The Mount Chocorua area has long been one of my favorite haunts, but I've more or less neglected it for the last several years. It was a geocaching event that brought me back to the area. After attending a geocaching breakfast gathering in North Conway, Carol and I joined several fellow geocachers to grab a couple of new hides along Scott Road, which provides access to the trailhead for the Hammond Trail, a quiet southern approach to Mount Chocorua.
This summer and fall the trailhead parking area was greatly expanded as part of the development of the new Mary Mullarkey All Persons Trail, a joint project of the Tamworth Community Nurse Association and the Chocorua Lake Conservancy. The CLC newsletter notes:"This 0.5 mile out and back forest trail is a mix of deciduous and conifer trees and features boardwalks, resting benches, and a viewing platform at a destination point on the Chocorua River. The ADA-compliant trail is located on conservation land owned by the Korson family and is known as the Mary Mullarkey All Persons Trail in honor of Tom Korson’s late wife and Andrew Korson’s mother. Mary Mullarkey passed away in 2021, after many years living with multiple sclerosis. Throughout her distinguished career, she served as a Supreme Court Justice in Colorado for 23 years—12 of which were spent as the state’s first female Chief Justice—prior to her retirement in 2010."
Part of the new trail has a smooth gravel and crushed stone surface...
...followed by an impressive section of boardwalk.
At the end is a viewing platform.
It overlooks a peaceful spot on the Chocorua River.
Our group of senior citizens found the cleverly hidden cache at the platform.
The other folks headed out while Carol and I grabbed our packs and set off on a short hike along the trails of the Chocorua Conservation Lands.
We hiked an easy 2.6 mile loop around Heron Pond (aka Lonely Lake), passing by this privately owned historic farmhouse of the 19th century Hammond farm.
The Heron Pond Trail climbs over an esker, a long and narrow glacial ridge.
Interesting signage by the pond.
We walked a side path down to the shore of the frozen pond, a classic kettle hole pond with no inlet or outlet. In the background is a small ridge known as Bickford Heights.
Nobody will mistake Carol for a deer during rifle season.
Good signage provided by the Nature Conservancy in its Frank Bolles Preserve, named for a late 19th century naturalist and author. His At the North of Bearcamp Water is a White Mountain classic, with an entire chapter devoted to Lonely Lake..
Very pleasant walking on these trails.
The next day I returned to the Hammond Trail trailhead and headed up that trail for a climb to Bald Mountain and the ridge beyond. In its first easy 0.6 mile, Hammond Trail crosses Stony Brook twice. Frank Bolles deemed the headwaters of Stony Brook to be "The Heart of the Mountain."
Bald Mountain looms ahead.
Hammond Trail climbs steadily through a hardwood forest dominated by beech...
...and oak.
Higher up, the trail climbs by pleasant switchbacks.
Some ice on a steep ledge approaching the crest of Bald Mountain.
A peek back to the south.
Off trail exploration reveals why it's called Bald Mountain. I walked carefully to avoid trampling lichens.
A view south to Chocorua Lake.
Zoomed.
A small white pine sprouts from a crack in the bedrock.
Ossipee Range in the distance.
Glacial erratic.
From northern ledges (which are accessed by a well-worn 100 yard path from Hammond Trail), a striking view of Mount Chocorua, the Three Sisters and Carter Ledge rising from the Chocorua River valley.
Carter Ledge, a fine objective in its own right. On a 1921 Chocorua Mountain Club map it was labeled as "Sandslides Ledge."
Chocorua's cone.
I spotted a couple of hikers on the right side of the summit.
Looking northward to the Moats and Kearsarge North. White Ledge is in the foreground under Kearsarge North.
I returned to Hammond Trail and continued north up the ridge, passing the junction with Weetamoo Trail.
No camping in the Chocorua Forest Protection Area except at Jim Liberty Shelter and Camp Penacook.
This scramble up a rocky cleft can be a little tricky, especially with some crusty snow mixed in. There is a well-beaten bypass to the right.
Though lightly used today, Hammond Trail is the oldest trail route to Mt. Chocorua. It was cut around 1860 by David Hammond and his sons, who had purchased a farm near Stony Brook at the south base of the mountain a year earlier. (The farmhouse had been built in 1829 by Joseph Bennett, and was owned by Warren Tasker from 1846-1859.) At the time the Hammonds built the trail, the crest of the ridge and the broad top of Bald Mountain were mostly bare ledge with extended views. Trampers using the trail would tether their horses in the field at the Hammond farm while they were on the climb. Visitors might be treated to one of Mrs. Hammond’s famous pies. In his 1876 guidebook, Moses Sweetser noted that the most popular route up Chocorua was the path from the Hammond farm. Though the ridge is now mostly wooded. there are still a few expanses of open ledge above Bald Mountain. This expansive outcrop is reached by a short side path just above the rocky cleft.
At the eastern edge of these ledges there's a nice view of Carter Ledge.
Typical terrain along this ledgy, scrubby ridge.
Another ledge viewpoint reached by a side path at the 2.5 mile mark. This was my turnaround point.
Long view out towards southwestern Maine.
Heading back towards Bald Mountain through nice spruce forest.
Pre-sunset glow over Red Hill.
Last peek.
Deep leaf cover heading down through the hardwoods.
