Team ChacoPak: Judgement Day

Every so often, a hike comes along and you get the sense that something is not safe. It can be because of weather, or terrain, or even laziness. The day could not have been any better today, or perhaps in the end, it was too good. We set out this morning for Scott Road and The Hammond Trail up Mt Chocorua. For those of you that have never seen this mountain, it is truely a natural wonder. We hit Scott Road about 10 am with 2-3 other cars at the trail head. There is no longer any snow, so parking was ample. In all honesty, I did not really research much about this hike. We just sort of looked at the map this week and picked it out. We figured it would just be better to avoid The Kanc. So, Mt Chocorua is at 3475 feet in elevation and has a ridge above treeline. When you enter the area, it sits perfectly for all to see from the road. When looking at the map we also did not look at the amount of elevation we would be gaining.
We started out great. Grayson was having a blast being back out in the woods. We were as well. We climbed for about a 1000 feet before we got into the soft icy snow. We switched over to microspikes and encountered some very wet icy conditions going up to the saddle between Bald Mountain and Chocorua. We got to the Liberty Cabin and had a great view of the summit cone and the headwall we would be going up. The trail corridor became very tight going up and walking up rock slabs became very dangerous even with microspikes. We started to enter the chimney up to the summit when I made a judgement call. I was worried because I would have to more or less carry Grayson up the side of the mountain and then we would have to come back down on a slippery and icy slide. I was not going to risk it with a pup. I sat on a log a little disappointed, but quickly had the same thought I always have when I have to make a judgement call. I always remind myself that I am out doing what I love with the one that I love. This week my wife and I celebrate our 3 year wedding aniversary. We are products of the trail and we formed this union doing what we love to do. We have our 3rd honeymoon coming up in July. Colorado was originally going to be our honeymoon, but things happen. So Team ChacoPak will be doing lots of fun hikes this summer. I think we are going to get Grayson on an overnight very soon. We hope to see you on the trail.