Slip Sliding Away on Hancock

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Barbarossa

Active member
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Location
Graniteville, Baby!
Dr Wu, el-bagr, and I met up at Lincoln Woods yesterday morning. We left my van as a car spot, just in case we were feeling extra ambitious. We drove up to the Hancock trailhead on the Kancamagus hairpin and headed in. Fortunately for me, they were patient and didn't leave me behind. At the Hancock Loop Trail we headed for N Hancock for a short ways, then traversed through the woods over to the Arrow Silde.

Arrow was steep and rocky, interspersed with sections of slab. Most of the slab was dry, which made for better footing. Near the top of the slide where the chutes diverge, we went to left at the chute marked by the cairn.

When we went into the woods, we were very close to the summit of N Hancock, so off we went. After a little bit of blowdown-surfing followed by 'open' woods, we found the trail and took a break at the overlook.

After looking around, we took a bearing and headed down the ridge to NW Hancock. It started as fairly open woods, but we whacked through a full variety of vegetation. Some blowdowns we spotted by the patches of sunlight, others we went over. I don't thick we got more than 50 yards of thick stuff at a time.

The summit bump of NW was pretty obvious, so once we were in the vicinity we didn't have to search around. The register said that a rock nearby had good views. We found the rock, but the entry was from 1974. Trees grow a lot in 31 years! We are headed back up next month with a chainsaw.

Heading down, we skirted the side of the ridge, descending slowly. We came out on the West Slide about 2/3 of the way up. el-bagr could give a better estimate, as he scrambled to the top while Wu and I rested. el-bagr hikes just a little bit slower than a deer.

The West Slide was not as steep and was rather sandy. At the bottom of the slide a stream emerged from the rock. I filled a bottle, since I was empty. (5L day) When the stream bed got narrow, we went back to the woods and crashed through some relatively open woods back to the Cedar Brook Trail, which we followed back to height of land, then out to the car.

Dr Wu and el-bagr took a lot of pictures, which I hope they will link here.
 
Nice report Barb, two slides in one day is good work! NW is a fun trip, when I went there, we went up and down the west slide, it has a nice gentle slope. At one time NW was a list peak. I went many years ago and we did get some views down into the Crystal valley.
 
LOL @ your deer photo, barb!!
how far did you go (in mileage)? it looks pretty thick in them thar trees! :cool:
 
yam said:
LOL @ your deer photo, barb!!
how far did you go? it looks pretty thick in them thar trees! :cool:
I think it was about 12 miles... about the same distance as the regular Hancock Loop... maybe a mile or two different.

The woods weren't too thick. They got thick and nasty sometimes but the worst part actually was the dead lower branches that scratched and tortured us the whole way. Actually, the scratches are part of the fun. I got about 10-15 blackfly bites on my face while we were sitting around the NW Hancock Summit, eating lunch. That and the fall I took on the West Hancock Slide got me a few more "souvenirs" from the trip! I really love going to work on mondays looking like a mess!

This was a great hike. The slides were a blast. Getting to NW Hancock was something I had wanted to do for a long time.

-Dr. Wu
 
Barbarossa said:
The summit bump of NW was pretty obvious, so once we were in the vicinity we didn't have to search around. The register said that a rock nearby had good views. We found the rock, but the entry was from 1974. Trees grow a lot in 31 years! We are headed back up next month with a chainsaw.
I would love to go back at least two more times, relatively soon. I went to Mountain Wanderer and spoke with Steve Smith. He told me there are views about 0.2 off the summit and yes, they still exist. He has ascended via. slides in the Crystal Ravine and I'd like to do this. I wouldn't mind visiting the North, Northwest Hancock peak as well, which is the one about 1.0 north of Northwest Peak.

-Dr. Wu
 
Cath said:
In Steve's WanderingThrough the White Mountains book, there is an essay in the section entitled Adventures on and off the Trails.

As always, we had a wonderful time on that excursion with him.
I think I actually had the book with me! We decided to go our own route though because I think we all wanted to do Arrow Head as well. We got to do two slides that day!

Crystal Ravine has been on my radar for nearly as long as Northwest Hancock but I think it was Steve's suggestion that put it there. I wish I could've been on that trip as he described it in the book!

-Dr. Wu
 
Very nice!

Just curious: How far/hard is the bushwack from the trail to the base of Arrow slide?

^MtnMike^
 
^MtnMike^ said:
Very nice!

Just curious: How far/hard is the bushwack from the trail to the base of Arrow slide?

^MtnMike^
I guess it depends on where you start your whack. You'll see the slide getting real close and you'll just have to make your way over to it. Now the whack on the top to the trail to North Hancock is something else!

-Dr. Wu
 
Another question, if you don't mind:
When the slide splits into two slides near the top, is there any reason to choose one side over the other? Is it closer to the trail from the top of the left side?

I still need the Hancocks so I'm definitely considering this slide for next weekend! :D

Thanks,
^MtnMike^
 
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