Perfect Weather on the Percy's
Nash Stream Rd in Strafford, NH is a beautiful quintessential old gravel New England road that meanders across the landscape, following alongside the fast flowing Nash Stream. This time of year the colors are bursting from the trees above and the air has a bite of coolness, which makes for perfect outdoor wandering.
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| Nash Stream Road |
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| We had Lucy on a leash while on the road, but she demanded to walk herself. |
At 2.7 miles the trail head to Percy Peaks Trail is on the right, but Evan's strategic planning was to head another mile up Nash Stream Rd to Percy Loop trail and walk the road to start on Percy Peaks and finish the next day at our vehicle, completing the entire loop.
After a mile walk on the road, returning to the Percy Peaks trail head, the trail itself was approximately 1.6 miles up fairly steep and rocky terrain that's easier going up than down.
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| Starting the Percy Peaks Trail. |
Once at the trail junction of the Cohos trail, in the col of North and South Peaks, we headed south on the Cohos trail towards a well worn herd path which was steep, but well defined, and less than a half mile until the summit of South Percy.
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| Looking at North Peak from South Peak. |
We had started so early and the hike was short, so we took advantage and relaxed for some time, enjoying the beautiful views from South Peak on this brisk Fall day.
Once we started heading towards North Peak we surveyed the landscape looking for what could be a possible spot for our tent, the closer to the summit the better!
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| Evan and Lucy making their way up the steep slopes of North Percy |
The slopes heading to the summit were steep and there were very few spots that we thought may be good until we reached the summit itself. The possibilities across the flat summit were almost endless. This was a magnificent place to witness that fireball break the horizontal plane.
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| The flat summit with some trees to protect from winds |
After spending most of the afternoon relaxing and exploring the large summit area we decided to cook in a kitchen that had a view most outdoor enthusiasts would appreciate! Italian cuisine tonight!
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| A kitchen with a view |
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| Lucy looking on as we ate... |
I think Lucy appreciates when we take her with us, but any down time we have she seems to choose to relax and not spend good quality time with us...
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| Lucy's position while I set up the tent. |
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| After she ate... |
With the slight winds blowing from the Southwest we found a clearing within tree cover to block the direction of the wind and set up the tent with open views from the Northeast to the South.
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| A room with a view |
The lure of these getaways, for me, is the separation from all that's manufactured in our concrete and steel dungeon of society and get back to the basics of the natural world, sleeping beneath the stars and witnessing the celestial changes as the hours, days and months go bye.
We have created such a prison for ourselves, within a manufactured life, that most don't understand the correlation between clocks/ calendars and the celestial positioning throughout the hours, days, weeks and months. It seems simple to wake up with the rising sun as it changes throughout the year, instead we have to change our clocks to "daylight savings" to match this natural change and be sure everyone within the machine of society does the same.
This year long challenge, or project, that we have almost completed has helped me notice these changes in the sky over time and makes me appreciate and understand the natural movement of the solar system that I learned in those science classes as a child.
As the sunset further, than just a few months ago, to the Southwest horizon, the pink and orange hues lit the wispy clouds above like floating cotton candy in the sky.
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| Mt Washington in the distance |
As the earth spins us away from the sun, the brightness in the sky slowly disappears as the blackness from the east takes over and the scattered stars glitter above.
We hunkered down in the tent as the temperature dropped and the winds pushed against the tent walls.
Sometime around midnight I stepped out from the tent to observe a magnificent moonlit sky with stars scattered throughout the black canvas sky. The moon was so bright I didn't need a headlamp and took some time lapse photos, enjoying the peacefulness a summit like this provides.
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| The night sky with a full moon shining through the clouds |
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| The moon was so bright at midnight this was a 10 second time lapse |
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| The wispy clouds |
I crawled back in the tent and slept for a few hours before waking up to a glowing horizon towards the east behind Long Mountain.
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| The glow starting in the east behind Long Mountain |
Evan and I watched while the sun, as it seemed almost instantly, went from a glow on the horizon to a burning fire in the sky, burning the low lying under cast as it slowly evaporated from the valleys below.
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| Waiting patiently... |
Once the sun was in full view, casting it's warmth and light throughout the landscape, we packed up camp and slowly meandered our way across the summit and down the rocky slopes of North Percy.
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| Evan's hair flows like the under cast clouds below |
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| Meandering down the slopes of North Percy |
We chose to complete the loop and continued tramping north on the Cohos trail to Percy Loop, which is a more gentle descent than the steep Percy Peaks trail we ascended the day before.
The trail turned into an old logging road which gradually lead us through hardwoods that were bursting with bright yellow and orange colors until we exited the forest where we left our vehicle the morning before.
Evan's Blog: Evanhikes
GPS track: Hike up
GPS track: Hike down
