BIGEarl
Well-known member
March 23, 2013: The Hancocks
Trails: Hancock Notch Trail, Cedar Brook Trail, Hancock Loop Trail
Summits: North Hancock, South Hancock
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
We started the day with plans to head to Franconia Notch and hike The Kinsmans but decided for a more sheltered hike on The Hancocks. The White Mountains Summits Forecast posted by the National Weather Service and their point forecast showed high winds all day. The predictions for 4000 – 5000 feet indicated northwest winds of 45 to 55 mph with gusts to 75 mph. Even though it’s a fairly sheltered hike these winds would probably be pretty uncomfortable above Kinsman Junction and we made the change.
We arrived at the Hancock Notch trail head to find another pair of hikers just setting off. While we were taking care of final hike prep one more pair arrived, grabbed their things, and took off. We were close behind. After crossing the Kanc Sue and I put on our snowshoes and stayed with them for the full hike.
It looked like we were all the first in since the storm. One pair ahead of us was on snowshoes from the start and the others appeared to be bare-booting early on Hancock Notch Trail but made the change to snowshoes before reaching the junction with Cedar Brook Trail. Overall, the trail was packing out pretty well. Six sets of snowshoes were leaving a very nice track, evidently the base trail underneath the recent snow was in pretty good shape.
We passed the Cedar Brook Trail junction and soon reached the first crossing. The guys up front made the crossing and continued roughly a hundred yards before making a u-turn and returning to use the bushwhack to bypass the stream crossings. The Cedar Brook Trail just seems to end at the u-turn location with no sign of traffic beyond. We returned to the bushwhack and followed it past the section of stream crossings. Along the way we could see portions of the actual trail route on the opposite side of the stream filled with the new snow. The bushwhack was as good as the main trail. Evidently there was a well established base under the fresh snow and it quickly packed to a nice snowshoe track.
Above the last big crossing and back on trail we continued to the junction with Hancock Loop Trail still enjoying a pretty nice snowshoe track. The four guys up ahead were doing a great job and the trail was looking good. We reached the Hancock Loop split and saw all tracks going left and the route to South Hancock unbroken. We made the turn and headed for North Hancock first. As we were making our way down to the stream bed and the start of the climb we came upon two of the others on their way out. Evidently they were unable to locate the trail and decided to bail. We visited for a while, explained the trail route, and continued. The others again turned around and also headed for North Hancock.
After crossing the stream bed and starting up the climb, we came upon tracks from the other pair. It looked like they also took a small off-trail excursion but soon corrected and were back on track. The blazing could be better but there’s enough to confirm the trail route; you have to look very closely at times – some of the blazes are in really tough shape. Watching for blazes and signs of brushing along the trail route were all it took to stay on-trail. Soon we met the other pair having also turned around. I didn’t hear the conversation very well and don’t know the reason they turned around. Again we stopped to visit for a while and soon all six of us were in a long line and headed for North Hancock.
The loose snow on top of a very steep trail made for some tough climbing. Sue and I were both using MSR’s (Sue on Lightning Ascent and I had EVO Ascent). We raised the Televators (heel bars) and climbed. The aggressive nature of the MSR’s made climbing this steep section much less difficult. High on North Hancock, above the blowdown field, the others had decided to call it a hike; Sue and I decided to head for South Hancock.
Leaving North Hancock the trail was drifted in but relatively easy to follow. The blazing was better than on the climb to North Hancock. We kept our eyes open for blazing all the way across to South Hancock and were able to generally stay on-trail for the full distance. Our speed was slowed but there were no unwanted side excursions along the way. As we started the final approach to South Hancock the wind finally started to hit us but we enjoyed a very sheltered day to this point. The final climb has the worse drifting of the day. We came into several very significant drifts to work our way through. Eventually we made it to the short ridge leading to the summit. We stayed on the summit only long enough to get the usual pictures and then headed down. The wind was coming through strong and we wanted to get below it as soon as we could.
The amount of snow on the trail made the descent pretty enjoyable. We were able to just walk down the steep slope. There was some sliding but nothing significant. Both of us stayed upright all the way down to the loop split. The blazing becomes easy to lose on the lower part of the descent and we watched closely to be sure we stayed on-trail. Many times we needed to look back over our shoulders to see the blazes on the “back” side of the trees. The blazes are on the “front” side while ascending, but we weren’t ascending. A short distance before the loop split it appeared we lost the blazes. Up ahead roughly seventy-five yards I could see the trail signs at the loop split; we simply followed the apparent trail corridor to the signs.
Back on broken trail we cruised to the trailhead. One other pair of hikers that we had seen near the bushwhack on Cedar Brook Trail had caught up with us and we leapfrogged each other multiple times on the hike out. The final walk out from the loop split had no surprises. We enjoyed a nice snowshoe track all of the way back to the trailhead. At the Kanc, Sue and I retired the MSR’s and headed to the truck. We noticed some familiar vehicles in the lot, which indicated others were probably somewhere on the loop behind us. Hopefully they were on snowshoes.
Thanks Sue. Spending a day in the mountains with you is always a treat. This one would have been a tough winter hike, if it was still winter.
Pictures will follow.
Trails: Hancock Notch Trail, Cedar Brook Trail, Hancock Loop Trail
Summits: North Hancock, South Hancock
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
We started the day with plans to head to Franconia Notch and hike The Kinsmans but decided for a more sheltered hike on The Hancocks. The White Mountains Summits Forecast posted by the National Weather Service and their point forecast showed high winds all day. The predictions for 4000 – 5000 feet indicated northwest winds of 45 to 55 mph with gusts to 75 mph. Even though it’s a fairly sheltered hike these winds would probably be pretty uncomfortable above Kinsman Junction and we made the change.
We arrived at the Hancock Notch trail head to find another pair of hikers just setting off. While we were taking care of final hike prep one more pair arrived, grabbed their things, and took off. We were close behind. After crossing the Kanc Sue and I put on our snowshoes and stayed with them for the full hike.
It looked like we were all the first in since the storm. One pair ahead of us was on snowshoes from the start and the others appeared to be bare-booting early on Hancock Notch Trail but made the change to snowshoes before reaching the junction with Cedar Brook Trail. Overall, the trail was packing out pretty well. Six sets of snowshoes were leaving a very nice track, evidently the base trail underneath the recent snow was in pretty good shape.
We passed the Cedar Brook Trail junction and soon reached the first crossing. The guys up front made the crossing and continued roughly a hundred yards before making a u-turn and returning to use the bushwhack to bypass the stream crossings. The Cedar Brook Trail just seems to end at the u-turn location with no sign of traffic beyond. We returned to the bushwhack and followed it past the section of stream crossings. Along the way we could see portions of the actual trail route on the opposite side of the stream filled with the new snow. The bushwhack was as good as the main trail. Evidently there was a well established base under the fresh snow and it quickly packed to a nice snowshoe track.
Above the last big crossing and back on trail we continued to the junction with Hancock Loop Trail still enjoying a pretty nice snowshoe track. The four guys up ahead were doing a great job and the trail was looking good. We reached the Hancock Loop split and saw all tracks going left and the route to South Hancock unbroken. We made the turn and headed for North Hancock first. As we were making our way down to the stream bed and the start of the climb we came upon two of the others on their way out. Evidently they were unable to locate the trail and decided to bail. We visited for a while, explained the trail route, and continued. The others again turned around and also headed for North Hancock.
After crossing the stream bed and starting up the climb, we came upon tracks from the other pair. It looked like they also took a small off-trail excursion but soon corrected and were back on track. The blazing could be better but there’s enough to confirm the trail route; you have to look very closely at times – some of the blazes are in really tough shape. Watching for blazes and signs of brushing along the trail route were all it took to stay on-trail. Soon we met the other pair having also turned around. I didn’t hear the conversation very well and don’t know the reason they turned around. Again we stopped to visit for a while and soon all six of us were in a long line and headed for North Hancock.
The loose snow on top of a very steep trail made for some tough climbing. Sue and I were both using MSR’s (Sue on Lightning Ascent and I had EVO Ascent). We raised the Televators (heel bars) and climbed. The aggressive nature of the MSR’s made climbing this steep section much less difficult. High on North Hancock, above the blowdown field, the others had decided to call it a hike; Sue and I decided to head for South Hancock.
Leaving North Hancock the trail was drifted in but relatively easy to follow. The blazing was better than on the climb to North Hancock. We kept our eyes open for blazing all the way across to South Hancock and were able to generally stay on-trail for the full distance. Our speed was slowed but there were no unwanted side excursions along the way. As we started the final approach to South Hancock the wind finally started to hit us but we enjoyed a very sheltered day to this point. The final climb has the worse drifting of the day. We came into several very significant drifts to work our way through. Eventually we made it to the short ridge leading to the summit. We stayed on the summit only long enough to get the usual pictures and then headed down. The wind was coming through strong and we wanted to get below it as soon as we could.
The amount of snow on the trail made the descent pretty enjoyable. We were able to just walk down the steep slope. There was some sliding but nothing significant. Both of us stayed upright all the way down to the loop split. The blazing becomes easy to lose on the lower part of the descent and we watched closely to be sure we stayed on-trail. Many times we needed to look back over our shoulders to see the blazes on the “back” side of the trees. The blazes are on the “front” side while ascending, but we weren’t ascending. A short distance before the loop split it appeared we lost the blazes. Up ahead roughly seventy-five yards I could see the trail signs at the loop split; we simply followed the apparent trail corridor to the signs.
Back on broken trail we cruised to the trailhead. One other pair of hikers that we had seen near the bushwhack on Cedar Brook Trail had caught up with us and we leapfrogged each other multiple times on the hike out. The final walk out from the loop split had no surprises. We enjoyed a nice snowshoe track all of the way back to the trailhead. At the Kanc, Sue and I retired the MSR’s and headed to the truck. We noticed some familiar vehicles in the lot, which indicated others were probably somewhere on the loop behind us. Hopefully they were on snowshoes.
Thanks Sue. Spending a day in the mountains with you is always a treat. This one would have been a tough winter hike, if it was still winter.
Pictures will follow.
Last edited:
