Adventurous
New member
The Crew: HuiYeng (7summits), Rebecca (Juniper), Jen (Nif), Mardi (Fat Tuesday) and Gillian
The Plan: Meet at the Piper TH at 10:30
The weather forecast was calling for rain in the late afternoon. On the drive up to the trailhead, the summit was hidden in the clouds. We didn’t think that it was likely that we get a view but one can always wish.
We started the hike a little after 11…somehow, time seems to speed up when you’re getting ready at the TH…not sure how it happens but it does. Surprisingly, there weren’t many people on the Piper Trail – not that I’m complaining, I was just surprised. It was very humid on the hike up but we managed to keep a good pace. The trail is wide, has great footing and climbs at an easy to moderate grade up to the first ledge. The views from this ledge were phenomenal although the summit was still in the clouds at this point. There is a rock after the first ledge that is very slippery. A few of us had issues with it coming down. We continued on…chatted with the ranger for a bit and soon began the last part of the climb up to the summit. The clouds had lifted and we had really good views. Since we were in no rush to head back down, we took an extended snack break which would have been longer but the volume of annoying bugs was too great to tolerate.
We soon began our descent. As previously mentioned, a few of us had issues with non-gripping shoes on slippery rock but that didn’t slow us down too much. I think that someone slipped rockets into Gillian’s shoes for this hike – she was always far ahead of the rest of us. Still no rain and at times, the sun seemed to poke through the clouds. Before we knew it we were back at the parking lot…trying to figure out what to do with ourselves for the rest of the day.
Chocorua is an incredible summit…one that I will soon go back to. The trail is beautiful and the views are hard to be beat. We chose Chocorua because a few of us hadn’t done it yet, we didn’t want to do a strenuous hike before the long hike that we had planned for Sunday and one of us already had a commitment Saturday night.
Thanks gals for a great hike!!!
The Plan: Meet at the Piper TH at 10:30
The weather forecast was calling for rain in the late afternoon. On the drive up to the trailhead, the summit was hidden in the clouds. We didn’t think that it was likely that we get a view but one can always wish.
We started the hike a little after 11…somehow, time seems to speed up when you’re getting ready at the TH…not sure how it happens but it does. Surprisingly, there weren’t many people on the Piper Trail – not that I’m complaining, I was just surprised. It was very humid on the hike up but we managed to keep a good pace. The trail is wide, has great footing and climbs at an easy to moderate grade up to the first ledge. The views from this ledge were phenomenal although the summit was still in the clouds at this point. There is a rock after the first ledge that is very slippery. A few of us had issues with it coming down. We continued on…chatted with the ranger for a bit and soon began the last part of the climb up to the summit. The clouds had lifted and we had really good views. Since we were in no rush to head back down, we took an extended snack break which would have been longer but the volume of annoying bugs was too great to tolerate.
We soon began our descent. As previously mentioned, a few of us had issues with non-gripping shoes on slippery rock but that didn’t slow us down too much. I think that someone slipped rockets into Gillian’s shoes for this hike – she was always far ahead of the rest of us. Still no rain and at times, the sun seemed to poke through the clouds. Before we knew it we were back at the parking lot…trying to figure out what to do with ourselves for the rest of the day.
Chocorua is an incredible summit…one that I will soon go back to. The trail is beautiful and the views are hard to be beat. We chose Chocorua because a few of us hadn’t done it yet, we didn’t want to do a strenuous hike before the long hike that we had planned for Sunday and one of us already had a commitment Saturday night.
Thanks gals for a great hike!!!
