NH Cohos Trail: Percy and Nash Stream

Lots of toads and garter snakes in these parts

After sleeping like a log near the Devil's Rest Shelter, I woke to the sound of a wailing loon off in the distance. The sound was drifting up from Christine Lake, which is located below the shelter (but not visible from the shelter). Ahh, more North Woods sounds. It's been a long time since I've heard a loon, and this one was really howling.

Then it was time to head up towards the twin peaks of North and South Percy. These are the peaks that the Cohos Trail logo is based on. This was the steepest hiking since Owl's Head and there were some tricky scrambles. Since it had rained the night before, the rock was still wet and slick and the dirt was untrustworthy. Mostly not that bad, but there was one spot where I resorted to taking off my pack, heaving it up the rock, and ascending in a lightened state.

Heading up Percy

There was an elevation gain of about 1500 feet, and I was sad to discover there really weren't any views because the visibility was great. The Cohos brings you to a spur that goes up to the North Percy summit, but it's a significant climb up the spur and I chose not to venture that way. At this point, I was trying to make time, which is the downside of backpacking. When I was day-hiking the New England Trail in Connecticut, I explored every side trail and looked for letterboxes. I returned to some spots three or four times and was in no particular hurry. But the Cohos Trail was too far from home and my goal was to get to the Canadian border by the end of the month. I needed to get going. I had three potential pickup points on Nash Stream Road for 3 pm. I hoped to get to the third point, but would really need to hustle. So I blew past the North Percy spur and continued on.

Bonnie's Pool

From Percy to Nash Stream Road was a pleasant and easy hike, mostly downhill. The terrain and plants at this lower elevation started to become more similar to Connecticut than the boreal ridgelines of  the Kilkenny or Franconia Ranges. The trail was well-cleared, blazed, and easy to follow.

Whorled Aster

One difference from southern New England where I started were the big logged areas. In Connecticut, an area like this would mean a bunch of McMansions were about to be constructed and the trail would be closed down or routed into a narrow corridor consisting of swamp, rock ledge, or both. Up here, it just meant the area had been logged for timber or paper, and a new habitat was replacing the old forest. Dense new growth would provide food and shelter to moose and deer and grouse. And these open areas had views of the surrounding hills.

View from logged clearing

Eventually the trail came to the bottom of the Nash Stream Valley and crossed Trio Ponds Road, the first of several gravel roads I'd encounter over the next few days. I loved this next section. The guidebook had warned about a ford that could be flooded, but when I arrived there was a simple bridge across the stream. Great! I started across and all was going great until I stepped on the second part of the bridge and the boards rotated unexpectedly. I nearly fell. After uttering a few choice exclamations, I continued on through a low area full of moose poop.

Be careful with that second section. Pond Brook Falls Trail.

Soon I started hearing the roar of water up ahead and figured the ford I was supposed to have encountered must be the roaring stream up ahead and not the once I'd already crossed. It did not sound promising. But it turned out that the trail didn't cross this brook, it just ran along the side a short ways in a gorgeous spot with roaring water and sculpted rock.  If I'd had more time, I would have lingered.

Ponds Brook Falls. Photo does not do justice to this location. 

It was shortly after noon that I reach the first designated pickup point on Nash Stream Road. The Cohos weaves back and forth across the road three times, so each crossing became a designated pickup, with the pickup time being 3:00 - 4:00 pm. There's no cell phone service down in the valley, but I had texted my progress earlier. So I wrote a big "TT" in the sand to show my husband I'd been there, and crossed the road to follow the Cohos markings over a snowmobile bridge across Nash Stream.

Snowmobile Bridge

Nash Stream

The Cohos soon joined up with a gravel road marked for ATVs and head uphill. I had not expected to get this far and my map for this section was packed away, so I just followed the markings and my gps track without really knowning what to expect.  I didn't realize quite how far uphill the trail would go along the ATV road. My hope was to get to the second Nash Stream Road crossing by 1:30 pm, allowing me to continue to the third pickup point, so I was in a mindset of traveling quickly and making time.

West Side ATV Road

The ATV road went uphill a lot longer than I expected and I ran out of steam. At one point, an active backhoe blocked the road. After spending about five minutes trying to get the operator's attention, I finally gave up and bushwhacked through the forest around the backhoe. I bet that operator was surprised to see some lady pop out of the woods in front of him. I bet he didn't even know that part of the ATV road was being used as a hiking trail.

Had to bushwhack around this backhoe on the ATV road

Up and up and up on the ATV road, then the Cohos veered right onto what I guess was a snowmobile trail (now a pleasant grassy road) and it was more up and up and up. I was tired and wasn't expecting the hill, so it seemed to never end, but finally the hill came to a crest, whereupon I collapsed and had some lunch. And then the grassy road went back down the hill, passing the Old Hermit Shelter and continuing down uneventfully to Nash Stream Road. I'm not sure what the point of that up and down was. Most of the uphill was on an ATV gravel road. I would rather have just walked up Nash Stream Road, which was also gravel, but a lot easier.

Nash Stream (again)

I had hoped to reach the second pick-up point by 1:30 pm, but 2:10 pm was the best I could do. Pickup time was between 3 and 4 pm, so I figured I'd hustle and go for pickup point #3 on Nash Stream Road, which is the farthest you can drive up this gravel road. Otherwise I'd have to tack a couple extra miles on to the next section, which I was going to slack pack. This last part of the trail today would follow East Side Trail roughly parallel to Nash Stream. It looked pretty easy on the map.

Pearly Everlasting

Of course it took longer than expected. The trail started out beautifully right along the edge of Nash Stream, but then climbed up the hill above the brook through rougher terrain. Normally it would have been a pleasure and a nice stroll, but since I was in a hurry and already tired, the rocks, roots, and trail twists were just aggravating. Eventually the trail followed an old logging road, and I made good time, but then just as the trail was about to come out onto Nash Stream Road for a brief roadwalk, it turned off from the mapped route and went a new way. Argh! It was already after 3:00 pm and I imagined my husband there on Nash Stream Road waiting for me.  This part of the route had "new trail syndrome", making the footing tedious and slow as it paralleled Nash Stream Road. But eventually it dropped down to the road near a pair of gates. And my ride wasn't there. Huh.

Nash Stream Road

This trip was the first time that our little weekend getaway system didn't work well. What we had done since central Massachusetts was this: I would drive up first and do some backpacking. My husband would drive up a later day and pick me up. We'd stay in a hotel and eat out, and then the next couple days I would slackpack while my husband golfed. The pickup points were frequently in low areas with no cell phone, but it still worked. One thing that was different during this trip was the shear distance involved. Everything was farther than we expected. In this case, it was a 40 minute drive up gravel roads to get to Pickup Point #3, and my husband was just starting that after being stuck behind road construction on Route 3.

But I didn't know any of that and instead began to comically overthink things. Nash Stream Road had a few deserted camps and no fresh tire tracks. What if it was a gated road and all the camps all have gate access? Maybe they do things differently up here. How would I know? My ride would be stuck at the gate. If that were the case, then I needed to walk out. Pickup Point #2 had been a public parking area, so I started walking down the road in that direction. I passed lots of interesting and fun-looking camps, none occupied. I was nearly back at the second pickup point when my husband pulled up. Yay!!

Overlook on Route 2 while retrieving the car from Jefferson

After a nice hot shower, we drove into Jefferson to retrieve my car. On the way, a scenic overlook of the Kilkenny beckoned. So beautiful!