Hancock Loop

Mar 16, 2024

Today it was not supposed to rain, with even a bit of sunshine in the forecast. Grant and I finally got a normal hiking start this morning, leaving CoHo at 07:30 to drive the over the Kancamagus pass to where the Hancock trailhead lay. Karen and Bill decided that they would tackle Mount Crawford. As we came around one of the many corners on this road, the vehicle entered a wild and exciting skid, but fortunately Grant managed to correct before he lost complete control on this surface of black ice. We slowed down the driving and in another kilometer up the road we found someone being towed out of the ditch. A little further we noted a freshly mangled guard rail, and a bit further than that passed a car limping along at a snail's pace with half of the rear bumper missing. These three warnings were heeded and we continued our ascent over the pass with extreme caution.

Fortunately we made it to our destination safely, but arriving at the parking area we found it almost full. We managed to squeeze in though, and got going fairly quickly to get ahead of a fourteen person AMC group. Travel started out in spikes on the solidly frozen packed trail and we were glad to finally be hiking in something that was not slush for a change. Then Grant realized he had forgotten his water bottle in the car, so he scampered back while I sat down in shame and watched fourteen people tromp on by. At least I got an early break. A mother and two children motored on by as well and I was glad to see a family out on this nice day. Once Grant got back we easily caught up to the horde at a creek crossing where things had backed up a bit. We waited in line not moving for a while as this group picked their way one by one across, then finally managed to scamper around to the side and hop across on another set of rocks and we were in the clear again. It was quite a while before we caught up to the young family and we shared a pleasant hello as we passed.

The clear sky that we had started with unfortunately started to cloud in by the time we arrived at the Hancock loop, where we met a couple of women who were just starting up in a counter-clockwise direction. We decided to go clockwise to get the majority of the climbing out of the way at the start, so we turned left and descended steeply into a drainage where we found the snow much deeper and softer. Spikes were swapped for snowshoes and then we began a grindingly steep climb which sustained itself all the way to the main summit of Hancock.

Plodding up the steep climb of Hancock.

Summit of Hancock and a fantastic view of the Pemigewasset river valley.

We took our second breakfast at a lookout here, but unfortunately there would be no views today. The ridge walk to South Hancock was lovely, with powdery snow and only a few spots to duck under or scoot around blowdown. We met the two women from below and stopped for a short chat before continuing to the summit where we met a guy with a friendly dog. A father/son duo showed up and I took their photo just the sun came out for a fleeting moment.

Summit dog of South Hancock.

The descent was blazingly fast, and except for being held up for a bit as we negotiated around the AMC group, we were back at the base of the loop in about ten minutes after leaving the top. We stopped for our second break and chatted with two or three other couples who also had arrived at this spot to rest. The long slog back was neither that long, nor too sloggy, as the warm sun came out again now that we were off the mountain. We left the snowshoes on and just plodded along through the lovely forest as the trees dripped meltwater on our heads. Before we knew it the Kanc appeared in front of us and we were done, five hours after starting.

A brief view over to Hancock proper seen on our descent.

Snowshoeing across the brooks.

The best view of the day was obtained from the parking lot where we joked with another hiker that perhaps we had just wasted our time hiking the mountains. As it was early we looked for a pub back in Conway to satisfy the beer, grease, and salt cravings, but had no luck in this endeavour. Instead we ended up spending the rest of the afternoon in the CoHo common room with a six pack and a bag of potato chips.

The Osceolas make an appearance from the parking lot.

Mar 17, 2024

Awoke to another day of pouring rain, so instead of hiking we decided to just drive on home. Though we did not make any of our climbing objectives, it turned out to be a successful trip anyway. Four more peaks brings my NE111 total to 112/115.

The End

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