Hancock and South Hancock

I had to get out of my state of mourning for a little bit, so I headed up North for a hike. It's a long weekend, with Friday off, so Saturday was the perfect day for a hike. I decided on the Hancocks because the road is still opened, and because they both sounded like fun! Which they were.

The Hancocks are in the Pemigewasset Wilderness and, before the Kancamagus Highway (or, the Kanc as I like to call it) was built, they were two of the most remote peeks out there. Now there is parking right by this hairpin turn of the Kanc and you have to cross the road at this really sketchy section. So, no longer remote, but now dangerous to get to the trail head :)  I was really proud of myself because I woke up at 5:40 and was on the road at 6 am. I started out hiking at 8:30!  Of course, part of that's just because I haven't been sleeping well, but whatever, I'm still impressed with me.

The first 1.8 miles of the trail are pretty much totally flat, very pretty, a relaxing hike. There are 5 stream crossings in the hike, and the first two are in this section. There were a few rocks that were covered in ice. There were both hands and feet involved. It wasn't pretty. I got to the first trail junction after just an hour!  The second section was .7 miles. It was still pretty gentle of a hike. A few more roots in the path, and 3 more crossings. On crossing #4 I slipped on an icy rock and my foot got completely soaked! Fortunately, for once I was prepared with extra wool socks and a plastic bag to put in my boot. A little less breathable, but fine none the less. I reached the next junction pretty fast! This is where things finally started being really uphill. For 1.1 miles you could tell you were going up, but it was fine, there were roots other than the usual rocks. And then the steep part began.

You could either go .7 to North Hancock or .5 to South Hancock. There's a 1.4 mile trail up top that connects them. I decided to go up the .5 trail on the assumption that this would be the steeper trail. Much as it's painful to go up a steep trail, it's do-able. It may not be fun, but it's possible. Going down is so hard on the knees, I'd rather that be more gradual. Also, it said there were limited views and I wanted to be on the mountain with the better limited view last, and that was North Hancock. The up part was tough. Since the rest had been so gentle, the .5 up was intense; it took me 45 minutes. At the top I sat in an overlook (which was amazing, I don't know why anyone would call it "fair" - maybe because it wasn't 360 degrees?) to have a cheese sandwich. Of course, as soon as I sat down there were a bunch of people there, and a dog that really wanted some cheese. Dogs love cheese. Well, they seemed like nice people, and a very nice dog. I sat for about 15 min and enjoyed the view.

The ridgeline from South to North was the best part of the hike. It was so nice up there! I was in the woods, which was good because it was cold and windy out and the trees offered protection. There was a dusting of snow, the sky was so blue, and it was peaceful. I love a good ridgeline!

I was a little sad to get to North, but not sad to sit and have cheese sandwich #2 and a banana. I was pretty hungry!  The view from the second mountain was in a different direction. It was better, you could see the tripyramids, the osceolas, and a bunch of others. No roads, no cars, no houses. And, of course it was full of people. There was a scouting troupe I think, and they brought ramen and stoves to have a warm snack. Not a bad idea. And, two more dogs to admire my second sandwich. Dogs. I stayed for a while, about 30 minutes. Then it was time to head down.

The way down was so so slow, probably slower than going up. I had my microspikes on, it was slippery in some places and dirt in others, so it was complicated with the walking. Plus, it was so steep! It took me an hour to get down. After that, the rest was much quicker. I left the top at 1:30. Got to the bottom at 2:30, and got back to the car at 4:30! The 1.8 miles at the end I was just flying because I really didn't want to be in the woods after dark due to hunting season, crossing the road, and not wanting to drive on the Kanc in total darkness.  Total hike time was 8 hours, with about 1 hour of that sitting, eating, putting bags in my boots, etc. Book time was 6 hrs 15 min. That downhill killed me!  All and all, a really nice hike!  All the hard work was done in one hour 45 min, the rest was pretty chill.