Chocorua is one of those mountains that I return to year after year for various reasons. For one thing, I think it has the best trails and greatest views of all of the "smaller" mountains that I have visited. Another prime reason that I visit it so often, and the reason for this trip is that it is the closest "real" mountain when it comes to my drive time. If I hustle and get up early enough I can drive, hike, drive again and be home by early afternoon. Sometimes that's what I'm looking for. It certainly is why it was chosen this time as Bob had a schedule that we had to keep.

      I got up early, left the house at 4:45 and picked Bob up at 5:00am. That put us at the trailhead just after 6:00! As is often necessary this time of year I parked about a quarter mile from the parking lot as the last section of the road is not plowed and I'd rather walk an extra half mile than risk getting stuck!

      We got dressed and geared up and I made the risky decision to not carry my snowshoes with me. There was only an inch or so of snow at this elevation and most of these trails are pretty commonly traveled so I figured....ok I hoped....I would be ok. We walked the road to the official trailhead and then, due to the time constraints and the fact that it looked like one person had made tracks up Liberty Trail and no one had gone up Brook, we made the decision to just use Liberty for both our ascent and descent.

      I got a quick picture of Bob as he headed up the trail and we were on our way. This trail was once a carriage road that charged a toll for it's use. What that means today is that it's pretty easy going. No steep grades at all and for that matter for the first mile the incline is so small as to be barely noticeable.

      If you're interested in a bit more of the details, here they are. The Liberty trail was originally built by a local resident by the name of Jim Liberty in 1887. Eventually this trail was improved by other's who actually charged a toll to use it! I'd like to see someone try that today! A few years later in 1892 the trail was improved and made into a bridle path. Quite often when I hike this area I choose to use the Brook Trail for the ascent. That trail was actually built by the locals so that there would be a way up the mountain without paying the toll! Today, the Liberty trail and the cabin which you'll see a little later, are what's left to remember Jim Liberty.

      After about an hour or so of me leading the way, keeping my eyes on the one set of tracks up the trail even though they were clearly not today's tracks, I suddenly noticed something. I was looking at unbroken snow! Hmmm, I guess whoever came up this way yesterday chose to turn back! Or he was abducted by aliens, because there was no longer any trace of him! Anyway, it may have only been 3 or 4 inches of crusty snow but it was enough that I welcomed Bob's offer to lead for a bit. Of course very shortly after he took the lead we intersected the Hammond Trail, which had been well broken out! Just my luck!

      Now a question for all you knowledgeable outdoor enthusiasts. As we hiked along I kept noticing a set of tracks that wound there way along the trail. On to the trail, off into the woods, back along the trail. I can take a good guess but can any of you actually identify these tracks? IF you can, please send me some e-mail and let me know!

      Not too long after joining the Hammond Trail we got our first glimpse of the summit off through the trees. Then, not too far again, we came upon the Jim Liberty Cabin, named after the original builder of the trail we were hiking on. At one time there was actually a mountain hotel here. If you'd like to see what it looked like way back then.....here's a picture of the hotel that once set on the same spot. From the hotel to the summit, if you look closely you can still see evidence of the old trail. That's mainly due to the fact that to assist the "climbers" of the day, they actually blasted some areas and provided hand rails for the more tricky sections! My, how time's change! Again, I'd like to see someone attempt that today!

      Eventually we passed the sign pointing the way to avoid the summit in bad weather. As we had seen from looking over at Mounts Passaconaway and Whiteface, their summits were in the clouds. We were just hoping that Chocorua was low enough that it's summit would still be out in the open by the time we got there.

      From there on the climb had some interesting moments. At one point I stopped and let Bob get far enough ahead that I could get this great shot of him crossing a little snow field. From there on we were frequently on the trail and then we'd lose it again. For what ever reason there are no cairns up here, so in summer you just follow the paint blazes on the rocks. That's a bit tough to do with a couple of feet of snow on the ground.

      There was one stretch where we followed someone's older tracks only to see that they too turned back down to re-find the real trail. What that meant was for a while I was in snow up to my thighs! If it hadn't been so steep snowshoes may have helped but, being that I didn't have them with me there was no point even thinking about that! After that stretch Bob took the lead for a bit and I was able to get a shot of him climbing into the sky!

      As we neared the summit the wind was really starting to get rather nasty. Many years of experience has taught me to constantly take the conservative side when estimating wind speed, as I know most people tend to over estimate it. But....my guess is it was 40 - 50 mph. It was kicking up a lot of spindrift and it nearly knocked Bob down a couple of times. He also commented on the fact that it was tossing his pack back and forth on his back. Oh the pack weighed 28 pounds!! I really wanted to get a shot of Bob being battered by the wind but it was just too difficult. I did manage to get one shot from the summit but then it was time to head on down.

      We did see one interesting thing on the summit. There's so much talk about what the proper gear is for winter hiking and how, jeans are NOT a good idea. BUT, we saw someone wearing jeans......and Koflach Plastic boots. They also had an ice axe with a wooden handle. Sooooo do plastic boots negate the danger of the jeans? Did the axe make him safer? I'll leave these questions to greater minds than mine, but it's something to think about.

      Once we got off the immediate summit I was able to get the camera out and take a couple of shots that I personally think came out great! My favorite is simply a view of a lone tree with the sun struggling through some clouds behind it. The other is the same tree but with a bit wider view. If you're not a winter hiker, I hope that pictures like those will help you see how much grandeur and beauty you're missing!