patrickbrusil
New member
My hiking partner and I camped out along tripoli road saturday night and were well rested for the fairly long haul over both Hancocks the next day.
(much thanks goes out to the kind gentleman who saw us searching our car for the final dollar fifty to obtain a camping spot and out of the goodness of his heart gave us 2 bucks)
The walk from the hairpin turn along the Hancock Notch Trail, Cedar Brook Trail, and Hancock Loop trail was very easy and peaceful as it felt as if we were the only ones in this corner of the whites. Then a daunting climb up 1250 feet in .7 miles to the summit of North Hancock. I slowed down my pace dramatically on this section as it seemed every foot forward was two feet of ascent. There was no scrambling but it appeared some heavy duty trail work was been done about a third of a mile from the summit and the trail became filled with tons of loose rock and gravel (it seemed even more loose than the south tri slide and flume slide SO BE CAREFUL). This made the last part of the ascent hard and tough but well worth the view from the outlook on North Hancock.
I was dreading the decent down south hancock - 1000 feet in .5 miles - but after a quick jaunt to the summit a look out the fine viewpoint and we began the trip down. It was great footing when compared to the North Hancock side and there were many trees placed in fine spots to hold as one is going down. It seemed like we jumped down becuase in no time we reached the junction of the loop trail and headed back for the car.
We had kept slightly ahead of book time to the base of North Hancock but by the time we reached the car the clock showed 1 hour and 45 minutes over book time - I suppose our breaks that we enjoyed so much along the cedar brook trail did us in. None the less it was a succesful hike and a great day.
(much thanks goes out to the kind gentleman who saw us searching our car for the final dollar fifty to obtain a camping spot and out of the goodness of his heart gave us 2 bucks)
The walk from the hairpin turn along the Hancock Notch Trail, Cedar Brook Trail, and Hancock Loop trail was very easy and peaceful as it felt as if we were the only ones in this corner of the whites. Then a daunting climb up 1250 feet in .7 miles to the summit of North Hancock. I slowed down my pace dramatically on this section as it seemed every foot forward was two feet of ascent. There was no scrambling but it appeared some heavy duty trail work was been done about a third of a mile from the summit and the trail became filled with tons of loose rock and gravel (it seemed even more loose than the south tri slide and flume slide SO BE CAREFUL). This made the last part of the ascent hard and tough but well worth the view from the outlook on North Hancock.
I was dreading the decent down south hancock - 1000 feet in .5 miles - but after a quick jaunt to the summit a look out the fine viewpoint and we began the trip down. It was great footing when compared to the North Hancock side and there were many trees placed in fine spots to hold as one is going down. It seemed like we jumped down becuase in no time we reached the junction of the loop trail and headed back for the car.
We had kept slightly ahead of book time to the base of North Hancock but by the time we reached the car the clock showed 1 hour and 45 minutes over book time - I suppose our breaks that we enjoyed so much along the cedar brook trail did us in. None the less it was a succesful hike and a great day.
