Elevation gain: 1640'
Trails used: Morse Trail, Mount Morgan trail, Crawford-Ridgepole trail, Mount Percival Trail.
Last Friday, Joe asked if Desi wanted to hike with him and Becky on Sunday so while Brian and I were hiking up in Pittsburg, New Hampshire (on Saturday) they made plans to hike as the weather outlook was nice.
They decided to do some peaks that Desi and I had done several times before, a loop hike over Mount Morgan and Mount Percival in the Squam Lakes area. I agreed to go with Desi Saturday night since I was feeling okay from the previous days hike and extra miles are always good for this endeavor.
Mount Morgan and Mount Percival are located in Holderness, New Hampshire. These peaks are part of the Squam Mountain Range and are often done as a loop hike.
We parked both cars at the Percival Trail parking area since we knew there was a connector trail over to the Morgan Trail, which we would take up.
The Morse Trail, connecting both Morgan and Percival's parking area's/trail's, makes a loop hike possible without having to hike on NH Route 113.
The trail is evident throughout the hike and signed at all of the junctions. It starts off with moderate grades and easy terrain.
The Mount Morgan Trail gets steeper about a mile and a half into the hike.
And steeper still. It's never too steep until you get to the ladder section though. Nice section's of trail go up to the ridge.
You come to these ladder's that you can climb up to get to the ledges on Mount Morgan. You can either go up them or go to the right and bypass your way up (which is easier and shorter) but what's the fun in that?
Once you get up the ladder's you then have to go through this cave to get to the other side and make your way up towards the summit of Mount Morgan.
Looking back towards the southern end of the Squam Range and Mount Webster. Mount Kearsarge is barely visible to the right (and background) of Webster.
Panorama of Squam Lake with Red Hill, the Ossipee's (left), Belknap Range (behind the tree) and Mount Webster (right) taken from the ledges on Mount Morgan.
Views towards Mount Tecumseh from Mount Morgan's summit.
Mount Morgan's summit (elevation 2220' but a slightly higher 2240' bump along the way to Mount Percival does have a cairn but is off trail by about 75 feet).
Joe and Becky admiring the nice views towards the Sandwich Mountain and Jennings Peak.
Nice ledge goodness on the side of Mount Morgan.
I think Joe is taking pictures of his feet on the summit of Mount Percival (elevation 2212' ), but you never know with him.
The views towards Red Hill (right) and the Ossipee Range (left) from the summit ledges on Mount Percival.
Panorama from the summit of Mount Percival.
Views from the lower Mount Percival summit ledges of Squam Lake and the Belknap Range (in the background).
Views from Mount Percival's summit looking towards Sandwich Dome, Mount Whiteface, and Mount Paugus. Mount Israel is just to the right, behind Doublehead Mountain.
Another view looking back towards Mount Morgan.
We decided to bypass the cave section just below Mount Percival and take the steep (but less dangerous) approach back to the car.
A leisurely walk out of the woods back to the cars.
Overall a nice day to hike with warm temperatures and good views (the bugs were annoying as usual, but mainly at the trail head). Third time being up on these two peaks and the views are always good. Passed quite a few people along the way and the trail head's were packed with many people out enjoying this loop hike.
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