Mount Morgan - 2,220'

Hike date: 06/13/2020

Description: Mount Morgan offers excellent views to the south of Squam Lake as well as the rest of the Lakes Region. Red Hill is visible and the Belknap Range can be seen in the distance. Be sure to check out our YouTube video of our hike to Mount Morgan and Mount Percival which you can find here!

Trails Used: Ascend via the Mount Morgan Trail to the Crawford-Ridgepole Trail to the summit of Mount Morgan. Continue on Crawford-Ridgepole Trail until you reach the summit of Mount Percival. To descend, take the Mount Percival Trail down. To make this a loop and get back to your car, take the Morse Trail back to the Mount Morgan Trail.

Trail Summary: The best way to do this loop is clockwise by going up Mount Morgan and down Mount Percival, this way you avoid a risky descent down the ladder section. This is a very scenic hike, which makes it extremely popular. Parking is limited, so get there early to ensure you get a spot in one of the lots (parking along the road is prohibited)! The standard loop is mentioned in the “Trails Used” section above, but we had to do this a bit differently. Since the Mount Morgan trailhead parking lot was full, we parked at the Mount Percival trailhead lot. Instead of using the Morse Trail at the end of our hike to form a loop, we walked along Route 113 at the start of our hike to get to the Mount Morgan Trailhead. We could have also used the Morse Trail at the start of our hike from the Mount Percival Trailhead, but we chose the road instead.  

We were really excited to do this hike after being cooped up for a few months due to the coronavirus quarantine. The sun was shining and it was nice and cool out too! The Mount Morgan Trail starts off flat and reaches the junction with the Morse Trail in 0.1 miles on your right. If you do the loop, this is where you’ll come out at the end of the hike (more on that later). The first mile or so of the Mount Morgan Trail climbs very moderately over gentle terrain. As you near the ridge, the trail becomes rockier and makes a steeper ascent. After you’ve gone 1.7 miles from the trailhead, you’ll find yourself at the junction with the Crawford-Ridgepole Trail where the two trails now coincide with one another until the summit of Mount Morgan. After hiking 0.3 miles from the junction, you’ll come to a fork where you have a choice of how to get to the summit. If you go left, you’ll be taking the ladder route to the summit. Note that this portion of the trail lands the Mount Morgan Trail on the Terrifying 25 list! More specific information and additional photos can be found here. If you go right at the fork, it’ll be a bit of a longer approach to the summit, but safer and less aggressive than the ladder route. Of course, we chose to climb the ladders! After taking the left, you’ll climb up 3 ladders, crawl through a cave, and scramble over some ledges to get to a really nice viewpoint of Squam Lake. Once you’re done enjoying the views, make sure to follow the trail for another minute until you come to a signed spur path on your left that takes you to the true summit (which is wooded and has limited views). To this point, you’ll have gone 2.1 miles and gained 1,400 feet in elevation.

Now it’s time to head over to Mount Percival for more amazing views! Continue to follow the Crawford-Ridgepole Trail for 0.8 miles and you’ll reach the summit of Mount Percival. This section of the trail has some minor ups and downs, along with some rocky sections, but nothing too crazy. The views from the lookout at Mount Percival are similar to the ones from Mount Morgan, but you get a much more panoramic feel. From the summit, you’ll have two choices to descend. Heading down to the right will take you through the cave route. Note that this portion of the trail lands the Mount Percival Trail on the Terrifying 25 list! More specific information and additional photos can be found here. You’ll scale down steep ledges, climb over big boulders, and crawl through a few caves on this route. If you go down the summit to the left, you’ll be taking the “easier” route down the cliffs, which is still steep and rough. Regardless of the route you take, they both link back up together with the main trail roughly 0.1 miles below the summit. The trail continues to descend at a fairly steep grade over many rocks and roots for about a half mile before it becomes a more moderate grade. After 1.8 miles and roughly 1,400 feet of elevation loss, you’ll come to the junction with the Morse Trail on your right. Normally, if your car is parked at the Mount Morgan Trailhead, you’d take this trail to get back to where you started. This link trail is only half a mile long and doesn’t really have any elevation change. It takes you through the woods as opposed to walking along a main road. But, since we parked at the Mount Percival Trailhead and did the road walk at the start of our hike, we continued all the way on the Mount Percival Trail to the trailhead. This was a really fun and enjoyable hike!

Alternative routes:

We have not yet done any alternative routes to the summit of Mount Morgan. This page will be updated once we have!

We have not yet climbed Mount Morgan in the winter, but once we do, we will update this page with our full report!

Questions? Comments? Want to share your take on this hike? Get in touch with us using the contact page!

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