Mt Chocorua

(3490)

Trail: Liberty

Date: Saturday 05/04/13

Attending:Gary Gilchrest, John and Ben Leviellee, Simone, & John Chicoine

Miles 8-mile back and fourth Time: 3 hours to summit. 5.5hrs hour total,

AMC huts, / shelters / camping site: The Liberty Hut. (sleeps 8).

Weather: 70, Not a cloud in New England, and almost no Black Flys

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To get there From Route 25, take Route 113 East to Tamworth. 113A. Turn right onto Fowler’s Mill Road, left onto Paugus Road.

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“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”

Albert Einstein

After 15 years of putting this peak off, (I don’t particularly know why.) Simone finally got her wish to hike Chocorua. (We’ll call it her early Mothers day present.) Everything good we’ve ever heard about this mountain was an obvious understatement by default. No words could ever aptly describe what a wonderful hike this is. The hike up from the south via the Liberty trail is a little bit of a challenge to find the trailhead, but well worth finding. Some of the roads are dirt, but not very bad traveling. The trail starts off along a long old cart road with very slight grade gradually increasing in degree ever so slightly until the trail begins to climb in earnest up the side of the hill. The trail doesn’t have any noticeable flat sections along its length but increases in degree continually until it reaches Jim Liberty cabin at 3.3 miles from the trailhead. The cabin provides an inviting rest spot to relax and catch your wind before this hike gets real serious for the final .5 miles. (It’s very tempting to stop the hike right here! Standing at the cabin looking up (Quite a neck stretcher.); that last 1/2 mile looks quite daunting. And it IS! No fooling around here. It’s time to pay your dues before your great reward. There’s quite a bit of scrambling before you reach the sign for the bail-out loop to pass the summit in inclement weather. The last 50 feet to the summit has some challenging hand scrambling, (One individual we met at that location bailed out at that point after hiking 3 hours only to stop 50 feet from the summit.) DON’T! If the weather is favorable the only real difficult rock scramble is only 6 feet and once you climb over that, the worst is over and it’s just slightly challenging. (Think of it like this. It wouldn’t be one of the most favorite hikes in the Whites if 99.9 of the people that try to summit, couldn’t.) (By the way,,, the guy that decided to bail out, eventually did summit after his friend went back after him and convinced his he could do it.

It’s always a great honor and joy to bring people up to the Whites for their first few times and watch the excitement, and the wonder of God’s Glory in living color, changer a person’s perspective on life and God’s living creation. Over the years God has blessed us with this unique experience quite a few times. We look forward to doing it more often. It is our great selfish hope that people experience more than the physical pleasures of the mountains, rivers, lakes and forests; but that the spirit of the one that created all that majesty, touch’s the soul of the person in such a way that it motivates them to committing themselves to living in that moment, and protecting this sacred place.

Look mom! A trail Goat! Yup, That’s a definite first. A girl brought her goat up the mountain with her. Unfortunately they couldn’t make it up that last rock scramble within 50 feet of the summit so they continued over the mountain.

 

 

“Nobody climbs mountains for scientific reasons. Science is used to raise money for the expeditions, but you really climb mountains for the hell of it.” Sir Edmund Hillary

Some climb for the beauty

Some climb for the exercise

Some climb for the challenge

Some even climb for the hell of it

I climb for the experience of sharing all of the above, with the people that make my heart happy.

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Happy Mothers day Simone! Love ya.

See you at the top. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –