After having rescheduled this event from a previous day of wet & windy conditions, three die hard GO members met at the Hancock Trail Parking area at 9:00am on Saturday, Oct 6^th. Despite the forecast for showers during the day, the temperatures were mild with some inspiring breaks of sunshine in the morning, so by 9:20 John, Karl & I headed out across the Kancamagus to the Hancock Notch trail. A easy and enjoyable start to the hike, the 1.8 mile path parallels one of the many tributaries of the Pemi and provided a peaceful bubbling throughout the length of the trail. Shortly after turning left at the junction of the .7 mile Cedar Brook Trail we (along with another group of hikers) ran into a few points of confusion as what seemed to be the trail was actually a bushwhacked detour that had been forged in the event of high water in order to avoid the multiple brook crossings. After a little “trial and error” style navigating, we were back on the blaze marked trail again. The crossings were relatively easy to manage and offered some beautiful spots with various small waterfalls along the way. By 11:20a we were at the junction of the Hancock Loop trail which began to climb towards a more moderate grade until we hit the lollipop (loop) portion after 1.1 miles. We decided, to do the traditional clockwise direction and began the .7 mile steep and steady climb to the North peak. Here we found the wet & loose rocky conditions to be a little more challenging and our pace slowed a bit to keep our footing solid. After what seemed like a short eternity, we reached the summit of the tree covered North peak at around 12:15 and proceeded down the path to the lookout. What could have been a dramatic view of the Osceolas, turned out to be extremely overcast and foggy filtered images in the distance. We were met instead by a group of friendly college students who appeared to be filming a “Girls gone Wild” video on the ledge. :-D We exchanged group photo takes and decided to press on to the connecter toward the South Peak. The 1.4 mile path between the peaks offered an easy to moderate grade with varied ascending and descending parts. This is when the promise of showers started to deliver, and about half way across the peaks we decided to stop, put our rain gear on and eat our lunch under the tree covered canopy. We reached the South Peak at around 2:00 and were surprised to see so many other hikers coming from the other direction, including a young family with a toddler and an infant. After chatting for a few minutes, we were eager to start our descent as the showers began to develop into a steady rain. The initial .5 mile steep drop from the South peak proved to be even more challenging with the wet rock. By 2:45 we had made it back to the junction of the Cedar Brook Trail with the rain now feeling more like a down pour, we kept a steady cadence on the remainder of the waterlogged and muddy trek back to the trailhead, arriving at the parking lot shortly after 4:00pm. Although short on panoramic vistas and bright sunshine, this was still a very enjoyable hike, rich in its own unique character. Huge thanks to Karl & John for braving this one, for keeping me from getting us lost (;-D) and for the incredible enriching conversation and camaraderie. Can’t wait to hike with you both again!