and soon reached another crossing onto the Cascade Brook Trail, where we started to climb.
At the junction with the Hancock Loop Trail (really a lollipop), we paused to strip off thermals. I broke out some marshmallow/rice bars (yay recipes from Good Eats!). Then 'twas along the trail, easy and flat for now. The arrow slide (original route to the north peak) showed through the trees, with the summit in cloud.
Although there wasn't any snow, there was plenty of wet on the trail.
From the junction we dropped quickly to a stream crossing, elevation we hated to lose since we knew we'd have to gain it back. We ran into somebody coming back the other way who said it wasn't too bad although he'd been under cloud on the summit.
After the stream it was a steady, steep, but nontechnical climb.
I was watching the GPS for elevation as this was hardly an exciting part, just a tough grind. After a solid climb the trail passed through a fir wave.
We poked out above the trees and looked across at the south peak...and another wave.
Here we hit the turn in the trail and went left to the outlook.
We got a great view of the south peak, even being able to make out the trail down.
I managed to hop on a repeater and swap a few words, proving reception on top of a mountain is of course great. For the most we sat and admired the clouds blowing past.
Eventually we figured out that the summit must be where the sign was on the loop trail and went for the official photo.
Then it was back to the summit for lunch. All told we spent over an hour on the summit and let ourselves chill a bit too much...was a windy day and cold rock to sit on.