The Hancocks

Date: 8/13/2020

Hancock Elevation: 4,400’

South Hancock Elevation: 4,274’

Miles: 9.4 miles

Time: 6 hours, 8 minutes

Trails: Hancock Notch Trail to Cedar Brook Trail to Hancock Loop Trail and back to Cedar Brook

Between this hike and the last where I messed up my alarm clock, these blog posts aren’t a ~great~ look for me…So idk if a future potential employer ends up on here, just go read some other posts and know that usually I have my life more together than I do right now.

My dad and I stayed the night in Fairlee, VT, in preparation for our hike of the Hancocks. I had put together a packing list for him and brought everything I needed to Fairlee with me. In the morning we woke up and hit the road around 7am—this was my first hike not driving myself, and what a break that is! We wound through the backroads of New Hampshire until we were about twenty minutes away and I realized…I had forgotten my hiking boots the night before back in Hanover. Such a horrible, horrible feeling…I looked down at my Croc-covered feet and seriously asked myself if I could hike in them. My dad told me I could not, but I think if I really wanted to punish myself from some inexplicable reason then I could.

I wasn’t about to turn around and go back to Hanover so I hopped on my phone and looked for sporting goods stores near us. Luckily, the Hancocks are 15 minutes from downtown Lincoln, NH, and we were about to drive through; Lincoln is home to Loon Mountain Resort so it has way more going on than some of the other towns I drive through to my hikes. We had gotten an early start so that we could get back in time for me to do some work, but that also meant that we had to wait around until those sporting goods stores opened. The first store opened at 9am and it was around 8:30am, so we sat in the parking lot until we could be the very first customers of the day. Their selection was pretty limited and they didn’t have any boots in my size, but my dad quickly got fitted with some new boots (remember Emma’s escapade on Cannon where his old ones fell apart…). I told my dad that he would be fine hiking in his sneakers since Anne and Matti had hiked with me in theirs, but he really did need these boots.

The next store opened at 9:30am, so we waited in their parking lot a bit longer. Lahout’s Ski and Snowboard shop had a crazy selection, with practically their whole second floor dedicated to hiking boots. A very knowledgable employee helped me out and I wound up with a pair of La Sportiva trail runner-esque shoes. I opted for these since I already have my tall ankle boots, and these actually fit me so much better than my boots, so that’s a win.

Finally on our way for real, we got to the Hancock Overlook parking lot around 10:15am and managed to get the last parking spot. Maybe because we started late, we still didn’t end up seeing very many people the whole way. Here my dad realized that he had forgotten his t-shirt (it was not our day), but I had brought an extra oversized shirt for myself for after that ended up fitting him. After all our obstacles, we crossed the Kancamagus Highway to get to the actual trail and we were going at 10:26am.

The first 2.4 miles of this hike are incredibly flat. As in, I totally could have done this part in my Crocs. Just lots of roots and some water crossings, but very easy and very flat. For 1.7 miles (took us 47 minutes) you’re on the Hancock Notch Trail before the split to Cedar Brook Trail, which you’ll follow for .7 miles. Then you hit the Hancock Loop Trail where you have the choice to go up either Hancock to the left (.7 miles) or South Hancock to the right (.5 miles). Based on the research I’d done and my preference for a steep ascent over a steep descent, we headed up to Mount Hancock.

I've seen lots of people talk online about the vertical .8 mile from Galehead to South Twin, but not many people talk about the .7 climb up North Hancock. I think it deserves the same reputation…At the base of the .7 miles, we looked up and saw the peak of Mount Hancock through the trees—ohhhhhh shoot. I knew we were in for something. Looking back on All Trails now, the reviews say there is between 985-1200ft of elevation gain in just this section. Ouch. This part was super, super steep and also very washed out in parts, which makes footing feel pretty sketchy. Crocs nor my dad’s sneakers would have done well. Our new boots got us up just fine, but with lots of breaks to catch our breath and try to reset our heart rates. I think my dad may have been regretting his decision to come with me during this section.

New shoes!

Much needed water break after that climb

Around 12:55pm (took us about 50 minutes to climb the steep part) we reached Mount Hancock and headed out to the outlook for lunch. We were visited by some pretty aggressive gray jays, but decided against feeding them. A bit of a restricted view, but still very pretty.

From there it’s 1.4 miles to South Hancock (45ish minutes), where there’s another very pretty lookout ledge. We talked with two other hikers, one of whom just moved to the Amherst area :)

We just stopped for a bit and then headed down the .5 miles to the Hancock Loop junction. This was really no less steep or sure-footed than the trail up to Mount Hancock. I’m not sure it would make much of a difference which way you head up, but I guess I’d rather go up a washed-out trail for longer than down it—and my dad said we made the right decision with the direction we went if that adds anything too.

At 3:46pm we were back at the split between the Cedar Brook Trail and the Hancock Notch Trail; we covered the last 1.7 miles at a good pace and finished up at 4:34pm. With just a few blisters from my new shoes, we were off to the nearest ice cream place.