Sunday, January 19, 2014

Mount Kancamagus: 1/19/2014

Mileage: 6.60 miles
Elevation gain: 1960 feet
Trails used: Livermore Trail, bushwhack.

Highlight(s): open woods bushwhack, canister on the summit of Mount Kancamagus.


Kris asked me if I wanted to join him for a hike, a day after Brian and I did the hike for South Baldface and Sable Mountain, so I said yes without hesitation. Kris wanted something with not too much distance and decent elevation so since he needed Mount Kancamagus, that was what we agreed upon. Driving north in light snow only hinted at what the days weather would be like. Snow squalls and low visibility would be the norm for today. 

Mount Kancamagus is located in Livermore, New Hampshire. It is part of the Sandwich Range, which extends from Mount Chocorua to Sandwich Mountain. There are no trails that go to the wooded,view-less summit of Mount Kancamagus so it requires a bushwhack to reach its high point.


Mount Kancamagus is on the New Hampshire One Hundred Highest List, the New Hampshire Two Hundred Highest List, and the New Hampshire 3K List.


The Livermore Trailhead now starts at this logging road/landing off of the Kancamagus Highway and reconnects with the Livermore Trail. It was snowing very lightly up to this point.


There was a faint snowshoe track left over from the previous days hikers but a majority of the day was spent snowshoeing through fresh powder.


 Kris up ahead breaking trail, which I let him do gladly. I was still sore from the previous days hike/bushwhack to South Baldface and Sable Mountain.


 This part of the Livermore Trail is fairly steep and requires a bit of side hilling, which is hard to do in snowshoes. It also goes right through a drainage into Livermore Pass.


 We started the bushwhack right around the high point of Livermore Pass. The snow came down a bit more as we headed to the summit of Mount Kancamagus.


 Nice open woods for a majority of the hike up the ridge to the summit and plenty of snow.


 On the plateau heading to the summit of Mount Kancamagus (elevation: 3763 feet). On the summit itself, there are no views to be had except for all the snow laden trees.


The summit canister for Mount Kancamagus.


The logging road on the hike out. The snow was coming down harder at this point so we were definitely glad to be back at the car so we could get warm.


The day overall was fun, except for the hike down from the summit.  I managed to drift a bit off our tracks we took going up and ended up in a nice snowy fir blow-down area. After that, we ended up in an open glades-like gully/drainage that brought us back down to the trail. I managed to find another moose antler coming off the summit which brings the total of moose shed's found this year so far to 5.

While the snow is a pain to hike/bushwhack in, it was fun hiking with Kris and he managed to get an easy bushwhack peak done so all is good. The winter will end and then the easier hiking will begin.

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