You Are Here: 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.

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