Hancock Loop Trail

Yesterday we had eight people lined up to do the Hancock Loop Trail today, which was pretty much a "just short of miraculous" feat. Unfortunately this morning our eight dwindled to four -- the same four as last week! So, Brian H, Kathy, Ally, my dog Rachel and I packed into the 4Runner this morning and hit the road for the White Mountains at about 7:15. Ally quickly went to sleep for the 2-hour drive. We were pretty concerned with the weather yesterday, but a quick look at the forecast this morning made it look pretty good -- no rain until the early evening.

The route we did is right off the Kancamagus Highway (NH Rt 112) just to the west of Kancamagus Pass. The trailhead is right at what's called the Hancock Lookout. The route we took was actually comprised of three trails: out on the Hancock Notch Trail for 1.8 miles, then split off to the left onto Cedar Brook Trail for 0.7 mi, then to the right onto the Hancock Loop trail, which goes NE for 1.1 miles, at which point there's a loop that summits Mt Hancock and South Hancock Mtn which comes right back to the same spot. We took the clockwise direction, which took us up to Mt Hancock in 0.7 miles, then traversed 1.4 mi to South Hancock, then descended 0.5 mi back to the start of the loop portion. We then took the same trails back to the trailhead. Total distance 9.8 miles.

Boy, we did have an awesome one! After a non-prosperous start where we basically only made it across the parking lot before my right sole promptly separated itself from the upper of my boot, we continued (after a fix) by climbing gradually on Hancock Notch then Cedar Brook trails, right along the "North Fork" (the North Fork of the Hancock Branch of the East Branch Pemigewasset River...ugh!) much of which was frozen over and snow-covered, we then started climbing in earnest along the out portion of the Hancock Loop Trail. After working up quite a sweat making pretty good time, we took off on the loop portion up to Mt Hancock. Yikes! Talk about steep and unrelenting! We climbed 920 feet (from ~3500' elevation to the peak, at 4420') over the longest 0.5 mile I think any of us have ever done! My topo software says this portion of the climb averaged a 35% grade with a max of 69%! It took Brian and I nearly a full hour, and Ally and Kathy nearly another hour to make the climb. A half mile! It was just a non-stop toe kick into the snow, taking short step after short step, to keep from slipping back down the slope (which, of course, Kathy apparently still managed to do!) I have to give a shout out to my pooch , Rachel, who was an absolute trooper the whoe route, climbing the very steep grades in snow, then descending like grades, all while on 4 little compact labrador paws and packing water and 3 days of her food, my water, and my spare shoes and socks.

While Brian and I camped out on top of Hancock, being in communication with the women periodically over 2-way radio, we snapped about 20,000 pictures of what looked to me to be a gray, white and black blue jay (do they turn those colors in the winter) that flew up and perched about 5 feet from us for a good 20 minutes. The girls joined us, we snapped some pics at the Hancock Overlook, then continued across the traverse, this time with Ally and I taking off ahead of the Heuthers. That traverse was definitely one of the easier parts of the hike, and pretty uneventful.

After regrouping again at the South Hancock summit, Brian, Rachel and I bounded-off down the steep descent of the mountain, with Ally and Kathy being a little more careful behind us. We all made it down without tumbling, which was good, then hiked the rest of the way back to the trailhead together, somehow magically covering the last 1.8 miles in the second-longest 0.5 miles any of us have ever done (private joke).

We finished the evening off with a great dinner at the Lincoln Common Man, where Brian DID NOT buy me a beer, as promised! Ally and Rachel slept all the way home while Brian, Kathy and I rocked out to some 80's hairband music, taking the scenic route through Londonderry!

-Brian