"Cloudy day. Saw a few other hikers, one questioning why i was descending the steep section. I dunno, it wasn't too bad. Guess i went opposite of the standard route, oh well. Rugged trail was slow going with all the roots and mud. Saw no wildlife besides one hairy woodpecker. 9.46 miles. " — ryangallant • Sep 20, 2023

"Just a perfect day for hiking. Stunning weather, bright blue skies, 50's, calm winds. Trail conditions were great on the Hancock Notch and Cedar Brook. Switched to snowshoes on the Loop trail. Lots of post holing there sadly. Outlook on No. Hancock inaccessible due to snow volume." — Alohabuffy • Apr 10, 2023

"I needed some 4000 footers for a Calendar Day. And with the massive dump of snow several days ago, I decided to hike the Hancocks to get some good butt sledding in. I hiked in from the trailhead and slowly made my way up Hancock. There was a massive amount of snow at the junction at the top and I didn't need to go to the overlook to have views. I then hiked around to South Hancock. The butt sledding wasn't as good as I was expecting. A lot of people had hiked up South Hancock and that made the surface lumpy. The track also wasn't deep and the trees were right on the edge of the trail. So I had to brake constantly to avoid going off the trail or hip checking a tree. I then made a quick hike out and went down to Meredith to Twin Barns Brewing afterwards. 9.8 miles." — newenglandwarrior • Mar 10, 2023

"Day 2 back in the Whites after over a decade. Raced the rain on the Hancocks loop to grab 37&38/48. A lot of effort for almost viewless peaks. That last mile up to the north peak is legit. Although felt a few light raindrops at the top of north peak, it thankfully never progressed until the moment I made it back to the car. Going down the loose gravelly steeps of South Hancock would not be a good time when wet. Highlight of this hike was eating all my food under the pagoda back at the trailhead. Heard one woman guffaw at the "Peakbagging and 4,000 footers" placard -- "in Colorado they do FOURTEEN thousand footers!"" — scott • Jul 5, 2022

"A Hancock day. Low cloud cover meant not stopping for views. Hiked in and tagged Hancock first. Then I went over and tagged South Hancock. Then I came down and out. Did the hike in under 5 hours. Socked in at higher elevations. 2 more peaks for my May Grid. 9.8 miles." — newenglandwarrior • May 27, 2022

"Needed the Hancocks for my Grid and Calendar Day. Great to finally get the 31st and 1st taken care of after years of being unable too. Also did this hike really fast. If I recall correctly, it was just under 5 hours for a 10 mile hike. There wasn't enough snow to butt sled down South Hancock. River crossings were not difficult to cross. Some were open, some were not. Beautiful day for a hike. 9.8 miles." — newenglandwarrior • Jan 1, 2021

"Started out nice, in the 30s the whole time. Sunny morning. Nice hike in. Up north trail and when we summited, the sun disappeared and the wind whipped up. Oh well, on to South Hancock." — Alohabuffy • Nov 15, 2020

"Fall like temperatures on a Spring day. No bugs. Pleasant trail made for an enjoyable hike. Went up North peak first. This 0.7 mile sections is very steep. North Peak has a nice overlook. No views from the actual summit. The 1.4 miles between the peaks is a nice gentle trail. Some blowdowns on this section. South peak has no views either but there is an overlook that faces north. Grey Jays were very active on South peak. The 0.4 mile path down from South peak is also steep like North but with a lot of loose rocks. Use caution. Trekking poles helped immensely. The rest of the hike is back on flatter trail with several small water crossings. " — dmcosker • Jun 13, 2020

"Day 4 of a quick 4-day trip to the Whites with Ed, Larry and Tom. We did a clockwise loop of the Hancocks on the dampest/coldest day of the trip. After topping out on Hancock and visiting the view less viewpoint we headed over to South Hancock to find a less windy spot to have lunch. An opening in the trees just below the summit of South Hancock gave us some reprieve from the wind and some views when the clouds cleared. Today puffy jackets, hats and gloves made their first appearance in the new Fall season. Only thing missing, besides our female cohorts, was a thermos of ginger tea to warm us from the inside. Back at PA on the Kanc we hung out for an hour or so watching the silly leaf peepers come and go while we enjoyed some post hike bevs and chips. One guy was flying a drone to get some aerial photos I presume or just playing with it. Six and half hours later I was back home for the weekend." — Nimblefoot • Oct 4, 2019

"11 & 12 of 48. Solo. Started out at 0730 from the Hancock Overlook trailhead. Definitely the prettiest trailhead I have ever parked at. It was about 40° when I started so I threw on my coat. The first portion of the hike was relatively flat without obstacles. The Cedar Brook trail was (as predicted by the name) a lot of lil stream crossings, and rocky with some boulders, but not terrible in terms of elevation. Heading up to the loop trail after that, I ditched my coat and marveled at how many roots were across the trail! It was pretty incredible looking, if a bit rough on the feet. This was more of a moderate climb. I opted to head up to Mount Hancock North first, and after yesterday’s long hike, I struggled a bit. The trail was steeeeeeeeep. I stopped about halfway up to eat some clifbloks and chug a Gatorade and managed to drag myself up to the summit where I sat in the sun & enjoyed a nice hazy view from the overlook, where I met two women & another fella out for the day. Headed back in to complete the loop over to South Hancock after this, it was nearing the high 60’s for temperature and the blue sky was disappearing rapidly. The loop / col between the two mount..." — kellieirene • Sep 10, 2019