August 5, 2007
After church this morning, I rushed home. This afternoon, I would climb Mount Chocorua, my favorite mountain under 4000 feet. I've climbed it 3 times before, but I'll being going up a different route. My friend, Jason, met me at my house, and we headed off to the trailhead. The parking lot was full when we got to the trailhead at 1:45. This is a very popular mountain. Since we were getting such a late start, I was hoping the summit may not be crowded by the time we get there. Here's today's track from my Delorme GPS.
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Looking up to Chocorua from the parking lot.
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We started off on the Piper Trail.
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It's only 4.5 miles to the summit, but you know me. I've got to take the long way.
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The trail started off easy, but we knew it wouldn't last.
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Up some stairs
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We took a right off of Piper Trail
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We never did see Nickerson Ledge.
No matter, we will have an abundance of views today.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Below, Jason by a large rock.
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The next mile had very little elevation change, but that was about to change.
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We would have lots of scrambling today. Madison sort of blends into the picture below.
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Our first view of Chocorua from the trail.
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We were starting to get up there as we made our way up to Carter Ledge.
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Jason took this shot of me by this boulder.
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Lots of open ledges
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The view just got better . . .
. . . and better.
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Chocorua is getting a little closer.
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Looking up to Three Sisters. One of the 'sisters' is very small and can't be seen from a lot of angles.
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Walking between some blueberry bushes. I couldn't resist picking a few.
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Ahh! A smooth section.
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Followed by another steep, rocky section.
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Don't forget to turn around and enjoy the view.
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Nearing Middle Sister. The other two 'sisters' aren't named that I know of, so I will refer to them as North Sister and South Sister.
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Looking north. Mount Washington is way in the back toward the left.
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Mount Chocorua is definitely getting closer although this is a zoomed in shot.
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We barely noticed going over North Sister. Middle Sister had some type of old foundation from once upon a time. Watch your step though. There is no floor, and it drops down several feet on the inside.
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Maddie takes a break.
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Chocorua on the left and South Sister on the right.
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Looking back to Middle Sister
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It is getting closer. Right?
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We dropped down into the col and rejoined the Piper Trail.
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A look back at South Sister
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Jason in front of the wild blue yonder.
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One final push to the summit.
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Since this was my fourth time on the 3475' foot summit of Chocorua, I let Jason tag the summit first. The last group of hikers was just leaving, so we had the summit to ourselves. This summit offers perhaps the best 360° view in the Whites. Here's the view to the southeast. . .
. . . and the view to the north with Mount Washington dead center all the way in the back.
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It was Maddie's first time on the summit as well.
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Today's hike was a loop, so we started our descent on Liberty Trail.
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One last view
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~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Jason between a rock and a hard place.
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Jim Liberty Cabin with Chocorua in the background
(note the chains to hold the roof down)
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This cabin was built on the site of the Peak House, a 3 story hotel built back in 1891. It provided food and shelter to tourists and hikers. Although anchored to rock with steel cables, it was destroyed by a storm in 1915. The current cabin was built in 1932. Below is a postcard Jason found on the Internet of what the hotel looked like. The area was definitely more open then, probably from logging.
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Jason, Maddie, and I then got on the Hammond Trail. We thought briefly we might take a side trip to the summit of Bald Mountain, but it was getting dark. We had a fairly gently descent down Weetamoo Trail before reaching the Piper Trail which we took back to the parking lot. The parking lot which was full earlier was nearly empty. Besides my car, there was only one other vehicle. What a great day! Mount Chocorua is truly one of the best hikes in the Whites!!
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