Welch-Dickey Loop

After hiking Tripyramid I had about four hours of daylight left. Normally I would fish after supper.
However, most of the lakes that would have been a short drive are kind of weedy to fish from shore. I could have used my kayak, but it was breezy, and would have been blown all over the lake. So after supper I chose to do another hike.

I had hoped to hike Welch Dickey on the Thursday I went up, but it was raining, so I went fishing. I really wanted to hike these little mountains so I decided to hike them even though I was pretty tired from Tripyramid. There is a loop hike that goes over these two small mountains. Welch Mountain is 2605 feet while Dickey Mountain is a little higher at 2734. The loop is about 4.4 miles with 1600 feet of elevation gain. Direction can be found on your trail map or online.

You have to take Upper Mad River Road off of Route 49, then follow the signs, I arrived at the trailhead at 5:30 pm. The first thing I noticed is that the parking lot is huge. It easily holds over 100 cars. Arriving so late, there were only a dozen or so cars in the lot. Within 15 yards of the lot, the trail

Tripyramid from Dickey Mountain
You can make out the South Slide on the most right
cone 

forks. I took the right trail, choosing to go up Welch Mountain first.

 The main draw of these mountains is the open ledges. The views are amazing for relatively little effort. After 1,6 miles a hiker reaches the ledges. Some of them are steep and if you are scared of heights, you might be a little uncomfortable. However, with common sense (and in dry conditions) they are perfectly safe. One cool thing is, that on these ledges is the southern most stand of Jack Pine in New Hampshire.The views are really nice. I enjoyed looking at Tripyramid since I climbed it earlier in the day. As I mentioned, I did Welch Mountain first. There is a steep drop to the col in between the two mountains, then a steep climb up Dickey Mountain. I can't say the view was better from either mountain. All in all with the open ledges, big views and overall fun, I understand the popularity of this hike

Jack Pine

The hike took me exactly three hours. Knowing that dark was fast approaching, I didn't stay in any one place to long. When I stopped on the summits to get a drink, I'd only stay for five minutes or so. I got down at exactly eight thirty and it was getting dark, especially in the woods.