Hancock Notch Backpacking Overnight

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Backpacked Mt. Hancock in , , 44.052557,-71.405296. Tempurature (min/avg/max): // Distance: 12mi


Journal

Pauline and I had planned to do a 3 day trip, West along the Hancock Notch Tr, North along the Cedar Brook Tr, East on Wilderness, then south on Carrigan Notch Tr. But ended up doing an overnight on the Hancock Notch Tr. There was just too much water and too many stream crossings. We not only had to cross streams and rivers, but also had to walk through, or try to walk along side of them. The scenery was fantastic.

There were a lot of stealth spots along the first part of the trail. Our first river crossing we decided AFTER to convert our pants to shorts. The river was a lot deeper then we though. Another very large river crossing a ways after, was as deep, much wider and fast moving.

We made it to about the Hancock Notch. We were going up a water fall, and then hit yet another trail turned deep stream. That was when we had enough and decided to turn around and go back to a really nice stealth spot just off a stream. It even had a fire pit. Pauline almost got a fire going using a sparker gadget she has.

Dinner was southwestern stle beef nachos and bigelow lemon tea. It wasn't bad, but Pauline really didn't like it. Desert was Creme Brulee (YUM YUM YUM ... yes, that was three yums). Breakfast was hot chocolate, scrabled eggs and egg drop soup.

Slept well, wasn't cold, got very stuffed up, but alergies were minimal for the trip. We even got to zip our sleeping bags together again. Really need to get straps for the sleeping pads to keep them together.

Original plan:

Day 1 (about 8-9 miles): Hike and stealth camp when we enter the green area of cedar brook trail, probably where you see a stream at the 2500’ mark.

Day 2 (8-8.5 miles): camp at the intersection of Stillwater Junction. There were a few sites there, or continue south along the carringain notch trail to find something.

Day 3 (7-8 miles) + 1.5 on road: we hike out and back to the car. We might consider going over Mt Carrigain for a 4000 footer, but can decide as a group if we feel up to it.

Brought: Duplex tent, NeoAir XTherm Sleeping Pad, MSR Microrocket, 20F Feathered Friends sleeping bag. MSR Isopro gas used: 35g. Boiled water for supper, tea, hot chocolate, and eggs. About 6 cups.

Wish I brought: Wished Pauline had trail runners