A walk in the woods

Mt. Hancock, NEW HAMPSHIRE--Karen, Madison, Jim, Ken, and I took advantage of the beautiful weather (and my vacation) to tag South & Mt. Hancock this morning. Two interesting milestones were reached as Madison climbed her first 4k in the Whites and I climbed my 24th, marking the 1/2 way point. After breakfast at the Tilt'n Diner we picked Ken up in Lincoln outside his timeshare where he's spent the week with his wife on a vacation of their own. We pushed off the Kanc trailhead by 08:30 and lazily made our way up the trail stopping often for pictures and taking our time with the numerous water crossings. Both Jim and Ken noted how unusual it was for the stream levels to be this high at this time of the year. Just another reflection of how wet this summer has been. When we finally got to the Hancock Loop Trail we approached South Hancock first. The climb was pretty steep and I stayed directly on Ken's heels letting him do most of the work. We reached the summit of South Hancock shortly before 11:00. My first time there I took in the scenic outlook and snapped a couple of pictures while we waited for the rest of the crew. After everyone else had arrived and we had grabbed a sip and a snack we headed across the ridge to Mt. Hancock. With nearly all of the elevation out of the way the walk over was easy and the footing very good. We reached the summit around noon and took advantage of the sun and the views to eat lunch. Ken and Jim entertained us the entire time with their back and forth "arguing" over the names of the peaks visible from the summit. It would take the map back at the trailhead to confirm what neither of them had identified (convincingly)...they were the Oceola's. The descent down from Mt. Hancock was steep and had it's fair share of scree to negotiate. We ran across quite a few folks climbing up the opposite way. We arrived back at the cars around 2:30. Pretty easy day as 9.something mile hikes in the Whites go. It was great to spend it with family (Ken is like family) and be there to see my oldest daughter bag her first 4k.



Next Up: 24 Hours of Great Glen, Gorham, NEW HAMPSHIRE

[Photo cred: Madison, Chris, & Karen on Mt. Hancock, scenic lookout from South Hancock, Madison & Pop descending from Mt. Hancock]