Some friends from the gym wanted to go on a hike. They are newer to hiking (and I haven’t hiked in months), so I didn’t want to do anything too crazy. I did want them to get some awesome views, and have a great hike so they’d want to go again. Welch Dickey was the perfect choice. Of course, it’s spring in New Hampshire, so while we had scheduled this hike some time ago, we had to keep rescheduling due to weather. Finally, a dry week and reports showed the snow and ice were gone from Welch Dickey.

I’d also be “rucking” on this hike. Our gym is holding a competition and you get points for rucking. For our competition, we had to have at least 20 pounds in our packs, and go at least a mile. While I normally try to carry as little as possible on a hike, on this hike I had over 20 pounds (I knew I’d consume food and water making the pack lighter as I went).

I picked up the ladies around 8AM and we were off! The forecast was to be in the 40s all day, a little sun and mostly cloudy. The important thing was that it was dry. Welch Dickey has some large, steep, granite slabs that can be really scary when it’s wet.  The forecast stayed true and the weather was great, maybe even better than the forecast. Trail conditions were good, too.

I love Welch Dickey because you get a little of everything. We set off, counter clockwise on the loop so we could ascend the granite slabs rather than descend. There’s a little water crossing with some rock hopping. The trail ascends in typical New Hampshire fashion, with rocks and roots for a trail, but nothing too terrible. Just after a mile and a quarter, you’re rewarded with alpine zone! And a nice wide open area with a great view. We stopped for a snack and a photo shoot.

One of the things I love about this hike, is that you can see Welch and Dickey from here. “We’re going THERE?!” might be my favorite thing to hear. So we set off. Lots of little places to grab a view along the way. We saw a few people throughout the day, but not too many.

The ladies handled the steep granite slabs wonderfully! Frankly, I struggled the most, but then granite slabs are my least favorite AND I was wearing a 20 pound pack. After a glute burning slab, we took another little snack break/breather.

As we discussed, the photos never do the steepness justice.

Then came one of my favorite parts of Welch Dickey, the lemon squeezer. It’s not particularly bad, but it’s fun.

Marina is just about to enter the lemon squeezer. Yes, that crevice in the rock is where the trail goes!

Up we go to Welch’s summit.

I love how you can see over to your future.

Here is where I asked them if they could see people over there, because that’s where we were headed. Marina remembered she had brought her glasses and put them on. I LOVED hearing her exclamations! “Look at that tree! Look at that rock! Oh look at that!” It’s so awesome when people love something the way that you love it.

More views, clouds for days

Like I said this hike has a little bit of everything. Granite slabs, lemon squeezer, pulling yourself up a boulder.

After Welch the trail drops off in a way that looks much scarier than it is. We had to wait a bit while a group that went ahead of us took some time to get down it. After that the trail dips down a little between Welch and Dickey and goes through a lovely evergreen forest. Some more slabs (not as bad) and you’re on Dickey.

Then it was time to descend. That’s when the knees start to hurt a little. And we were less chatty. And in typical hiker fashion, we were so happy to see the car, we forgot to take a finish selfie. We had a fantastic time, I think they’ll be back for another hike!

• Total distance: 4.4 miles
• Elevation gain: 1700 feet
• Total time: 5 hours, 14 minutes
• Moving time: 4 hours, 10 minutes
• Number of laughs: more than we can count