The lovely Hancocks, and we weren't alone this time! I had my super good friend from Flagstaff, Kayla, come visit with her boyfriend Ross. We had a late night Friday so we didn't get on the trail till eleven or noon. And we had to stop by Bagel's Plus for our new tradition of yummy bagels from Barbara. The trail head was located on the Kanc so that was nice to show Kayla and Ross the famous highway. As we were layering on the rain gear and our boots we met Ray, a 77 year old man who was a little quirky. He had biked all the way from Massachusetts and was training to participate in the Mt. Washington bike race (which he'd already completed 13 times before). He was quite a character and of course Tony got stuck in conversation with him. But once we were able to pull Mr. Day away we started the hike.
It was a very gradual climb for most of the hike which made Tony and I worried because we knew at some point we'd have to start climbing somewhere. And eventually (3.6 miles in) we did start the climb. We decided to take the Hancock loop clockwise which meant we would summit North Hancock first. It was .7 miles and very steep. Because we had other people with us I was trying to not get into my zombie state, but I definitely have found out that I'm a slow uphill hiker. I was entertained by sweet stories of Korea (where Kayla and Ross taught English for two years), Africa (where Ross is from and Kayla is going to visit) and Ross's medieval looking poncho/red dress. Sorry Ross but it's true, it was quite funny on you!
It took us about 45 minutes to reach the summit and once there we wanted to enjoy our bagels but it was chilly and there was no view because of fog so we quickly scarfed down our food and carried on. To the South summit there wasn't much climbing or descending, which I was quite content with :). After we got some fun pictures at the cairn (summit marker) we headed on the descent back towards the car. It was fairly steep at parts but we could stay on our feet the entire time. We enjoyed the last few bites of our gummy bears and discussed what we'd have for dinner. Ross handily had a menu in his pocket for the Two Black Dogs bar we went to the night before so we spent time on the hike and in the car planning our dinner.
The hike was 9.8 miles and an elevation gain of 2700' which put book time at about 6 hours and 30 minutes. But it took us 4 hours and 40 minutes, we're getting faster! It was the easiest hike we had done so far but still a good time with our company.
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