I looked at the Terrifying 25 list to see if there are any that aren't a huge drive up in NH, and found that there's a nice loop near the Belknaps that has some ladders and some short caves, as well as a little bouldering. So fun! I decided that would be the perfect hike, and it was.
It's a shorter hike with less elevation gain - 5.5 miles with 1500 feet elevation gain. So, a good solid hike, but not killer. Since the days are really short now, with the sun going down at 4:45 (yuck) I wanted something that wouldn't be too long and that I could get up at a reasonable hour, hike, and finish in the light. This seemed perfect, and with the ladders and caves, etc, it would still be interesting.
I got everything set up last night so I could just pop out of bed, feed the cats, make coffee and go. Well, I didn't exactly pop, it was more a crawl at like 7:30, but really not so bad. I was on the road before 8 and planning to get there before 10. That's were things went wrong because I used all trails for driving directions and wound up going down this sketchy dirt road, scraping the bottom of my car on rocks and driving past all these Trump signs. I knew I was in the wrong place - this was supposed to be an easy one to get to! I had to turn around and do some map reading. Fortunately I taken a picture of directions before I left (would have been good to read them over before I wasted 45 minutes going to the wrong place, but whatever). In the end, I got to the trailhead.
Most of the hike up was actually quite normal, with some pretty uphill parts, some more chill parts; a typical 2000 footer. It was in the 30's, but I was able to hike in my athleta pants, ninja hoodie, and this t-shirt that I have that has a picture of a dinosaur on it that says "t-rex hates pushups." On the way up, no one passed me and I didn't pass anyone until I got to the ladders, which were both sketchy looking and super fun. So the way the ladders on Morgan work you go up the first ladder to the second - easy peasy, except that they are a little flimsy looking an you wonder a little how they are attached to the rocks. Then, from the top of the second you have to step over to the third. By this time you are pretty high up, the ladder is really just bolted to the rocks, and you are kind of out of rungs by the step part. Fortunately, though, there are some really nice holds on the rock to help you side step over. Then you climb the third ladder that gets wider at the top. After only like 3 rungs, the rungs stop and you have just wood blocks to step on, and then the blocks stop, and you have to use the rocks. There was one move that I was like "where do I put my foot?" which of course was the highest up, but it was fine. Then you get to the top, and you have to crawl though this short cave to get to an overlook. Then, there's a little bouldering that brings you to an awesome view.
Just as I finished going up the ladders, these two hikers came flying up them, and it was a little awkward to get a proper picture from the top of the ladder, but whatever, I did. I tagged the peek, but it was viewless, so I went back to the view and I sat and had a peanut butter sandwich and some nuts.
There's a really nice ridgeline from Morgan to Percival, and I enjoyed the walk. At one point I really needed to stop and pee, and so I went off the trail and found this really cute campground and firepit. I wonder if someone is living up there - it looked well cared for, with a nice stone wall built around the pit.
There were a bunch of people at the top of Percival who were trying to figure out the paths down. There is a "cliff" trail and a "cave" trail. The Terrifying 25 had the cliff trail as a part of the list, so I decided to try that one. Also, this really noisy group of non-socially distant people was doing the cliff trail. I was so glad I did the cave trail - it was really fun. At first I was completely sketched out by it because I'm really claustrophobic, and I wasn't sure I could do it, but the caves were more bouldering, where you went through boulder caves for short bits and had to crawl out of some holes. I had my hiking poles in my pack, so I had to take my pack off and push it ahead of me a couple times. The last hole was the smallest - I wasn't sure I would make it out, and then there was a bit of a drop at the end. Standing on the outside, it makes a great picture (below)! It was some pretty big rocks - you can see the yellow arrow pointing into the cave. It would be kind of fun to try the loop in the other direction because I think the cave would be nice in that direction, but I'm not sure about going down the ladder; certainly it would need to be a dry day (which happily it was today, though there was some running water and I got to practice my parkour ninja jumping skills).
All and all, a really nice hike. Not too difficult, fun climbing and caves, good length, nice ridgeline, excellent views. Not even that long a drive (if you can manage to not take a wrong turn - note that it's 93 to exit 24 to Rt 3 east, left on 113, and then it's less than 6 miles to parking on the left - both Morgan and Percival have lots but Percival's is bigger, and it's nicer to park close to where you will come down from the mountain instead of having to walk to the trailhead, even though it was a nice walk). There are no dirt roads on the way to this trail! I did get a little lost on Mt. Percival looking for the cave trail (you go straight from where you came up to the top of Percival and down. I spent a while looking, which is probably why mile 3 took so long) - so glad I have all trails, really helped me find it! Definitely would do again.
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