Morgan/Percival questions

This loop has been on my to-do list for years but for various reasons, has never worked out. But I am curious about some things...

1) I know alot of times in the Spring, the parking lot is closed due to mud season. But this Spring has been early and dry. Does anyone know if this is open right now?

2) Does the trail start right from that parking lot? And does that split off so you loop back on that same trail on return? Or is it 2 trails with a road walk back?

3) What is the better direction? Most trip reports I have seen tackle Morgan first and then Percival.

4) Are there caves to go thru near both summits? It sounded like it. One tougher than the other?

5) Are the trails well marked? Mostly at the points of the junctions where you can go choose to go thru the tougher but cool cave routes or bypass around them. I am super excited to go thru the caves, but I hike with a 76 year old who I believe will want to bypass them. So is it obvious which trail is which?

Can't wait to do this hike! Thanks for any info!

shamples said:

This loop has been on my to-do list for years but for various reasons, has never worked out. But I am curious about some things...

1) I know alot of times in the Spring, the parking lot is closed due to mud season. But this Spring has been early and dry. Does anyone know if this is open right now?

2) Does the trail start right from that parking lot? And does that split off so you loop back on that same trail on return? Or is it 2 trails with a road walk back?

3) What is the better direction? Most trip reports I have seen tackle Morgan first and then Percival.

4) Are there caves to go thru near both summits? It sounded like it. One tougher than the other?

5) Are the trails well marked? Mostly at the points of the junctions where you can go choose to go thru the tougher but cool cave routes or bypass around them. I am super excited to go thru the caves, but I hike with a 76 year old who I believe will want to bypass them. So is it obvious which trail is which?

Can't wait to do this hike! Thanks for any info!

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1. I don't know if the parking lot is still closed, but it was closed as of the last weekend of winter.
2. The trail starts right from the parking lot. You will see a sign for the connector trail fairly close to the start, I believe it's called the Morse Trail.
3. I hiked up Percival first, but this particular loop seemed like it would be fine either way to me.
4. The caves are near the summit of Percival... it's just a tenth of a mile or so. You can avoid them by going up the cliff side trail instead. (I dropped a Leki pole in one of them that I could not retrieve due to snow and ice... I wonder if it's still there!) Morgan doesn't have caves (that I saw) but a big ladder and a nice, short scramble near its summit.
5. I had no trouble following the trails... the Mt. Morgan trail was a pit of a mud pit at the time.

I agree, Percival first if you're going to do a loop. The Mount Morgan trail avoids the ladder section if you don't want to descend that way. The parking lot should be open but if it's not, there's plenty of parking alongside the road. This is a fun hike, enjoy! The hike over to Squam Peak from Percival is worthwhile also but not as well marked as the "regular" loop.

"Trail closure is now over. All SLA-maintained trails are open for hiking!"

http://www.squamlakes.org/index.php

poison ivy said:

1. I don't know if the parking lot is still closed, but it was closed as of the last weekend of winter.
2. The trail starts right from the parking lot. You will see a sign for the connector trail fairly close to the start, I believe it's called the Morse Trail.
3. I hiked up Percival first, but this particular loop seemed like it would be fine either way to me.
4. The caves are near the summit of Percival... it's just a tenth of a mile or so. You can avoid them by going up the cliff side trail instead. (I dropped a Leki pole in one of them that I could not retrieve due to snow and ice... I wonder if it's still there!) Morgan doesn't have caves (that I saw) but a big ladder and a nice, short scramble near its summit.
5. I had no trouble following the trails... the Mt. Morgan trail was a pit of a mud pit at the time.

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2) The connector trail is pretty obvious, it's fairly new or there was some work done recently. It doesn't show on acme mapper. The last time I went I parked at the Percival lot and then it's a left pretty soon out of the lot to connect over to Mt Morgan trail. The map on this page shows it well: http://www.hikenewengland.com/MorganPercival060506.html

3) I did the loop clockwise, up the ladder at the top of Morgan (it's fun!) and down via the caves on Percival. The caves weren't bad coming down at all.

4) Near the Mt Morgan summit there is a ladder to come down or the regular trail, the loop is probably a hundred yards long. A quarter of a mile or so from the top of Percival the trail splits between the "caves" and "cliffs" and rejoins at the top. When I was there it was very confusing coming down Percival, with no signage and literally 5 different paths with yellow blazes starting at the summit. If you are standing on top looking towards the lake, I recall two rocky outcrops with paths, the caves route will be on your right and cliffs on your left (obviously the route between the peaks is perpendicular to these trails). If you're coming up you will see the sign when you get near the top and the direction will be reversed with caves on your left and cliffs on your right.

5) See 4. The only part that's not obvious is coming down Percival the caves route is on the right (south) and the cliffs are left (north/east).

I really like the caves off both peaks and have always done the hike clockwise.

erugs said:

I really like the caves off both peaks and have always done the hike clockwise.

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Me too, clockwise.

Going down, right above Percivals cave can be a little tricky in one or two spots. But. I'd rather go down Percival and lower myself down into the boulder cave, than down the ladders off Morgan. I've done both a few times and either way is doable, I think it's just your preference.

Keep in mind that the ledge area on Morgan is not the summit. I haven't been there recently enough to describe it, but if you look around a bit you can find the trail that continue to the top after going past the ladder area. It's easy to get distracted by the nearby ledges with the great views of Squam Lake, and miss the actual summit!

If I remember rightly there is some kind of a view to the north from the summit. Nothing, of course, like the view from the ledges.

BobC said:

Keep in mind that the ledge area on Morgan is not the summit. I haven't been there recently enough to describe it, but if you look around a bit you can find the trail that continue to the top after going past the ladder area. It's easy to get distracted by the nearby ledges with the great views of Squam Lake, and miss the actual summit!

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Correct. Easily missed. If you are hiking clockwise, you climb the ladders, pop out on a ledge, make your way right up to another level of ledge. Then head back into the woods and look for a left turn. If you start down hill, you've gone too far. Coming the other way, you come to a T intsection, with the major trail going left, down hill. Turn right, look for the side trail. There isn't a huge area there, but the views are still nice and of a different direction.

I did the loop clockwise; though I thought afterwards that counterclockwise would have been better. You should note that there is a bypass of the ladder route on the west side of Morgan summit, useful if you are hiking with dogs. Also the "cliff" route on Percival is easier for dogs than the "cave" route.