I was invited to join a group of friends on a hike up the Hancocks via the Arrow Slide. There was an option to bushwhack over to the old fire tower area of the Northwest Hancock, the descend down the Cedar slide. This would be a test to see if I can handle the slide terrain as open exposure and severe steeps are less enjoyable to me. I figured I’d jump on this with an energetic group and hope to be able to keep up.
We met up and trip up north went by quick. We arrived at the hairpin turn on the Kancamagus highway. The lot was filling and we grabbed a couple spots on the side of the road. We readied and were on trail just before 0900. The weather was perfectly cool, hovering near 50 and expected to remain the rest of the day.
The first ~3.5 miles into the Hancocks from the Kanc are very mild and move quickly. The trail runs along the North Fork of the Hancock Branch river. There are plenty of sites to camp along the way and may be a great option in the future.
We covered those miles quickly and easily for a great warmup. Nearing the fork of the Hancock Loop Trail, you can catch glimpse of the Arrow Slide. It looks quite steep and aggressive in spots, but I keep my anxiety in check and we push on. We fork left toward the North Peak and shortly after the trail dips to a (dry) riverbed and then back up. I believe if we followed this riverbed to the left, it would have brought us to the base of the slide. Instead we pushed up a little further and realized we should have gone left. A quick check of GPS assures us the slide is a short distance left off trail. We bushwhack the ~100 ft and are dumped onto the slide a short way from the bottom.
Once on it, the slide looks steep and mostly loose rock and gravel with portions of open slab.
We gather and began to ascend the rubble. We try to spread out to avoid being caught by tumbling loose rock from those above. The lower section is larger rock but most of it is loose. It goes fairly quickly with a short rests to take in the quickly extending views behind us. We navigate to the left around the first ledge as it is fairly wet and moss covered. The next section is a larger ledge. Most chose to stay left again. Joel found a narrow dry route and friction climbed up. Some of the sections to the left seemed to be the safer choice, but it was still plenty steep and loose. I don’t think either way was any better than the other, just different. There was one final friction climb near the top. I struggled a bit here while the others made it look easy. They sat perched at the top of the slide admiring our accomplishment. I needed to get off the slide and continued up into the scrub. The first 20-30 feet of scrub was brutally thick. A few scrapes, but once through that, it thinned ‘slightly’. I rested and took a bite to eat just out of view of the slide.
Not too long the others finished snacks and broke into the scrub. We aimed straight toward the summit briefly, then angled right to pick up the trail. Once on trail, brushed off most of the debris and cruised to the summit. It was VERY crowded at the lookout. I elected to snap a couple photos and find a place back on trail a bit from the lookout. I grabbed a Clif bar and emptied my shoes of trial debris and re-lace.
We made our way over to South Hancock, which is an easy ~1.4 mile traverse. There is not much to see along the way. We did stop to admire a zealous Gray Jay. He fed from the guys hands. We covered the remainder of terrain in short order and reached an even more crowded south summit. I don’t think I have ever seen so many folks in a such a small summit area. There is one lookout to grab a photo and step back. Chatted briefly with father who had taken his son for his first back country overnight. Both were very excited and pleased with the result.
The others made the decision to descend from South Hancock and save the other slide for another trip. Descending from the South Peak we catch a view of the Arrow slide. It looks quite impressive from a distance, more so while on it. It does look more steep from afar than it feels on it. The descent down the trail is somewhat annoying. The trail is steep and has some gravel covered rocks which make your feet dance a bit. Luckily it is narrow and trees help with balance.
Once back to the fork of the Hancock Loop, the trail flattens and we set to cruise control for the ~3.5 miles out to the road.
In retrospect the slide was a tough challenge mentally. It was actually fun and watching the others make it look easy helped much. This was certainly the toughest terrain I’ve covered thus far.
