MOUNT CHOCORUA

The 7 of us (me, Ricardo, Russell, Jim and three new GO’ers Topher, Marc, and Peter) met up at the Piper Trailhead parking lot behind the Davis Campground at around 8:15am and were on our way by 8:40am. I thought the parking might have been difficult (it has been everywhere else this summer!) but the lot was mostly open. We could have met up at least an hour later and given the Boston folks a bit more sleep in time. Oops. Anyway, the weather was great, comfortably cool the whole day which helped offset the sweating climbing that was to come. No sun, but clear views and no wind. Off we went. The Piper Trail was initially fairly wide and ascended at a comfortable moderate grade. We reached the junction with the Nickerson Ledge Trail and once on this trail the climbing began in earnest. One of the lovely aspects of this loop is although there’s plenty of climbing and ledges before you get to the ridge, there are continual stretches of flat and not very rocky sections where the trail levels out and you can catch your breath. As we climbed up we saw only 3 women coming down and passed 1 rather handsome gentleman, and oh yeah, he might have been with his female partner.  :)

Nickerson led to the Carter Ledge Trail, which led to the Middle Sister Trail. We ruggedly pushed onward to the first summit, Third Sister, where we took a short break at the rock remains of the old fire tower foundation. This is when the epic 360 views kicked in and continued past the Middle Sister summit all the way up to the Chocorua and down from there. The loop really is one of the prettiest, varied and well maintained of the trails in the Whites. It was truly beautiful every direction you looked and Marc (as a NH native) was quite adept at identifying the landscape and other peaks. Of course the legend of Chief Chocorua was shared among our stalwart hiking team which as it turns out doesn’t quite jive with what’s on the NH plaque (see pix) but that’s kind of the way with legends, isn’t it? 

Anyhoo, we pressed on.  We were up on the open summit of the third "sister" in only another 10 or so minutes.  After that we descended and reached the trail junction with the Champney Falls Trail, and then headed to the summit of Mt. Chocorua (3475'). After emerging from the woods, we just had the final open, rocky summit to ascend. Moments after I was wondering out loud where “all the people were”, we reached the summit and found them all. There were a whole lot of adorable small dogs we had to greet (and some adorable young men attached to them) and then we broke for lunch, just ten minutes shy of noon. Most of the other folks cleared out and we had the summit to ourselves.  I brought Chocolate Chip cookies to share for desert (because we had newbies) and Jim of course brought like 6 different food options to share such as cheese wrapped with salami, cashews, clementines, raw figs, you get the picture. I swear that boy was a bubbe or something in a previous life.  

After a decent lunch break, we started back down by 1:30PM.  We re-traced our steps off of the summit back to woods and this time turning onto the Liberty/Piper Trail. As we descended this trail, we once again encountered open ledges. There were great views back towards the summit and over to the ridgeline that we had ascended. It was shortly after the ledges that the trail descended back into the woods and came across the Liberty cabin (see pix), which stands, on the location of the Chocorua Peak house hotel which was opened in 1892 and blown off the mountain in 1915 (see more pix). Safe to say that Granite Staters have clearly always been super impressive and a little bit crazy?

The rest of the trail back was a pretty and modest descent (even a few switchbacks!) through the woods and though we stopped for another break at the last mile to snack again (Marc brought awesome chocolate balls to share) we reached the trailhead parking lot by 2:45PM.

Peter had to head off, but the rest of us landed at Hobbs Tavern & Brewing Company in Ossipee for a nosh and brew and to relive our great day of hiking. And to discuss drag of course. All told, fantastic day!  Lots of laughs and great conversation and camaraderie among the gang.  A big welcome to Marc, Peter and Topher on their first GO hikes, we hope to see them on many more!

Join in for this great 9.5 mile loop hike, which will encompass the steep Carter Ledges, the Three Sisters and the summit of Mount Chocorua.  While not a 4000-footer, Mount Chocorua has the feel of one.  It is very rugged and has excellent 360-degree views of the surrounding lakes, mountains, and forests.  Mount Chocorua's distinctive, bare summit can be seen from almost every direction and can be identified from many points throughout central New Hampshire and western Maine.

The hike will start at the Piper Trailhead then on to the Nickerson Ledge Trail, Carter Ledge Trail to the Middle Sister trail which will take us over the Three Sisters (subpeaks) back to the Piper trail and onward to the summit.  Our decent Our descent will be via the Liberty trail onto Hammond to the Weetamoo then back onto Piper. There are lots of spectacular views along this route! To quote one website: “Mt. Chocorua looks like the summit of a peak you may find in the Colorado Rockies!”

Difficulty Level: Moderate to Strenuous

Estimated Elevation Gain: 2900 feet

Estimated Round Trip Distance: 9.5 miles

Estimated Duration (with lunch): 7.5 hours

• If you are uncomfortable with heights and some steep landscape, this may not be the hike for you.
• Rain or harsh weather may postpone to another date or cancel, as appropriate.
• Carpooling:  Contact other participants or the trip leader to arrange for a rideshare to the trailhead.
• Afterwards:  If there is sufficient interest, we will have drinks and/or dinner in the area.

Hiking Essentials: Appropriate hiking boots with good traction are a must.See the following link for other recommendations:

https://www.gayoutdoors.org/page.cfm?typeofsite=storydetail&id=992&storyset=yes

Some fun historical references:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Chocorua