Mt Hancock and South Hancock
date: 30 Aug 2008
Trails: Hancock Notch, Cedar Brook, Hancock Loop (south, ridge, north)
Total Distance: 10 miles
Start Time: 0815
End Time: 1544
Weather: Overcast, mid 70's F
Highlights: View from South Summit outlook spot, lesson leaned on bushwhacking around water crossings and the value of a compass
My son and I bagged Mt Hancock and South Hancock on Saturday the 30th. We took our traditional Labor Day trip to Lafayette campground and decided to get the Hancock summits in before any rain or t-storms that were predicted as possible came through.
After a good (as always) and hearty breakfast at Polly's (I love it when they have the pumpkin whole wheat pancakes available) and another assessment of the sky we decided to go for it.
Arriving at the trail head we geared up and hit the trail just about 0815. The sky was still overcast, mist and fogs filled the valleys but there did appear promising breaks in the gloom and a feeling in the air that the day's weather would not be as bad as it looked at the moment.
An easy and pleasant 1.7 miles up the Hancock Notch trail whent quickly. We passed a family (perhaps two camping together) encamped just off the trail before Cedar Brook Trail started. They looked like they were having fun.
The trek up Cedar Brook trail started off fine but I made the mistake of trying to follow 'the well worn path' mentioned in the Guide on the near side of the river to avoid the first couple of big crossings. My son's feet are growing like weeds and even the boots I bought him late last year and fit him fine for our Mt Washington hike a couple months ago, were to tight and in a rush the boots I ended up getting him (less expensive sneaker/hikers type things) have essentially no water proofing. But boy did we get turned around. Some how we made it back to what looked like the correct trail but what I thought was the wrong side of the river. But checking my compass and map it seemed we were indeed on the correct track and headed in the correct direction. I had my handheld GPS with me because I like to capture the summit waypoints to record my 4K bags but somehow I still don't trust the GPS to give me a definite confirmation on direction and path. I guess I still see it as something for fun not something for serious decisions. That's not fair really just bias I should just do more frequent verification to build my confidence, although of course you always want a back up system that doesn't require batteries or signals from orbit I think. Funny thing is when I put the compass in the pack I mentioned to my son that I've never yet had to use it since I started doing all this hiking as an adult.
We got over all the crossings just fine. When I read the descriptions of the north and south sections of the Hancock Loop trail it seemed the south approach would be much steeper and longer (on the steep not overall) than the north approach. So thinking it would be more dangerous to descend on the south side if we got caught in some rain and the trail got wet we got ourselves up the south link and bagged the South Hancock Summit first about 1115.
We got some great views even with the gathering clouds, the sky had almost cleared earlier, the effect was - sublime. We sat down to eat and enjoyed the view for at least 20 minutes.
The ridge link was again pleasant and we got a few good peeks towards the Sandwich range and Osceolas along the way.
By the time we reached the north summit of Hancock we were completely socked in with absolutely no view. So we didn't linger there and headed down the north link of the Loop trail.
Clearly the description in the Guide was technical accurate but vague enough on how long the steeps portions were, and didn't include any mention of the amount of loose rock covering the well placed 'steps' and other 'good footing' provided by the trail work. We probably would've been better off with the more traditional (I take it based on all the other people we met that were going the other way) North to South trek.
But we made it all the way back down to the intersection of Cedar Brook and Hancock Notch Trail intersections before we even felt a few sprinkles so no harm no foul.
We usually do just about book time if not a little quicker, this time we were about an hour long, but I guess we lost more time than I thought when we got turned around trying to avoid those water crossings (which we handled just fine on the way back) and we were pretty slow going down the North link side of the loop trail.
But overall another great hike with my son and at least I got a couple of 4k's in this year.
pix:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thinfea/sets/72157607041608164/
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