We recently acquired a GoPro HD Hero video camera and wanted to test it out on our hike last weekend. The weather report looked good with a forecast for clear skys and 90 F. All we needed was a destination.
Finding new hikes is becoming more challanging all the time. Our self-imposed travel-limit to the trailhead is about 1hr 45min one-way, and our children's distance limit is around 8 miles. Seeing as we try to go out almost every weekend, we are starting to exhaust the supply of trails within our travel radius.
Perusing our White Mountain Trail Guide, I came across Mount Chocorua. I had seen it in the past but put it off for another year as most of the trails to the summit were around 9 miles in length. This time, after a more careful inspection, I noticed that there was one trail from the north that was just under 8 miles round-trip. As a bonus it also included two waterfalls - always a welcome treat for kids hiking on a hot day.
It was a perfect day in every way. The weather was beautiful, the hike was spectacular, and it ended with a dip in the cool waters of the Swift River. About the only thing that wasn't so great was all the people we encountered, everywhere. We had no idea it was such a popular destination. Who can blame them though, after all we were there too.
Comments
What a wonderful video! I
What a wonderful video! I love seeing parts of your trip and look forward to future adventures! Thanks for sharing.
Beautiful Day
Thanks for sharing the video. That was very fun to see your family enjoying their day together and enjoying the great beauty of the outdoors. I was able to share a beautiful day this past Friday hiking with 4 scouts, finishing up their hiking merit badge with a 20 mile hike.
20 miles in one day? That is
20 miles in one day? That is a substantial distance! How old are these kids?
Awesome, Damien. Making
Awesome, Damien. Making memories.... I started camping with my folks when I was two and continued through highschool... every weekend. Summers we took longer trips; two weeks in Vermont; two weeks in Nova Scotia; one month to California and more. This brings back a lot of wonderful memories for me!
Love mt. Chocorua
Glad you had a good day of it. The Champney Falls trail is the busiest trail IMO. Early morning starts or midweek limit crowds on that and Piper (my adopted trail).
Great video! Looks like a
Great video!
Looks like a nifty little movie camera for on the move videos.
The video quality looks very good. What's the audio quality like? Barely useable or better than that?
/ Karl
The audio is pretty good.
The audio is pretty good. They actually try pretty hard to eliminate ambient noise (from wind, etc.) with the design which makes it good for action shots. It isn't stereo quality or anything though.
Great Hike
Chocorua is rather popular because it's such a beautiful peak. Last time I was there was in winter, which is a very different experience, and much less crowded as you can imagine. Me and my partner didn't see anyone all day.
Winter sounds like a lot of
Winter sounds like a lot of fun, I would love to do that some time. Maybe one day when the family is able to handle higher mileage in cold snowy weather...
Beautiful!
What a beautiful and inspiring video, and set to one of my all-time favorite songs! At this point, with a 3-year-old and 1-year-old we are limited to ONE mile hikes, and it has been tough to keep us motivated. If you have any advice on hiking with really little ones, I would love to hear it!
There is lots of good info on
There is lots of good info on a whole host of outdoor topics in the family outdoors section of our site.
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