Six or so miles. On mountains that we only knew the first one. Gorgeous day in August. That all sounded okay to Hunter and me and also Samsun, recruited to hike with us on his week off from his basement located research job at Princeton. But the hike turned out to be challenging for a variety of reasons.
Our intention was to leave one of two cars at the base of Doublehead - the endpoint. Thank goodness Hunter saw the tiny faded 3 foot high wood sign next to Rt.113 marking the Doublehead Trail, instead of noticing the town sign for Thompson Rd. that Samsun and I drove right past. We did a U turn to follow Hunter up the dirt road for less than a mile where there was a pull-off for the trail. According to the Squam Trails book, we were expected to hike this road - clearly drivable and with a parking pull off for 2-3 cars (we were the only one)at the start to the woods trail.
We drove back to Mt.Percival and started up, including in our itinerary the connector path to Mt.Morgan which we did back and forth. It was a warm day with no wind - we were all hot - but the trail was well maintained and a pleasure to hike. Near the top, Hunter opted for "the cave trail" - which she found delightful (perhaps cool, too). Samsun and I took the shorter "cliff" trail - which did not actually have cliffs, any more so than any of the oversized boulders that we scrambled over on the Ridge Trail later.
We posed for a photo at the top of Mt. Percival, but then moved on, hoping to minimize time in the sun. But the ridge was sunny. Sunny and shady, actually. Lots of bumping up and down over mammoth rocks and through scrubby pine. For the next 4 miles we met only 2 men - and it was a summer Sunday. This trail is not as well traveled as others we have hiked, so this may explain why the trail was much brushier and more difficult to follow. There were several times where we took wrong turns and had trouble finding the next yellow mark. This was of particular concern for us since we realized late that we had left our trusty map in the car waiting for us at the bottom of Doublehead. We did not realize how spoiled we had become by the level of maintenance given to the well-traveled trails. On this one, we never did see a marker for Squam Mt., although we walked across several high open areas that seemed to be a peak of some sort. Then, when we passed a lone walker and I asked him about the distance to Doublehead, he told us 10-15 minutes. In that time, we did pass what may have been one of Doublehead's peaks (where I expected to find the trail down), but there was no sign or trail. After that point, Samsun suggested we take a break for lunch on a nice looking cool mossy-faced rock. I slowed a bit when OUCH! I was stung! I started running, as did Samsun and Hunter. Unlucky Samsun, following me, was stung at least 3 times and the hornets(?), wasps (?) were chasing him still as he ran after me down the trail. Lucky Hunter somehow escaped the wrath of the insects. But Samsun and I were MOVING. The stings hurt! We ran down through the woods, crossed a stream and then found ourselves picking our way along this dark muddy swamp of a trail - with a few rocks but mostly black ooze and pools of water. In the rear, Hunter had difficulty negotiating the lousy footing, and Samsun and I turned around when we heard cries of upset as she stumbled through the muck. After that, we decided to take a break for lunch.
It was not a happy lunch in spite of the delicious food (egg salad) Hunter had prepared to order for each of us. I was not happy that we hadn't seen signs designating the mountains. Hunter had not enjoyed the swamp. And she now pointed out that Samsun was getting a rash reaction to the stings, so Samsun was alarmed. At the sight of the first the first flying bug, we were up and walking (Hunter ate the rest of her sandwich in the car later).
I proceeded to predict that we were beyond Doublehead, but Hunter had studied the map and remembered that all trails went down from that peak. Sure enough, we went up another incline and at the top, there were 2 signs - one pointing toward Sandwich, the other down Doublehead. And it was DOWN. It descended almost straight down for quite a stretch before leveling out to a grassy road for a ways, then back to a still somewhat level trail to the welcome car. In all, we were out for about 4 hours and 20 minutes - a memorable trip.
Six or so miles. On mountains that we only knew the first one. Gorgeous day in August. That all sounded okay to Hunter and me and also Samsun, recruited to hike with us on his week off from his basement located research job at Princeton. But the hike turned out to be challenging for a variety of reasons.
Our intention was to leave one of two cars at the base of Doublehead - the endpoint. Thank goodness Hunter saw the tiny faded 3 foot high wood sign next to Rt.113 marking the Doublehead Trail, instead of noticing the town sign for Thompson Rd. that Samsun and I drove right past. We did a U turn to follow Hunter up the dirt road for less than a mile where there was a pull-off for the trail. According to the Squam Trails book, we were expected to hike this road - clearly drivable and with a parking pull off for 2-3 cars (we were the only one)at the start to the woods trail.
We drove back to Mt.Percival and started up, including in our itinerary the connector path to Mt.Morgan which we did back and forth. It was a warm day with no wind - we were all hot - but the trail was well maintained and a pleasure to hike. Near the top, Hunter opted for "the cave trail" - which she found delightful (perhaps cool, too). Samsun and I took the shorter "cliff" trail - which did not actually have cliffs, any more so than any of the oversized boulders that we scrambled over on the Ridge Trail later.
We posed for a photo at the top of Mt. Percival, but then moved on, hoping to minimize time in the sun. But the ridge was sunny. Sunny and shady, actually. Lots of bumping up and down over mammoth rocks and through scrubby pine. For the next 4 miles we met only 2 men - and it was a summer Sunday. This trail is not as well traveled as others we have hiked, so this may explain why the trail was much brushier and more difficult to follow. There were several times where we took wrong turns and had trouble finding the next yellow mark. This was of particular concern for us since we realized late that we had left our trusty map in the car waiting for us at the bottom of Doublehead. We did not realize how spoiled we had become by the level of maintenance given to the well-traveled trails. On this one, we never did see a marker for Squam Mt., although we walked across several high open areas that seemed to be a peak of some sort. Then, when we passed a lone walker and I asked him about the distance to Doublehead, he told us 10-15 minutes. In that time, we did pass what may have been one of Doublehead's peaks (where I expected to find the trail down), but there was no sign or trail. After that point, Samsun suggested we take a break for lunch on a nice looking cool mossy-faced rock. I slowed a bit when OUCH! I was stung! I started running, as did Samsun and Hunter. Unlucky Samsun, following me, was stung at least 3 times and the hornets(?), wasps (?) were chasing him still as he ran after me down the trail. Lucky Hunter somehow escaped the wrath of the insects. But Samsun and I were MOVING. The stings hurt! We ran down through the woods, crossed a stream and then found ourselves picking our way along this dark muddy swamp of a trail - with a few rocks but mostly black ooze and pools of water. In the rear, Hunter had difficulty negotiating the lousy footing, and Samsun and I turned around when we heard cries of upset as she stumbled through the muck. After that, we decided to take a break for lunch.
It was not a happy lunch in spite of the delicious food (egg salad) Hunter had prepared to order for each of us. I was not happy that we hadn't seen signs designating the mountains. Hunter had not enjoyed the swamp. And she now pointed out that Samsun was getting a rash reaction to the stings, so Samsun was alarmed. At the sight of the first the first flying bug, we were up and walking (Hunter ate the rest of her sandwich in the car later).
I proceeded to predict that we were beyond Doublehead, but Hunter had studied the map and remembered that all trails went down from that peak. Sure enough, we went up another incline and at the top, there were 2 signs - one pointing toward Sandwich, the other down Doublehead. And it was DOWN. It descended almost straight down for quite a stretch before leveling out to a grassy road for a ways, then back to a still somewhat level trail to the welcome car. In all, we were out for about 4 hours and 20 minutes - a memorable trip.
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