Thursday thegibba and I set out for a sunset hike. We left my place about 2 in the afternoon with no set destination, but had a few spots in mind where we could catch a nice sunset from. The Belknaps were first up, but they had a good chance of storms arriving later in the day, so we headed up I-93 towards Black and Blueberry mountains or the Moose via Glencliff, but when we got up there they were having active lightning strikes and downpours, so scratch that. Farther north looked to be the best option at that point so we set our sights on the Nash Stream State Forest and Sugarloaf Mountain as we drove through a rainy Franconia Notch. Things were clearing as we got close, and the Percy's were just staring us in the face, so we made a last minute adjustment and found our way to the parking area on Nash Stream Road, where some fellow hikers were just coming down from a blueberry picking trip up North Percy. They nicely insisted we take a couple of their empty tubs to fill ourselves, and who am I to say no to blueberries?! So we took the tubs, chatted for a bit before they left and we finally hit the trail around 5:30 under promising looking skies.
Storms rolling in after lunch. No hiking here.
Not looking so hot here either. Onward to Sugarloaf!
Hey now, what is THAT?!
Change of plans!!
This is what those perky peaks are. we must go
The first mile or so of trail was about as flat as a hiking trail not named Lincoln Woods can be and still go anywhere. It followed Slide Brook for a bit then took a sharp left and continued to follow but started to climb up along the top of the embankment. Temps were only in the 80s but there wasn't a breath of wind and you could cut the humidity with a knife. I got down a liter of water in the first mile just to combat the sweating and any effects of dehydration that might come up. We knew it had to do some serious climbing eventually and sure enough the second mile of trail climbed fairly steeply for a while along a ledgy slide or dry watercourse (not sure which) and eventually left it to head for the notch between the Percy's. Not as steep but a little more rocky it continued the climb, with occasional views and beautiful emerald green miss and trees all around. A really nice section of trail for sure, and after about a mile of that things leveled off and we arrived at the notch between the summits.
Easy warm up for a mile or so, even though you could have cut the humidity with the proverbial knife
Another good storm or two and this boulder could wind up in the brook
Things get steeper as they follow alongside a slide of some sort
Trail is about this steep for a while
They leave the slides side and moderate for a while with an occasional viewpoint
Nice lush green woods near the saddle between the peaks
We seemed to remember South was less impressive, so we went up there first, starting on the Old Summer Club trail, which was also part of the Coos Trail, and I think it split off after a bit and and easy to follow but technically unmaintained here path climbed steeply through beautiful moss covered woods towards the summit, turning into mountain azalea and blueberry bushes near the very top, with some views if you walked around a few feet, the best of which was probably if neighboring North Percy's ledgy top nearby. Clouds were still clearing but wave after wave of hazy mountains rolled off to the horizon in all directions. We signed into the summit jar before picking a few blueberries, and as the sun began to sink and the clouds continued to clear we decided to move along to North Percy and make sure if there's was to be a sunset from up there we wouldn't miss it.
The Coos Trail branches off but the actual path up South Percy quickly leaves that
Headed for South Percy
Steep, wild, mossy and officially (I think) unmaintained but easy to follow path
View of North Percy from the trail
Oh, looky here! A very nice trail indeed!
Signing into the summit jar as sunshine appears
Nice VFTT
Presis to the south
Picked a few berries here but decided to move on fairly quickly
Down and then back up on the North Percy Trail we went. Shortly after starting the climb we hit the large open ledges reminiscent of Welch and Dickey, which provided a nice look back at South Percy and the surrounding forest as well as out to the cloudy Whites on the horizon. The ledges weren't as exposed as I thought they were going to be, but were nicely open as the golden hour light began to filter through the low clouds. I thought the climbing would be more like the ledges on South Baldface but they weren't even that exposed as the trail wound its way up through the scrub and rock, and shortly we found ourselves arriving at the summit markings with a little time spare, so we got to work filling up out containers with the berries that covered the top of the mountain.
Headed up the ledges of North Percy on the official trail
Nice look back at South Peak
Kilkenny Range backed by the rest of the Whites
Here comes Peter and the sun!
Ridges
The promise of a sunset as we near the top
Lighting up the berry bushes
VFTT of Sugarloaf and Jay Peak maybe?? I don't know my way around these parts very well
VT's northeast kingdom
Clouds look like theyre going to swallow up our sunset
As we picked the berries the sun sank below some clouds near the horizon and we thought for sure our sunset was not going to happen, but suddenly things started to turn colors, lots of color, and then the little red star poked through the clouds and gave us a spectacular show with every color in the rainbow! Really one of the better sunsets I ever recall seeing. The clouds sort of made a portal around the sun and it was like looking into a different world with all the flaming colors inside the window for a while, and it was hard to decide whether to take pictures or pick the berries, so we did both, working our way from view ledge to views ledge and picking berries in between stops. There were a ton of the things up there, big juicy ones too. Not the most I have seen this season (that award goes to Bayle Mountain) but probably the biggest berries, and a lot of still pink and purple ones so there should be plenty more for a while. The views were equally good, with the rolling hills and mountains of the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and Canada reaching to the horizon.
Almost done with berries and fingers crossed for a sunset
The sun peaking through the clouds
Oooooohhhhhh, looooking good!!!
Yes!!
En fuego!!
Amazing what this lone fireball can do
The sun has gone down, but the show must go on
As the sunset lost it's brilliant flames of color it gave way to some really nice pinks and purples before fading to navy and black, at which point we broke out the headlamps and headed down with the lights of the towns coming on below. We made the trip down in under an hour, fired up the grill and cooked some burgers while sipping a few of Vermont's finest ciders under the stars. Perfect way to end a day that didn't even start until 2 in the afternoon. The only way to improve upon it would have been to have a shorter drive home, as Nash Stream is kind of far up there to be leaving at 10:30 at night. But it didn't kill us, so I assume it made us stronger. The overall experience was just fantastic. For only 5.5 miles and 2350 feet or so of elevation this hike is way up there on the bang for the buck list, and it's always nice when a plan comes together.
Continuing to evolve
Burning itself out
Nicely sums up the day I thought
Time to go
A quick post hike bite of burger and apple juice
Cheers to a great hike!
