Chocorua II: Electric Boogaloo

Yesterday, Lon and I took advantage of the perfect weather to drive up north and once again hike Mt. Chocorua. It’s not an exceptionally tall mountain, but it’s a great hike and has excellent 360 degree views from the bald top. It’s also extremely picturesque due to the lake sitting down in front of it that you must cross on the way to the trailhead. We went last went up Chocorua in April as one of our intro hikes when there was still snow and ice on the trail. I was looking forward to getting up to the top of this mountain again as well as seeing what sort of difference a season of hiking would make.

As usual, we got going out of Nashua around 6am on Sunday. The temperature was in the 30s and I was feeling pretty cold in the car, but I knew it wouldn’t be a problem once we started moving up the trail. After a nice long drive up 93 and then across state routes to the national forest, we got to the trailhead somewhere around 8:45am. The parking lot was mostly empty but that probably wouldn’t last between the nice fall weather and the long Columbus Day weekend a lot of people were taking. By now the day was shaping up to be great. The skies were clear and deep blue and there was only the lightest breeze blowing. It was still pretty cool, though. I put on a warmer layer, grabber the poles, and off we went down the Liberty trail at a quick pace.

After maybe 20 minutes, we stopped to stretch and shed outer layers. We then cruised for at least the next fourty minutes, stopping only now and then for a few minutes to break. This first part of the trail is a pretty straightforward climb at a moderate pace. I noticed several places we stopped for much longer on the April hike. I was feeling pretty good with our speed compared to that trip. Along the way, we also had to keep reminding ourselves to look up every now and then at the brilliant fall colors in the trees. This was prime leaf peeping weather in the Whites. Ninety minutes in to the hike, we reached the Jim Liberty Cabin at a distance of 3.4 miles from the parking lot. We were making excellent time. This is also where you get your first excellent views of the mountain’s rocky summit. It’s quite a sight.

We hung around the cabin for 15 minutes or so to relax and take in the views. Then it was off to the summit. This last part is much more steep and rocky than the initial several miles. There’s a couple scrambles on some rock ledges, including one place where there’s a pole sticking out of the side for help. The last time we went through here, it was wet and I was rather inexperienced, so negotiating the legdes was a little tough. This time I’d been over the Tripyramids so it was much simpler - instead of scooting up and grabbing the rocks and pole, I just stood and walked up the face. I started dragging a bit towards the top, but we probably covered this last half mile in under 30 minutes.

Then we were at the summit along with at least 20 other people who had either come up the Liberty trail or one of the several other trails appproaching the mountain. Unlike Monadnock (NH’s other extremely popular mountain), the crowds up here were pretty quiet. Up top, we just took it easy and enjoyed the clear views. While it wasn’t quite cloudless, we could easily see Washington and other northern peaks, Franconia Ridge, and the Tripyramids and Osceola, not to mention the tons of other peaks. I’m sure we could see into Vermont and Maine but I don’t recognize any of those mountains so I didn’t know what we were looking at. With the views, warmer temperature, and early hour, we probably sat up top for an hour.

Finally it was time to get down off the summit and head for the car. We went pretty quickly the whole way down, only going slowly near the top because of the rocks and never stopping for longer than it took to tie a shoe. Because it was still so early, we passed a ton of people who were on the way up. I bet it was pretty crowded up there after noon. We got back to the car sometime around 1:45 and sure enough, it was packed with cars way down the road. We also ran into a forest ranger who was trying to figure out who left their dog tied up on its leash in the parking lot.

Dinner was at the Bad Moose Cafe in Moultonborough, NH. The drive home was pretty slow due to all the leaf peeper traffic on the roads, so I ended up taking back roads from Concord to Nashua. I got home sometime around 6:30, about 13 hours after I left. Overall, it was another absolutely perfect day for a hike and a great mountain to do it on. Surprisingly, I have no leg soreness now on the day after. It’s pretty nice to be in shape for this stuff. On a side note, this hike puts me over 100 miles on the year.