Hancock and South Hancock

August 13, 2023

After an overnight with the cub scouts, I decided to head up to the mountains to check off some peaks. Thought the Hancocks would be good since they aren’t as far north as some of the others still on the list. I parked at the hairpin turn on the Kancamagus Highway (the Kanc) and the trail is right across the street. I started off on the Hancock Notch Trail for almost 2 miles. Much of this was pretty flat. I had already decided to go with trail runners and my hydration vest to try to get done quickly, so the flat terrain for the first couple miles was nice, as I was able to run a good portion of this. This trail keeps going, but I took a left on to Cedar Brook Trail for a little less than a mile. This was a pretty easy going trail as well. Then I made a right on to the Hancock Loop trail, and this is where I started gaining elevation. It definitely slowed me down as I went from running to hiking up this steep trail. When I got to the point where the trail splits, I decided to go clockwise and go to Mt. Hancock first. It’s quite the climb getting up to Hancock and I moved pretty slowly up that mountain. It was about 4 miles up to Hancock and took about 2 hours. Not setting any records, but did pretty well getting up there.

From there, I continued along the Hancock Loop trail to come across Middle Hancock (doesn’t count as official 4000 footer) and then South Hancock. Then it’s just continuing along that trail back to the junction and head back towards Cedar Brook Trail to get back. Other than the incline to Hancock and the steep decline from South Hancock, I was really able to run a good portion of this hike. It is just an out and back trail with a loop to the peaks, so the trip back was very familiar. Surprisingly, I did not see a ton of people out there. It was a little wet and muddy from some recent rain, but wasn’t that bad.

There wasn’t much to this one. It was about a 9.5 mile roundtrip trek, and took me just under 4 hours. About 3 hours and 20 minutes of moving time as I stopped at the peaks to take some pictures and fuel up with some food. I enjoyed this one very much and was happy with how it went. This makes 34 peaks, and I’m excited to be getting closer to having done all of them. Looking forward to getting back up here for more. I can only imagine how much I would be in the mountains if I lived closer. One day…