Despite the stagnant weather – which has left us to suffer without rain for two weeks, in hot, hazy, and humid conditions suffused with smoke from distant Canadian wildfires – I was itching to get out for one more hike. Today I scampered up a small peak with an unassuming name but a fantastic view: Middle Sister. This granite-topped peak formerly hosted a stone firetower, offering nearly 360º views of the southern high peaks’ region of what is now White Mountain National Forest. One of three bumps on a ridge connected to their more famous neighbor, Mount Chocorua, the Three Sisters have views nearly as good but with far fewer people. Indeed, it’s possible I was the only visitor to Middle Sister and First Sister today. Read on!
The US Forest Service provided some helpful historic displays at the trailhead: one describing the artist Benjamin Champney – after whom the brook and waterfalls are named – whose paintings inspired thousands of visitors to visit the region in the 1800s and thus triggering a flood of tourism to the White Mountains that persists today; and another describing the legend of Chocorua, a Native American who allegedly cursed the White settlers in the region. Fortunately, a Dartmouth chemistry professor eventually proved the legend to be false, its effects easily explained by science.
The waterfalls along the trail are far more popular than any of these peaks, but today they showed barely a trickle.
Check out the photo gallery.
Hike stats:
Distance: 6.69 miles (10.8km)
Time: 2h52m (only 85 minutes to the summit!)
Gain: 2,156 feet (657m)
David Kotz 