woodland wanderings: Three Sisters Birthday Hike

In a morning blur I woke up thinking I had nothing to do. It’s Thursday. I’ll take my daughter to school and crawl back into bed. It’s raining, raining hard. It’s cold. Then I realize it’s not just a Thursday…it’s Thursday! I promised a ‘Happy Birthday’ hike for my friend Lisa.

I am always in for a hike but today was one of those cold, dark, rainy days where you want to curl up in a blanket by a blazing fire. I pulled out my computer and checked the weather for Chocorua. Mountain-forecast.com claimed sun and clouds, no rain. I’ve been through this before – this proclamation of good weather. I didn’t believe it. So, I checked every weather forecast I could find online and all read, clouds and sun with warm temperatures. I set off with the expectation that I may be in for another Paugus. I picked up my friend (who was very excited about her birthday hike) and off we went.

Magically the clouds pulled away as we pulled into the Piper parking lot. The Gods are on my side today.

I had decided on Middle Sister since that was left undone when I hiked Chocorua with my husband in July. I had read many logs about Piper and Carter Ledge so I chose a loop that went over the Three Sisters and captured the trails I wanted to hike. Piper, Nickerson Ledge, Carter Ledge, Three Sisters and down Piper to the car.

I couldn’t have chosen a better day or a better loop trail!

The trails were surprisingly dry. All my weary ambivalence evaporated as I got above treeline on Carter Ledge. I come alive on ledges. I love letting my inner billy goat come out to play. Whenever I can use my hands and feet, I know it’s going to be a great hike. The ERD loves ledges and apparently he was letting his inner billy goat come out as well. I had to help him up three steep ledges but other than that he leapt up the rest. The ERD made my friend nervous as he darted up ledges and stood at the edge of cliffs surveying his surroundings.

It’s an amazing trail but if you are nervous hiking ledges bring a friend who can help you get through it, or choose the less exciting, but very pretty trail, Champney Falls instead.

We shared the summit with another couple who had hiked up Champney Falls. We lingered hoping to have the summit to ourselves but they stayed and we had to accept the fact we had to share the summit.

After an hour, we continued over the ridge to the Piper Trail. The upper sections of Piper were a little wet but not slippery. Below tree line there was a muddy section and some wet leaves, but they were easily avoided; the rocks on the trail were wet but not slippery.

This 8.1 mile loop is well maintained. There are some sections with missing or faded blazes but there are very clear trail signs (and God knows some signs are ambiguous at best!) making it easy to follow. I would consider this a moderate level hike with killer views.