06 June 2015: Mount Chocorua

Mount Chocourua is one of those peaks that people just love, even though it is just as accessible as the 4000 footers, it provides a great number of trails to pursue and has phenomenal 360 degree views. Today I went with my friend who I haven't come up with a I’ll call MeowMerp. MeowMerp and I are friends since college – and she is great to spend time with out on the trail. Yes, that is be here in the friend zone.


History: There is no definite story behind the name of Mount Chocorua, but there is an ongoing legend about a native local to that area who got on friendly terms with early settlers in the area. The story goes that his n was with a local family and died under their watch, so as revenge Chocorua killed the women and children of the family while the patriarch was away. Upon discovering this, the man pursued Chocorua up this peak, and after being shot, Chocorua laid some kind of curse on the homes, crops and animals of the settlers. There are a few variants of the story but this one seemed the best one to perpetuate.


Peak Elevation: 3480 ft.
Elevation Gain: 2563 ft
Trail: Liberty Trail, Piper trail
Length: 7.6 mi.
Time on Trail : 1130ish
Time off Trail: 1800ish


Unfortunately MeowMerp isn’t a fan of getting up at the asscrack of dawn to get on trail early. I conceded a late start, and we arrived at the trailhead, which is accessible by a dirt road that isn’t friendly to sedans. As we had a late start we didn’t have the best parking options of this full lot which has 2 trailheads. The ascent wasn’t too bad, but I still was not in the best of shape. MeowMerp and I would be heading out to explore Utah a month from this hike, so this helped us bond some before we spent 7 or 8 days together, nonstop. The liberty trail is the easiest ascent this peak has to offer, and that was fine by me. On the way Up we checked out the Liberty Cabin and used the shade to hydrate before moving onward.
The section that gave us the most issues was the upper ledges as we completed the ascent, but with some patience we made it up just fine. The views were as amazing as you have heard this is one of the best views in NH, hands down. The descent was OK once we got past the aforementioned ledges. We had spent a good deal of time up top taking in the views so book time was not on my mind, and im not even mad at the time taken on this hike. I’d love to hik from the otherside one day, maybe when I grab another peak nearby?


Photos:

Mt Chocorua 06Jun15

Note that this is a backdated entry made in 2017.