After a very wet, viewless hike up Garfield last week, the mild, sunny skies were much appreciated for a hike up North and South Hancock (4,420', 4,319') in the Pemigewasset Wilderness. The 9 mile hike entails about 2,600 ft of elevation gain. The long, fairly easy hike in along the Hancock Notch and Cedar Brook trails, does not gain much elevation. The Hancock Loop trail does begin to climb at a more serious rate, but it isn't until the bottom end of the loop that climbing get serious in a hurry. Going left takes one very steeply upward to the north peak, while going right goes up steeply to the south peak. Neither is a lot of fun to descend. We went clockwise around the loop, as it seems most hikers do, simply because descending from the south peak at least seems less difficult than from the north peak.
Below, at the north peak, we have Katherine, Steve, Doug, Larry, Marie, and Pam (pic by Dick).
Our hike wasn't but a few days after the peaks saw a half foot of snow! Below is a shot of some snow in the woods off the trail between peaks, and this on May 27!