Fall hiking! Precipice, Quarry, Straightback

There was an incident somewhat recently where a hiker fell off a cliff along Precipice Path and was airlifted out with serious head trauma.  My best guess is that it was around this spot.  It's a good example of how not take these "little" mountains for granted; they can be just as dangerous as some of the Whites.

Me being silly, imagine that.

The first thought for this Saturday was to do a Squam Range hike and knock out some more redlining there.  But we have bigger plans even further north for next weekend, so not only did I not particularly want to (repeatedly) get up super early to drive that distance and fight for parking, I was even more so concerned about the physical toll of two big hikes on back to back weekends.  So I leaned towards a more moderate Belknap hike, and after much consideration and comparing stats, decided that was the best option for me.  

Hummingbird and I had wanted to hike West Precipice in the fall some time, and it seemed an ideal choice for this weekend.  It has some minor challenges, but it's not too intense as a whole.  Even as a bigger loop, such that I mapped out, it fell within my desired range of feeling like I accomplished something without breaking my body.  Hawk planned to join me for this hike as well, and I thought Precipice was a trail he might enjoy.  

Hiking up Precipice Falls

The waterfall is the trail!  That certainly makes things interesting when it's really flowing!

Conditions had to be just right to navigate the rocks and cliff areas of Precipice safely, so this proved to be perfect timing.  With several rain-free days before our hike, and a forecast that literally said "delightful" weather, we looked forward to hitting this trail again and catching the tail end of fall foliage in the Lakes Region.  

I woke up that morning to my stomach acting wonky, so we got a slightly later start than planned.  Luckily, and somewhat surprisingly, there was plenty of parking still open at the end of Alton Mt. Rd.  (Both lots were packed full when we returned from our hike. Apparently most hikers at this trailhead were latecomers today.)  I was definitely grateful we had decided to hike locally, as I probably would have nixed a Squam hike anyway due to how I felt.  I was still a little off most of the day, but thankfully had no huge issues during the hike.

The abundance of fallen leaves proved to be a layer of difficulty when it came to navigating the rocky areas, but other than that it was about as lovely as we expected.  We were surprised to find a bit of water flowing on Precipice Falls, which is often dry through summer.  The slightly tricky cliff area was shorter than I remembered, but my memory of the pretty ridge and viewpoints was accurate. 

Hummingbird leans in for a waterfall closeup.

Can you spot the Dragonfly?  (Hint: the silly person blending in with a tree.)

Views along the ridge...

The cliffs.

You know I can't resist a pano.

I love how West Precipice Path offers a variety of terrain, and never lingers on one feature for too long.  There are rock scrambles and a few steep uphills, but none too persistent to become tedious.  This was true of our entire loop.  The trail soon levels out after any climb, before ascending again, then easing off, and so on.  The trail surface ranges from rocky to soft pine needles or dirt, and the sights are varied as well, with several viewpoints along the way.  It’s a fun and interesting hike.  This is probably one of my favorite trails in the Belks.  (Incidentally, we previously found East Precipice totally unrewarding, and have no desire to return to that side.)

From the end of West Precipice, we continued on Marsh Crossing to hit the Quarry Mts.  Hummingbird still needed the trail that connects the two peaks, so it was a perfect opportunity to finish that piece of redlining for her.  Past the Quarries, which are as rocky as they sound, we made our way to the Straightbacks, enjoying the expansive views on the south peak.  We finished by descending Blueberry Pasture Trail, with one more pretty viewpoint, though finding the trail itself consisting of more loose rocks and gravel than either Hummingbird or I remembered.  (Guess we'll be waiting for snowshoe season to hit that trail again. LOL)

A pretty section of trail somewhere in the middle of our loop.

The views continue.

Water glistens in the lake below.

Another pano on South Straightback.

It's such a lovely summit.

A piece of the sights from Blueberry Pasture.

Beyond the nice views and fun terrain throughout our hike, we experienced a couple other interesting encounters.  While certainly not a positive, we were surprised to run into swarms of bugs in a couple areas.  I suppose that's the downside of "delightful" temperatures in Autumn.  More exciting was crossing paths with a porcupine!  Hummingbird spotted him (or her) on the side of the trail, just hanging out.  I probably would have hiked right past without noticing anything.  We all paused to snap a couple pics from a respectful distance, while the porcupine simply looked around casually, seemingly not the least bit concerned about us.  He (or she) was very pretty!

Mr. or Ms. Porcupine.

Hawk got a slightly better angle.

One more beautiful trail pic.

In the end, this hike proved to be just right (for me at least) in terms of difficulty level.  There were a few moments where I struggled slightly, likely due to not feeling 100% to begin with, and I could definitely "feel the burn" before we even finished, but I recovered quickly and had no lingering pain the next day.  That's exactly what I wanted.  Ideally they could all be like this.


Hike 47. 10/22 Precipice-Quarry-Straightback-Blueberry loop, 6.5 mi, 3:48 hrs, 1437 ft.