Piper Trail Ramble

Continuing on some ramblings around Mt. Chocorua, I took a walk up the Piper Trail to Camp Penacook and the first view ledge above. I hadn't been up this way in a decade and figured it was time to check it out.

 

This sign provides a little trail history at the large trailhead parking area off Route 16.

 

This popular route is well-constructed and pleasant to hike.

After this junction Piper Trail follows an easy-graded section along the NE side of the Chocorua River valley.

This is a really nice section of trail.

In a 1956 aerial photo, this steep drainage shows up as a narrow open slide. Within 25 years it had been closed in by tree growth.

Farther along, I made a short, steep bushwhack to a familiar small gravel slope/slide that offers impressive views up to the surrounding ridges.

Looking across the valley to the great SE ridge of Chocorua, traversed by the Hammond Trail.

A unique perspective on nearby Carter Ledge.

Another unusual view: Mount Chocorua and the Sisters rising above the headwaters of the Chocorua River.

 

Chocorua's rocky cone, a little fuzzed out by snow flurries.

A beautiful trailside hardwood glade.

Footbridge over the Chocorua River, here a mountain brook.

An attractive section through hemlock forest above the river.

Higher up, Piper Trail ascends via many rock steps.

At this turn the trail follows a major relocation, with several switchbacks, that the WMNF constructed in the late 1970s, bringing the route up onto the crest of a spur ridge with several view ledges.

More rock steps.

No camping in the Chocorua Forest Protection Area except at Jim Liberty Shelter and Camp Penacook.

Junction with the spur to Camp Penacook,

The spur is 0.16 mile long and climbs 200 feet. It starts out with a steep rock staircase.

The final steep approach to the shelter, made a little tricky by some hardpacked snow and ice. I used spikes to come down.

A ledge right in front of the shelter provides only a limited view these days.

The scoop on Penacook.

 

A problem at many shelters and campsites.

Chocorua's summit looms above.

The single tentsite is down below.

Camp Penacook was built by the Chocorua Mountain Club in 1916. It was named for the tribe to which Chief Chocorua belonged. At the time the CMC noted that with its capacity of twelve persons, it was one of the largest shelters in the White Mountains. In addition, “it commands a splendid view of the Bear Camp Valley and the distant Ossipees. It is substantially built, and, with its shingle roof and southern exposure should be a comfortable camp in winter as well as summer.” In his 1925 book, Skyline Promenades, J. Brooks Atkinson wrote of the shelters’ “huge natural fireplace” and the long view south and east, and “to the west a near view of the precipitous summit of Chocorua, which rises five hundred feet above.” Today it is maintained by the WMNF.

The water source is a small nearby brook, one of the headwaters of Chocorua River.

Back on Piper Trail, I climbed to the first view ledge on the SE spur ridge of First Sister. This spot at 2630 ft. is a worthy destination in its own right, even if you do not intend to climb to the summits.

A great look down at Carter Ledge.

Peering up at Middle Sister.

Chocorua's cone presides above.

Chocorua's SE ridge, with Silver Lake and Ossipee Lake in the distance.

On the way down, shortly before headlamp time, I caught glimpses of a crescent moon suspended above Bald Mountain.