Mount Nancy - Duck Pond Mountain: 1/25/2015

Mileage: 10.05 miles
Elevation gain: 3340 feet
Trails used: Nancy Pond Trail, Mount Nancy Trail (not maintained), bushwhack.
Highlight(s): 


It was roughly a year ago that we first tried to do Mount Nancy on a frigid day in January.  Fast forward to 2015 and it was almost the same kind of conditions outside; snow coming down, overcast and cold temperatures. The only difference is that the trail was in a lot better condition than last year and two people ahead of us, Jeremy and Bryan, managed to make the trail a bit more tolerable.

Mount Nancy and Duck Pond Mountain are located in Livermore, New Hampshire. Mount Nancy has an unmaintained trail that runs to its summit.  Duck Pond Mountain is a wooded, trail-less summit and requires a bushwhack to reach its high point.

Mount Nancy is on the New Hampshire One Hundred Highest List, New Hampshire Two Hundred Highest List, the New England 100 Highest List, and New Hampshire 3K List.  Duck Pond Mountain is on the New Hampshire Two Hundred Highest List and New Hampshire 3K List. 

We parked at the Nancy Pond Trailhead off of Route 302, where there was one other car there when we arrived.  It was snowing pretty good when we started heading up the Nancy Pond Trail.

Brian heading up a section of the Nancy Pond Trail that was relocated a bit higher up off of the old section of eroded, washed out trail.

Frozen over Nancy Cascades.  It seems like we have been here at least 10 times before.

The snow stopped a bit before Nancy Cascades and then the clouds started to part and the sun came out to play.  This is looking to the ridge coming off of Mount Bemis.

The views above the Nancy Cascade area looking to Stairs Mountain, Mount Resolution and Mount Crawford.

Mount Anderson starting to make its presence known as we start to cross Nancy Pond.

It's not every day you get to cross on a frozen pond.  The winds were high today which kicked up a lot of snow which is why there is drifting going on.

Brian entering the terrifying Pemigewasset Wilderness.

Its not often Brian gets to ponder the meaning of life sitting on a rock in the middle of frozen Norcross Pond.  Either that or he's wondering why we're doing this hike.

The always impressive views from the end of Norcross Pond looking towards the Bonds.  Cool looking cloud formations over Mount Bond.

Nice views from the summit of Mount Nancy looking east.  Mount Bemis is close by, Kearsarge North in the far right corner.  The long Montalban Ridge with Mount Crawford, Mount Resolution and Stairs Mountain.  Mount Parker is to the right of Mount Crawford.

Looking towards Big Attitash and the ski area, with the Langdon-Stanton-Pickering Ridge from the summit ledges on Mount Nancy.

Looking into the Crawford Notch area with the Presidentials in the clouds.

Me on the summit of Mount Nancy (elevation 3926').

A section of the Mount Nancy Trail and woods coming down off of Mount Nancy.  This trail, although relatively short, is very steep in spots and stays pretty steady until you reach the summit of Mount Nancy.

The views of Mount Anderson, Vose Spur and Mount Carrigain from the slide area off of the Mount Nancy Trail.

Another view from Norcross Pond over towards the Bonds.

Reversing directions and heading back across frozen Norcross Pond.  It was fun walking across the ice that was just about frozen solid.

My face was frozen like this for quite awhile from the cold.  

We made a last minute decision to bushwhack the short distance over to Duck Pond Mountain, which Bryan and Jeremy did as well.  

The summit canister on Duck Pond Mountain (elevation 3340').

It was hard (for me) to walk across these in snowshoes, probably because last time I tried it I fell in the water here.

We headed back down the Nancy Pond Trail and made good time hiking back down to the car.  The weather turned out better than expected, although it registered the temperature colder when we returned to the car than when we started.  We got some good views and got in a couple of tough winter peaks.  

I will say thank you to Jeremy and Bryan for breaking the trail to the top of Mount Nancy, as they have been up in this area several times in the recent months.  That's dedication.  I think it will be quite some time before Brian and I will be back in this area.