"As I intended after hiking these mountains last summer, I made my return to hike some different sections of trail to complete the Terrifying 25 for both the Mt. Morgan and Mt. Percival Trails. The initial plan was to park at the Mt. Morgan Trailhead and take the Morse Trail over to the Mt. Percival Trail. However, the trailhead parking lot and the overflow lot were both full. That wasn’t entirely unexpected, as the late window of fall foliage held on to create a wonderful yellow forest at lower elevations. So, we parked at the Mt. Percival Trailhead instead, setting off just before 11:15am. With temperatures in the low 50s, I started the hike with long pants and a sweatshirt, but quickly zipped off the legs of the pants and removed the sweatshirt. We cruised up the majority of the Mt. Percival Trail in about an hour. After a brief steep section, we reached the split where we had to choose between the cliff or cave route. Since I had descended via the cliff route last year, I took the cave route to the left. At first we were confused about where to enter the cave, but then an arm with a backpack emerged from a small crack in the wall to answer that question. Squeezing through, we fo..." — JCalautti • Oct 18, 2025

"Amazing hike with Abby up Morgan and did the loop over to Percival! Abby picked this amazing hike and was ecstatic to see the ladders and cave! Was a gorgeous day for a hike, we also had the pleasure of hiking with another fellow hiker from Boston who gave Abby a helping hand up the ladder, and made great conversation on the way down! Was a great day! " — dennis-van-amburgh • Jun 8, 2025

"Perfect weather with temperatures in the mid-70s and a nice breeze. We set off from the Mt. Percival trailhead a little after 1:15pm and took the flat Morse Trail connection to the Mt. Morgan Trail. After about two-thirds of a mile the trail becomes slightly steeper, but the vast majority of the trail has a mild incline. That does mean certain sections were very muddy but there are several rocks in the trail to help avoid the mud. About 1.3 miles in, the trail takes a left turn, shoots straight up (gaining about 300 feet in a quarter-mile), intersects with the Crawford-Ridgepole Trail, and then shoots straight up again until you reach the decision between a gradual approach to the Mt. Morgan summit or a ladder/cave approach. I took the ladder/cave approach. The first two ladders are easy, but to reach the third ladder I had to swing one leg over to the right and then hoist myself up and over. This transfer isn't particularly exposed, but it can be tricky. After the ladder is a short cave for which I had to take my backpack off to fit through a gap. The cave almost acts like a portal: before the cave the trail is under a canopy of trees and sheltered from the sun - after emerging fr..." — JCalautti • Aug 11, 2024

"Hiked from Sandwich notch road over four peaks! Was a beautiful day and foliage was good, missing a lot of red now. Some nice views along the way over Doublehead and Squam mount, and the ridge. Percival and Morgan were busy but not as bad as could have been, and the views were great. " — blackwolf_03278 • Oct 8, 2020

"Nora and I took Kali and Brooklyn up the Mt. Percival Trail to the summit of Mt Percival, then across to Mt Morgan. It was a beautiful sunny day. On Mt Percival, after climbing up top the caves, we decided it was too narrow to wear our backpacks and steer the dogs, so, we turned around and took the cliff trail to the summit. Mt Percival had absolutely gorgeous views of the Lakes. Mt Morgan had gorgeous views at the viewpoint, very near the summit, but the actual summit, just across the main trail and maybe 0.1 mi up, had very limited views. On the way down from Mt Morgan, we stayed on the main trail, avoiding the ladder on that cliff trail, because it seemed too hard to manage with the dogs. Everyone we met was going the opposite way from how we went, but I'm glad we did it the way we did because the Mt. Percival trail was very interesting and rolling for ascending, while the Mt Morgan trail on the way down seemed relentlessly moderate, which would have been annoying going up. " — Hufflepuff • Jul 31, 2020

"I summited Morgan after coming over Percival. Both summit views were awesome. The scramble down Morgan, through the cave and down the ladders was really fun. With it being so late in fall, the thick blanket of fallen leaves on the trail made for a few slips and slides (and a small stumble) on the way down." — HikeLikeMike • Nov 8, 2015

"I intended to do a loop of Mount Morgan and Mount Percival. This started off as a solo hike, until I met a fellow hiker at an early junction in the trail, so we ended up hiking together for a majority of this hike. I was confronted with ladders, which was a first for me. After watching about twelve 15 year olds climb the ladders with no issue, I attempted and only got up one ladder before I had to climb down and take the trail that goes around the ladders to get to the summit of Mount Morgan. Grrr. I am going to tackle those ladders one of these days! The views from the ledge of Mount Morgan has more to offer than the true summit which had a summit sign, but no views. Then I took the Crawford Ridge Pole Trail to summit Mount Percival. Total time = 3:48minutes Distance = 5.31 miles" — KeepCalmClimbOn • Aug 24, 2013