Mount Chocorua 3500’

Champney Falls Trail/Champney Falls & Pitcher Falls/ Champney Falls Cut-off/Middle Sister Trail/Piper Trail/Brook Trail/West Side Trail

8 +/- miles
2500’ Elevation gain

Kevin, Judy, Wicket & Riley

We hiked Mount Chocorua from the north using the Champney Falls Trail. We last used this trail on August 18th 1997, our second anniversary.

We were camped then at Jigger Johnson and walked from the campground to the trailhead adding some significant distance to what was essentially the first "mountain" we climbed together. Things went well that day, but we were beat the next day. In retrospect the added mileage for us as rookies was a mistake.

This trip went much smoother. We had our Niece & Nephew's dog Riley along with us. She has only hiked a couple of mountains in her 8 years, but she does very well on the trail with us, and was still chasing chipmunks all the way back to the parking lot. She slept like a rock that night.

There were only a few cars in the parking lot and we only saw a couple dozen people all day spread out over the miles. We started out and made good time up to the falls. The falls were barely running despite the rain a day or two before.

We had a quick stop there and started out again. As the book says, it is a mostly moderate hike, and before too long we found ourselves at the junction with the Champney Falls Cut-off. From here we headed up to Middle Sister.

In the short 3/10ths of a mile to the summit of Middle Sister along the Champney Falls Cut-off the terrain turns from a dirt trail mostly lined with thousands of trees to open ledges and a rocky trail lined with shrubs of Low-bush Blueberry and Rhodora.

We apparently timed our visit just right as the Rhodora was in full bloom and many sections of trail across The Sisters and up to Chocorua were reminiscent of walking along garden paths in well tended parks, all the more enjoyable and amazing for it was Mother Nature's park we were walking through.

We had a good lunch on Middle Sister before making our way towards the summit cone of Mount Chocorua. Middle Sister Trail leads you down into a gully between Middle and the southern sister, then back up over the southern sister before descending again to the junction of Champney Falls, Middle Sister and Piper Trails.

From there we followed the Piper Trail the rest of the way to the summit. From the junction the Piper soon begins to wind its way across open ledges, the bedrock of the mountain, burned over and eroded down to the bare rock of what was once a treed summit.

We were soon clamoring up the last steep ledge to the summit. There was an excellent breeze that repelled the biting flies and kept the heat of the sun from driving us back down into the woods. The dogs seemed truly ecstatic to have reached the summit.

Riley seemed especially psyched to be up there and she took long gazes from the ledges out to the mountains and landscape beyond. The wind played with her ears so that often they were standing straight up. If a dog can look happy, then she was looking VERY happy!

We stayed a good while on the summit with only a handful of people, enjoying the views, sunshine and the breeze. All good things come to an end and we soon shouldered our packs and began the descent via the Brook Trail.

We chose this way to use the easier for hot, tired dogs West Side Trail to return to the Champney Falls Trail to descend the mountain. We saw no one on this trail, but we saw the most people we'd seen all day ascending the Champney Falls Trail as we were leaving.

The trail back to the trailhead was uneventful, though now with the heat of day the biting flies were a nuisance, but small price to pay for a thoroughly enjoyable day with a lot of walking above treeline. Thank you once again Chief Chocorua for granting us passage...