You Are Here: September 2020

Saturday, September 26, 2020

South & North Percy Peak

The Percy Peaks have been on my radar having now driven past them a couple of times to/from other hikes. They are prominent peaks as you drive Route 3 through Groveton. North Percy is also on the 52 With a View list. The forecast was a little iffy, only in that the area was experiencing haze from the CA fires again. I went for it anyway. There are 3 trails that ascend the Peaks, the most popular is Percy Peaks Trail, which I have read is a little rugged in some areas. While shorter, to complete the loop involves a 1 mile(ish) road walk, which I wasn't interested in. The least popular is the Old Summer Club Trail which is also the Cohos Trail, longer and more elevation, so I opted for Choice 2. The Percy Loop Trail, which many folks use as the descent on their loop if they ascend via Percy Peaks Trail. It was a half mile longer each way, but everything I had read said it was much more gradual. I am happy with my choice. The first 1.5 miles follow what appears to have been an old logging road. It's actually flat in some areas and the remainder is definitely gradual. Some loose rocks hidden by leaves this weekend had me tripping on tired legs as I descended, but nothing crazy. At around 1.5 miles the trail starts to climb and shortly after you reach the intersection with the Trio Trail (Cohos Trail) and a tentsite (which I didn't visit as both times I passed there were campers at the site). There is a Cohos Trail register, which was full, but it was interesting to scan over where previous hikers had been coming from/headed to and where they live! The next 0.8 miles to the col between the peaks is pretty rugged. Mossy boulders, which I imagine would be sketchy if wet/icy took up most of this section. Thankfully everything was dry this weekend (we are in the middle of a severe drought). It was much warmer than I had anticipated, so this section took quite a bit out of me. I was thankful to finally reach the intersection with the Percy Peak Trail and the path up North Percy. However, I had decided to do South Percy first, and save "the best for last" so I continued past this intersection just a short way to the intersection with the Old Summer Club Trail. The spur to South Percy is just a few hundred feet down this trail. I had read that there is no official trail to South Percy, just a very obvious herd path, however I see it is on the White Mountains Redline spreadsheet, so perhaps it is a maintained trail now. Either way, it was easy enough to follow, however a very rugged and steep 0.3 miles it was. Some hand over hand climbing (may just be that I'm short, so I sometimes have a difficult time getting up some boulders) and lots of having to hug trees to pull myself up. There was at least 1 boulder I wasn't sure I was even going to get up, every time I tried I couldn't quite make it.. I was determined though, and eventually found a way! I often wonder about getting back down in these circumstances, but figure I'll worry about that when the time comes. The money shot from South Percy is the view back to North Percy. Amazing. The Fall foliage colours were definitely peaking which made everything just stunning. Even with the haze, the views were just incredible. I made it down the Spur path just fine, and headed over to tackle North Percy. I passed several groups coming back down, considering how in the middle of nowhere this hike is, it surprised me to see so many people.. especially people who didn't seem quite prepared for such a hike (like no water bottles/backpack/improper clothing etc). I try not to judge. Heading up the slabs was actually pretty scary I thought. I have new(ish) shoes and hadn't had to traverse open slab like this in them yet, so I was praying they would grip well. (Turns out they did!). The up just seemed neverending, I kept thinking about how scary it would be coming back down... it was hot, I was tired.. all that negativity swirling through my head, but I just kept pushing and eventually made it to the summit. One of the more beautiful summits I can remember. Very large, open, views for miles (minus the haze). I could honestly have sat there for ages and just stare into the wilderness. I did sit and enjoy a snack and let my body recover a little before heading back down. The down ended up being nowhere near as bad as the up, I actually reached the bottom of the slab well before I thought I would, seemed to take less than half the time going up! The rest of the descent was uneventful, just a peaceful walk in the woods.

Strava Activity

First view of the Percy Peaks from Rt 110 in Grovetone

Percy Peaks from Northside Road

Nash Stream Road/ Percy Loop Trailhead

Percy Loop Trailhead

Saturday, September 19, 2020

Mt Magalloway

I had seen on the news that the Fall Foliage colours were nearing peak in far northern New Hampshire, so with another beautiful day on tap, my 14 year old and I headed way north. A 4 hour drive to Pittsburg and Mt Magalloway. This peak had been on my radar as it's on several lists I have been working on, the NH Fire Tower Quest (which we already have the badge for, but I wanted to complete at the same time), the NH Fire Tower list and the 52 With a View. In order for my son to hike, he insisted on something short. Mt Magalloway is about 2 miles total, which was just perfect for him. (He can certainly hike more, he was just being a teenage boy!). I wasn't so sure the meteorologists were right about the colours, as we headed north, there were definitely spatters of colour, but nothing crazy. Once we hit Route 302 in Twin Mountain and continued north, things changed. Colours galore. It was beautiful. To get to Mt Magalloway, head north on Route 3 in Pittsburg and turn right on Magalloway Road, which is a gravel road signed for logging. Thankfully we didn't encounter any logging trucks today, but the road was a little busy(ish) with weekenders out enjoying the gorgeous day. Continue on this road for 6.4 miles until you see a sign pointing to the right that says "Fire Tower". Apparently this road is called Tower Road and the trail head is a couple of miles down. This road becomes significantly rougher, but most vehicles should be fine if they take it slow. I feared with the perfect weather the mountain would be busy and was pleasantly surprised to only find 3 vehicles there before us. We donned our cold weather gear (it was only 45 degrees) and headed up the Coot Trail. My plan was up Coot and down Bobcat, as I had read that Coot was steeper, so get that done on the up. I had also read on a very recent trip report that the trail had been widened and graded ready for Winter and snowmobiles. I cannot imagine snowmobiles heading up this trail (although they do) due to its steepness. That would terrify me! Steep it was, right from the start and didn't ease up until about 0.1 miles from the summit. I also found with the recent grading, it was somewhat muddy and slick. Not muddy that would get you super dirty, just a mud that made footing a little difficult to grasp onto. However it is only 0.8 miles to the top, so I just took it slow and enjoyed being out. The amazing thing was once we reached the top, we had the summit to ourselves briefly. We had passed 2 groups on our way up that were heading down. So I said to Cam, let's quickly get up the tower as I knew there were people coming up behind us and I wanted to enjoy it before they arrived. It was windy off and on, which always makes me a little nervous when on a fire tower, but when the wind died down, it was so perfect. We took some pictures and just took it all in. Glorious. The summit is quite large, with a cabin (that used to be available for rent, though it seems a little in need of a hug right now and obviously closed up due to Covid). Behind the cabin is a spur trail called the Overlook Trail (I had seen a picture of a sign, but couldn't find one today), we took this 0.2 miles out to another amazing viewpoint, although a little hairy as the viewing area is quite small and the drop down is significant. We safely stood back a couple of feet and took some pictures. Once we got back to the summit, the group behind us had arrived, and I'm so glad we did the tower when we did. The group consisted of a couple of large families with lots of kids running around. Several other groups started arriving after them, so we timed it just right. There is a picnic table near the cabin, so we stopped and enjoyed a snack before heading back down. Bobcat was a pleasant change from Coot, no mud and a much gentler grade. There is a lot of blowdown carnage, most of which has been cleared or at least made passing possible. A view point a little way down from the top is another bonus. We arrived back at the parking area to find it full of cars. Definitely glad we timed it the way we did. Another perfect day in the woods.

Strava Activity