One of my favorite climbs over the past year was the Welch-Dickey Loop. I’d been hearing about it for years, but the stars never aligned for me to try it until this past December. On New Year’s Eve to be specific.
I was up in the north country with family for a post-holiday vacation, and I didn’t feel like competing for space on the overcrowded ski mountains. Neither did my brother-in-law. The weather was still pretty warm and because of all the recent rain, there wasn’t much snow left on the ground—seemed like the perfect time to check out some new mountains.
Starting off on the Welch-Dickey Loop on New Year’s Eve
A “Primo” Hike
You know you’ve found a good place when even on a day when the trail is kind of mucky and wet, mixed in with a fair bit of ice, you still think everything is beautiful. Welch and Dickey aren’t as big as plenty of other mountains in New Hampshire, but they don’t need to be. They give you incredible views of the surrounding peaks without having to kill yourself to see them.
Following the naming convention of the loop as our guide, we ascended Welch Mountain first and were impressed with how open its summit is. Standing at only 2,605 feet, it’s not the height you’d expect to get such great views from on a mountain in New Hampshire, but it delivers.
After we left the summit to make our way towards Dickey, we ran into a couple of women heading in the opposite direction. Sharing our admiration for the mountain, one of them said, “Yep, it’s primo.” If there was ever a time to use the word primo in a sentence, she picked the right one.
The Col Between
While both summits in the Welch-Dickey Loop absolutely live up to the hype, my favorite part of the hike might be the part between them. After summiting Welch, we descended into the col where we enjoyed warm sunlight, a blue sky, and a sea of healthy green pine. Oftentimes the hike from one summit to another can bury you in tree cover and be kind of a downer after seeing a stunning summit view. This is not the case with Welch-Dickey. There are some rock crags to slip through and tons of clear sightlines, making this part just as good as the summits of Welch and Dickey.
Sometimes you only get a reward at the summit, but the whole Welch-Dickey hike is fantastic.
Mount Dickey – A “52 With a View” Peak
But how about those views from the summit? While both Welch and Dickey provide so much to see from their respective summits, Dickey gets the nod on the famous 52 With a View (52WAV) list because it’s slightly bigger—or so I’ve been told. If you’re not familiar with the list, it’s a set of mountains in New Hampshire where you can get stunning views without having to climb a 4000-footer. It’s a pretty great list, and when you are standing on top of Dickey, there is no doubt why it’s included.
Similar to Welch, the top reveals a giant slab of rock, and on a winter day, after so much snow and rain, the surface can be fairly slick. Fortunately, we were wearing microspikes, so it wasn’t a concern, but it would have been hairy without them.
Can’t Miss with Welch-Dickey
If you’re looking for a sure thing in the White Mountains, you can’t miss with this great loop hike. It’s a good-sized effort, but not a killer, and if you don’t feel like doing the whole thing, climbing Welch will give you all the reward you need. But if you do make the effort to see both, you won’t be disappointed.
I first started getting the idea to see all of the 52WAV mountains last year, when I realized that I had climbed some fifteen or so without even being aware they were on a list. Because of some personal interest in Chocorua, it pleased me to find out that it was also a 52WAV mountain. Looking back on that climb and all of the ones I inadvertently climbed before it, I started to realize something: they were all excellent! The whole stinking lot of them were just as good as advertised. This list is on to something.
But while all of the hikes on the list have been winners to-date, the Welch-Dickey Loop solidified it for me: the 52 With a View list is spot-on with its assessment of mountains with great views in New Hampshire. I’m pursuing the list these days because it’s simply a great guide for getting out there and having a little adventure. I’m not sure where I’m heading next—maybe Crawford or Hayes—but I’m sure whatever 52WAV I choose, it’s going to be a good one. (I bet Welch-Dickey is going to look awesome out there this weekend.)
Welch-Dickey Kiosk Map
Mountain Stories
Some of my posts about the mountains are more story, and some are more trip report. Either way, my goal is the same—to highlight an area and encourage people to get out there. If something out of the ordinary or ridiculous or meaningful happens along the trail, I like to share that as well. If you are heading to the mountains and are looking for stories and photos from a particular mountain in New Hampshire, you can find more at In the Mountains. Or you can search in the sidebar for a peak.
And if you’ve found a good climb, please share it! Enjoy it out there!