Welch Dickey Loop ~ 6.4 miles 3 hrs and 15 mins Thorton, NH

This was a really fantastic trail. The loop is clearly marked with yellow blazes. The views were gorgeous and the higher we climbed the better they got. The beginning of the trail is basically a path in the woods. The trail has lots of tree roots and rocks and in a few places there are some natural and manmade rock stairs .

Once you reach the ledges for Welch Mtn the views open up and you can see Waterville Valley below. It’s breathtaking. You could stop there, but if you turn around and look up the trail goes further to the summits for Welch and Dickey Mtn. Since we wanted adventure of course we climbed.

Looking at the distances to get to the Dickey Mtn summit was deceiving because it seemed like it would take forever to climb to, but then the next thing I knew I was looking down in awe (disbelief) at Welch Mtn. The climb gets steep but nothing was too difficult. Admittedly I would get to a steep section and say “oh @$%!,” but then continue to climb it fairly easily. There was one rock face I had to scale diagonally and zig zag in order to safely climb it.

As we looked across the rock faces in the distance some looked like dry and wet sand which was interesting because the rocks up close were actually speckled light and dark granite.

On one rock face, we took some time to sit and just take in the views and sounds. As serene as the views were you could still slightly hear the highway in the distance, but not enough to stop you from hearing a nearby raven kraa, or the wind through the trees.

We found some beautiful plants along the way: rhodora, pink lady’s slipper, painted trillium and Canadian bunchberry, and a velvety black fungi called smooth rock tripe.

Adventurers included: Jes & Ryan