2. New England 4000+ ft Mountains

North Hancock & South Hancock 1.18.20

I've been needing to get out for a hike for a while now but things just haven't been working out when I try to plan them until this weekend. Late day plans meant I needed a hike that could be done pretty quickly and with a cloudy forecast it made sense to do one with more limited views. I choose to hike the Hancocks and this was my third time doing so. I've only done them with snow on the ground, but it was nice to finally be able to count them as "winter" peaks with this hike. The hike was a total of 9.84 miles with 3,120 feet of total elevation gain. There were higher level clouds which made for an overcast day, but still allowed for some nice views of the surrounding area.
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An early section of the Hancock Notch Trail. Nice gentle grades as this follows an old railroad bed
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An early section of the Hancock Notch Trail. Nice gentle grades as this follows an old railroad bed

Hancocks4191

  • An early section of the Hancock Notch Trail. Nice gentle grades as this follows an old railroad bed
  • The first brook crossing of the day. I put on my microspikes here just to be careful about slipping on the ice on the rocks
  • More gradual grades as the trail goes through some snow covered trees
  • Snow covered trees along the trail
  • The trail going over a couple wet spots (icy today) that make for some small humps in the trail
  • The Cedar Brook Trail used to cross the brook here. But with the next crossing a very short distance away most people just hiked along the brook which created a herd path. In recent years the trail has been relocated to eliminate these two crossings and some other regularly wet sections of trail
  • The newly relocated section of trails turns right and heads slightly uphill here at the crossing
  • After the end of the relocation is another crossing of the brook
  • Some interesting frost that has formed on the ice of the brook
  • Patterns in the frost that has formed on the ice
  • Starting to gain more elevation along the Hancock Loop Trail
  • Looking further up the trail
  • Signs at the split in the Hancock Loop Trail. North Hancock to the left and South Hancock to the right
  • Going left to North Hancock the trail goes down in the drainage before heading steeply up
  • Going right to South Hancock the trail stays somewhat gradual for a bit before going steeply up as well
  • While going down into the drainage there is this brief view up to Arrow Slide
  • A closer look at Arrow Slide. Some people hike up this in the summer and I plan to do that in the future. Later today on South Hancock I met a group of hikers that came up this way today. They said it was good conditions except thick where they came out through the trees at the top
  • The trail going steeply up North Hancock
  • Continuing steeply up as it nears the summit. Just before the top the trail levels out some and has limited views to the left
  • The view of South Hancock from North Hancock
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