Main/South Huntington & Kancamagus

[Motabobo]

Hi everyone ! Me again trying to gather some info for our last whackfest of the year (Dec.27th-30th)..

Main & South Huntingtons;
Route #1: A north approach doesn't seem like a wise choice at that time of the year from the Hancock Notch Trail and climbing up the north slide.
Route #2: Straight BW from the Kancamagus. Mixed reports here, either moderately BW or thick as hell to the point of not recommending a southern approach !

Any comments from those who did them ??

Kancamagus:
Not much info on this one besides the fact that pretty much everybody starts from the Highway. Straight BW to the top but how are the woods so we can get mentally prepared (shortest ones are sometimes sooo nasty !) ?

Any suggestions, advices more than welcome. Thanks

 

[dms]

I suggest the Huntingtons from the north. From the Kanc it's pretty thick going most of the way. From the north it's shorter, and the woods are marginally better. The Kanc from the Kanc isn't too bad at all the woods are decent.

 

[forestgnome]

A few weeks ago I spent a day exploring the southern side of the mountain. I hiked up until it wasn't much fun because the trees got really thick. Don't know how close to the top I was, but until that point the woods were very easy going, lots of deciduous and small hemlocks and fir, if memory serves. I started on the Sawyer River Trail, crossed the Swift River, then followed a broad ridge uphill. There's a good amount of bear and moose sign.

Happy Trails

 

[audrey]

The Huntingtons from the north is how we went in 1992 - nothing horrible, and the walk on the ridge and between the summits was pretty easy.

We did Kancamagus along the height of land from the Livermore Trail and then descended along Kancamagus Brook - a really nice loop from Depot Camp. Not exactly the shortest route, but I'm partial to brookwhacking.

 

[bigmoose]

Kankamagus - walk east, downhill a bit from the overlook & plunge in. Woods moderately thick, but not killer. Fairly steep up to the westernmost bump, then an easy ridgetop whack past middle bump & over to the canister on the high point.

Huntington - I angled southeast from the trail, starting at about 2400'...a mile whack of thickish head-high spruce all the way to the more open top, but no blowdown.