The White Mountains - Hiking the Percy Peaks in northern New Hampshire via the Percy Peaks and Percy Loop Trails
The Percy Peaks are two of the most iconic mountains of New Hampshire's north country. They rise above Groveton and Stark and their open rocky slopes make them stand out from quite some distance. North Percy is the higher of the two peaks at 3,430', while South Percy tops out at 3,234'.
From the notch, we first ascended South Percy. The trail ascends through a dense spruce forest before reaching the more open summit area on South Percy. It's about .3 miles from the notch to the summit of the mountain. There's very little open ledge or difficult climbing on South Percy.
From South Percy we descended back to the notch and then ascended North Percy. The trail up North Percy, after first climbing through the woods, does ascend the summit on open rock slabs. This trail would be difficult, if not impossible in wet, slippery conditions, but during dry periods, the rock is quite grippy and easy to walk up with sturdy hiking shoes.
After North Percy, we descended back down to the Percy Loop Trail and followed that around northern side of North Percy where the trail eventually ends at Nash Stream Road to the north of where the Percy Peaks Trail begins. From there we walked down the Nash Stream Road to our car at the Percy Peaks Trailhead.
Note that Nash Stream Road is not maintained in the winter for vehicle traffic, so unless you have access to a snowmobile, the Percy Peaks are only accessible during the summer months from the Nash Stream Road trailheads.
The peaks can be climbed from a few different directions and the mountains also host the long distance Cohos Trail on their flanks. For this hike we ascended the Peaks from the west on the Percy Peaks Trail. This trail begins on the Nash Stream Road (a seasonal road only open in the summer) and ascends to the notch between the two peaks.
From the notch, we first ascended South Percy. The trail ascends through a dense spruce forest before reaching the more open summit area on South Percy. It's about .3 miles from the notch to the summit of the mountain. There's very little open ledge or difficult climbing on South Percy.
From South Percy we descended back to the notch and then ascended North Percy. The trail up North Percy, after first climbing through the woods, does ascend the summit on open rock slabs. This trail would be difficult, if not impossible in wet, slippery conditions, but during dry periods, the rock is quite grippy and easy to walk up with sturdy hiking shoes.
After North Percy, we descended back down to the Percy Loop Trail and followed that around northern side of North Percy where the trail eventually ends at Nash Stream Road to the north of where the Percy Peaks Trail begins. From there we walked down the Nash Stream Road to our car at the Percy Peaks Trailhead.
Note that Nash Stream Road is not maintained in the winter for vehicle traffic, so unless you have access to a snowmobile, the Percy Peaks are only accessible during the summer months from the Nash Stream Road trailheads.
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