poison ivy
Well-known member
Mtnmama & Mtnpa met me at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday for a hike to Mt. Nancy. I am so glad this peak is on a list -- I’m not sure I ever would have hiked the Nancy Pond Trail and this trail is definitely a gem!
We hit the trail right at our start time, following the Nancy Pond Trail easily along old logging roads. It The trail starts out fairly level, had just a dusting of snow and a few icy patches along the way. We soon realized that the real challenge of the day was going to be the brook crossings. While the water wasn’t particularly high, all of the exposed rocks were coated with ice, making rock-hopping really difficult. At the worst crossing, we shimmied across a downed log (yes, I am starting to get good at this method of travel) rather than chance it on the icy boulders.
With the easy terrain, we soon found ourselves at Nancy Brook, where the trail starts ascending over areas of old landslides. The brook was just gorgeous and filled with little frozen cascades and lots of icicles. I particularly liked one cascade because the foam at the bottom had frozen into deflated bubbles. The small cascades, however, did not even compare to the big one. We reached the bottom of Nancy Cascade and were awed by the water shooting out through holes in the snow and frozen ice. Just beautiful!
From the base of the cascade, the trail ascends more steeply and had a lot more ice, so we had to take care with our footing. In the bare, treeless spots, we had a terrific view of Crawford Mountain, still sun-dappled even though were experiencing light flurries along the trail. As we approached Nancy Pond, Sir Edmund, Frodo, Hamtero & Suebiscuit said hello -- they were on their way for a bushwhack to Mts. Anderson and Lowell.
Soon after they zipped past us, Mtnpa took a swim after slipping and hitting his head on a double-log crossing of a small brook. I heard a splash and saw Mtnpa almost completely submerged in the water and hanging on to one of the logs. We prepared to turn around but Mtnpa had an entire change of clothes in his pack. He was dry and felt fine to continue (even after we realized he had a small cut on his head) so we had him promise to tell us if he wanted to turn around and headed on down the trail.
We reached frozen Nancy Pond and found the boggy area was a little challenging to negotiate -- it was hard to tell if the ice would hold you or not, so we occasionally punched through. It was fun, though, to follow a set of bear tracks all the way to Norcross Pond. We soon reached the herd path for Mt. Nancy and after hanging Mtnpa’s wet clothes on the trees, we headed up the path.
The herd path is officially not maintained but it’s really easy to discern. There were lots of blowdowns, however, that we had to crawl under and around. We followed another set of bear tracks to the slide, where we stopped to take in more great views. The bear’s tracks continued across the slide, while we turned right and headed up the steep, steep slope to the summit. We all wondered, as we were hauling ourselves up the path whether we would ever reach the top. I actually cheered when I saw the florescent yellow summit canister!
The canister top was frozen, but Mtnpa managed to get it off with some fiddling, so we signed in and headed over to the nearby viewpoint, which was covered with snowshoe hare tracks, for our lunch break. The view of the Southern Presidentials were just spectacular. While Washington was in the clouds, Eisenhower, Franklin and Monroe would peek out occasionally.
We packed up and headed back down the trail… taking our time to make sure we didn’t slip down the steep slope. We were very thankful it was not at all icy or it would have been even more harrowing. On our way down, we encountered a couple -- the only other hikers we’d see all day. We arrived back at Norcross Pond in short order to find that Mtnpa’s hanging clothes were so frozen they could have made a hiking snowman -- without needing any snow.
We were relieved that the steep stuff was all over and enjoyed the trek back down to the car, where we arrived at 4 p.m. after a long but wonderful day of hiking. Thanks again Mtnmama & Mtnpa for coming along for the hike -- it was a great day! Mt. Nancy was my 83rd peak on the New England Hundred Highest list.
Pictures from the hike can be found here.
- Ivy
We hit the trail right at our start time, following the Nancy Pond Trail easily along old logging roads. It The trail starts out fairly level, had just a dusting of snow and a few icy patches along the way. We soon realized that the real challenge of the day was going to be the brook crossings. While the water wasn’t particularly high, all of the exposed rocks were coated with ice, making rock-hopping really difficult. At the worst crossing, we shimmied across a downed log (yes, I am starting to get good at this method of travel) rather than chance it on the icy boulders.
With the easy terrain, we soon found ourselves at Nancy Brook, where the trail starts ascending over areas of old landslides. The brook was just gorgeous and filled with little frozen cascades and lots of icicles. I particularly liked one cascade because the foam at the bottom had frozen into deflated bubbles. The small cascades, however, did not even compare to the big one. We reached the bottom of Nancy Cascade and were awed by the water shooting out through holes in the snow and frozen ice. Just beautiful!
From the base of the cascade, the trail ascends more steeply and had a lot more ice, so we had to take care with our footing. In the bare, treeless spots, we had a terrific view of Crawford Mountain, still sun-dappled even though were experiencing light flurries along the trail. As we approached Nancy Pond, Sir Edmund, Frodo, Hamtero & Suebiscuit said hello -- they were on their way for a bushwhack to Mts. Anderson and Lowell.
Soon after they zipped past us, Mtnpa took a swim after slipping and hitting his head on a double-log crossing of a small brook. I heard a splash and saw Mtnpa almost completely submerged in the water and hanging on to one of the logs. We prepared to turn around but Mtnpa had an entire change of clothes in his pack. He was dry and felt fine to continue (even after we realized he had a small cut on his head) so we had him promise to tell us if he wanted to turn around and headed on down the trail.
We reached frozen Nancy Pond and found the boggy area was a little challenging to negotiate -- it was hard to tell if the ice would hold you or not, so we occasionally punched through. It was fun, though, to follow a set of bear tracks all the way to Norcross Pond. We soon reached the herd path for Mt. Nancy and after hanging Mtnpa’s wet clothes on the trees, we headed up the path.
The herd path is officially not maintained but it’s really easy to discern. There were lots of blowdowns, however, that we had to crawl under and around. We followed another set of bear tracks to the slide, where we stopped to take in more great views. The bear’s tracks continued across the slide, while we turned right and headed up the steep, steep slope to the summit. We all wondered, as we were hauling ourselves up the path whether we would ever reach the top. I actually cheered when I saw the florescent yellow summit canister!
The canister top was frozen, but Mtnpa managed to get it off with some fiddling, so we signed in and headed over to the nearby viewpoint, which was covered with snowshoe hare tracks, for our lunch break. The view of the Southern Presidentials were just spectacular. While Washington was in the clouds, Eisenhower, Franklin and Monroe would peek out occasionally.
We packed up and headed back down the trail… taking our time to make sure we didn’t slip down the steep slope. We were very thankful it was not at all icy or it would have been even more harrowing. On our way down, we encountered a couple -- the only other hikers we’d see all day. We arrived back at Norcross Pond in short order to find that Mtnpa’s hanging clothes were so frozen they could have made a hiking snowman -- without needing any snow.
We were relieved that the steep stuff was all over and enjoyed the trek back down to the car, where we arrived at 4 p.m. after a long but wonderful day of hiking. Thanks again Mtnmama & Mtnpa for coming along for the hike -- it was a great day! Mt. Nancy was my 83rd peak on the New England Hundred Highest list.
Pictures from the hike can be found here.
- Ivy
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