You Are Here: Precipice Path and Straightback South

This is it.. my final hike of the Belknaps to complete the Redlining patch. I'll definitely be back to hike some of it again as I help the boys complete the Peak patch. I purposefully left the Precipice Path for my last hike so I could "go out with a bang". I had read many trip reports and seen many pictures of this trail. It's a 2 mile "U" shaped trail that starts and ends on the Straightback-Anna Link Trail (or Belknap Range Trail). There is a small spur that connects the bottom of the U to the Anna-Goat Pasture Trail mere yards from Old Stage Road. This was how I chose to hike the Precipice Path. The Precipice Path consists of a "waterfall" and "cliff walk". I had read it was best to attack the trail in a clockwise direction, essentially going up the waterfall and cliff walk, rather than down. This was my plan. I was going to tack on Straightback South as an afterthought since the summit is only a couple tenths from the intersection with the Precipice Path and had thought about trying the Marsh Crossing Trail which is not part of the redlining patch.. yet, but I am pretty sure it will be soon and I felt I might as well while I'm here. I reached out to the Belknap Range Hikers group on Facebook and was advised it is approximately 0.4 miles in length, has a decent stream crossing and a relatively steep rock climb near the West Quarry summit.. that would all come into play in my decision not to do the Marsh Crossing Trail (yet.. I'll be back!) I parked at the parking area at the end of Alton Mountain Road and confidently set out down Old Stage Road, now that I knew what to look for there. My first hike from here had us a bit confused in this area.. that confidence lasted about 15 minutes. I knew the intersection with the Anna-Goat Pasture Link Trail was a small arrow, but having been there twice before, I didn't think it would be an issue.. turns out I hiked right past it. I got to the gate on Old Stage Road and knew I had gone too far.. turned around and headed back with eyes glued on trees looking for the red blazes. I found them, laughed at my obvious miss the first time (at these moments I question what on earth I am thinking when I do miss these signs.. they always seem so obvious, yet I had waltzed right past without a thought). I headed in on Anna-Goat Pasture Link with my eyes peeled for the Precipice Path spur. I knew it wasn't far, but I also knew it wasn't marked so well unless you were really looking for it. The first time we had ventured this way, BRATT volunteer Rick Pelkey was repainting the blazes and there was a sign about wet paint which made it very obvious.. that had been removed, so I was looking for the purple. I almost missed that one too, but spotted it at the last moment and took the turn. I paused and hoped this wasn't an omen of things to come. The spur is only about 0.1 miles and I quickly merged onto the actual Precipice Path. I wasn't sure how far into the trail the "waterfall" was, or how tall it was either.. turns out, it's pretty much right as you turn onto the Precipice Path from the spur link, and it's only about 0.1 miles up. It's a bit daunting when standing at the bottom and you can see the Purple blazes zigzag their way up the rocks, but once you're going, it's really not that bad at all. I don't know how it would be if the waterfall was really flowing, it was a mere trickle on this day, so wet rocks were not an issue at all. I stopped and looked back a few times and was pretty happy with the pace I had going up the rocks. My quads were starting to get a bit angry with me, this being my 3rd hike in 6 days.. which is more than I've done in a very long time.. but I just kept moving. I felt pretty good when I reached the top of the waterfall and set out ready for the "cliff walk".. I had read one report in which the lady had said pine needles on the trail made it a bit hairy, so I was a bit hesitant about what to expect. Pine needles on a ridge trail I love.. pine needles on an incline are my worst nightmare.. so yeah, the cliff walk.. not my favorite section of trail I've ever hiked.. some sections were precariously close to the edge of a very steep drop.. and some sections had boulders way taller than me you have to scramble up or down. And going in this direction there are some pretty steep ups.. my quads were barking. I wasn't even a mile into the trail, dear Lord.. there are a couple of viewpoints along the trail, but it's mostly in woods.. and seemed neverending. Lots of cursing ensued. I FINALLY reached the junction with the Straightback-Anna Trail, breathed a huge sigh of relief and set out for the Straightback South summit. On my way up the cliff walk I had mentally checked out of attempting the Marsh Crossing Trail, thankfully having been advised of the steep section at the other end.. I knew my legs would not make it. I sort of looked for the cairn marking the trail subconsciously telling myself "maybe".. but as it turns out, I didn't even see it anyway. Wouldn't have been option had I wanted to (in looking at a map now it is much closer to the initial junction with the Precipice Path, whereas I was thinking it was closer to the Straightback side, thus it was at a point where I wasn't even thinking about looking for a trail.. now I know). I reached the other end of the Precipice Path, looked at the up to Straightback South and questioned for a moment if I really needed to go back up there having been there several times already.. but ultimately decided to head over to the summit, snap a quick picture and make my way back to the final section of trail I needed to complete. With the recent maintenance and reblazing of the Precipice Path it is quite obvious now where it joins the Straightback-Anna Link trail and I easily spotted the purple blazed cairn. I paused and thought back over all the miles and all the trails I had completed along this journey. This was it. 1 more mile. I headed in having read the first section of the trail was mild. There were a couple rather steep ledge descents, but overall it was pretty flat. I was watching the tenths tick off and kept thinking "oh dear, what is coming".. I had come up, I needed to go back down.. how was that going to happen if the trail stays this flat. Then with about 0.2 miles left the descent arrived.. and it was pine needles all the way! I very slowly made my way, slipped a couple times but managed to stay upright, and made my down, down, down.. and then there it was. The link back to Anna-Goat Pasture Link trail and Old Stage Road. I was done. I am very proud of myself for this accomplishment. I knew I could do it, but I did end up finishing much quicker than I originally thought... and now I'm done! Onto the next adventure...

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