Kevin Judy and Emma
Well-known member
Chocorua 3500'
Piper/Weetamoo/Hammond/Liberty/Middle Sister/Carter Ledge/Nickerson Ledge
8.9 Miles 2800'
Kevin, Judy and Emma
We like to return to places we've previously enjoyed and try to cover some new ground. On this trip to Chocorua Jude wanted to explore the Weetamoo/Hammond Trails as a route to the summit. I had been up it once about 30 years ago, and down it once about ten years ago, so really it felt like new ground to me. My plan was to hike the Carter and Nickerson Ledges to scout for the exceptional patches of Rhodora I had photographed at the end of May last year, so it was planned we would make a loop over Chocorua and the Sisters and descend by the ledges if time, weather and fatigue levels would allow.
View north as we descend the summit
We were quickly at the junction to the Weetamoo Trail and Emma took several dips at the various crossings along the Chocorua River. Weetamoo Trail rises nicely along a gentle grade with an excellent wide, smooth path up to the enormous namesake glacial erratic, Weetamoo Rock. Just beyond here we connect with the Hammond Trail and turn northwest to the junction with the Liberty Trail, which wound through the spruce over steeper terrain to the Jim Liberty Cabin which was another objective of the trip as Jude had never visited before. From there the trail winds from south to north around the west side of the summit cone across relatively smooth granite ledges becoming increasingly steep as we climb. Eventually the trail comes to a junction just below the summit where it becomes a short scramble to the top.
View west to Passaconaway and neighbors
Cloud cover was about 90% and there was a cool breeze at the top. We ducked down out of the wind and had a good lunch. When the sun did manage to peek out it was quite warm. On the way up we had seen a moose just below the cabin and I found evidence of some budding on the Rhodora, there were even some open, wind-battered blossoms. It seemed to me that things were on schedule to be in full bloom in about 2 weeks, which would match last year. It also seemed to me that a lot of the Rhodora seemed winter damaged and was not yet recovered. I could be wrong, but it reminded me of winter-kill on my Rhododendrons at home.
Summit Cone
After lunch and the precarious scramble down from the summit cone we stopped at the junction of the Piper trail, just north of the summit. Here we reassessed and decided to head over the Sisters and down the route we had originally planned. We stopped again at the vacant summit of Middle Sister and had 2nd lunch and soaked in the views in peace and solitude. We could see lots of showers to our north and most everything beyond about 5-6 miles was obscured by clouds. To the west we could see Passaconaway and Whiteface along with the Tripyramids, to the north we could see Carrigain Notch, but Carrigain was in the clouds, and to the east we could see the Moats and Kearsarge North.
Rhodora Rhododendron canadense
This route down is pretty steep with a lot of scrambling and if it were wet could be a little dangerous, so I wouldn't recommend it in bad weather, but otherwise it was a fine way to descend and got us down rather quickly. Along the way I was disappointed to see that a lot of the Rhodora seemed to be winter-killed, but maybe I'm wrong and it will come back. I'll be returning in a couple of weeks to see. It was amazing to see it in so many different stages from full bloom to just buds to nothing depending on the spot and amount of sunlight reaching it.
Painted Trillium Trillium undulatum
Finally below the ledges and back in the woods we came across quite a bit of Painted Trillium in different stages of awakening and sometimes in huge patches of dozens of flowers. The further down we got we came across the occasional Pink Lady's Slipper mostly just opening or just about to. It was a great hike on a beautiful spring day. Jude and Emma both did well and had excellent days. The sun never beat down on us, the sky never rained, the wind kept the bugs down, we covered new ground, we visited an old friend. Can't ask for much more than that!
Complete set of pics here:
KDT
