Mt. Nancy (3,926 ft) NH

I decided to go for a hike Sunday. I planned to hike to Nancy and Norcross Ponds with the BAE Outing Club in November and thought it would be a good idea to pre-trip that route. I tried to run as much as I could. I ran the first couple miles until the Nancy Cascades, where the trail becomes quite steep. I hiked up that section and then continued to run to the end of Norcross Pond. There is a gorgeous view from the ledges at the end of Norcross Pond. It took me about an hour to reach this point. I looked around a little bit and found a rather obvious trail towards Mt. Nancy. The trail is almost more obvious than the real trail when hiking east. I started following the trail and soon came across a National Forest Service sign indicating this was an unmaintained trail. The trail soon became very steep as it climbed pretty much straight up the peak. It reminded me of some of the steep trails we took in the North Cascades during my NOLS course. Most of the steep trails through the woods in the Cascades that I remember were steep descents. Ascending is tough, but the steep descents, like the knee-busting descent of Kindy Ridge, with 50-70 pounds are much tougher. Coming down from the summit of Nancy was steep and tough going, but not too bad because I didn’t have much of any weight on my back. The trip back to the trailhead was fine. I ran most of the way. I only hiked some of the steepest sections. I had several minor tweaks of my ankles and one fairly descent twist to my left ankle that almost caused me to fall down. Fortunately, the twist didn’t do much damage. Running up the trail was harder than I anticipated. The whole trip was a lot of fun. The running was a nice change of pace from the roads. I had to pay more attention to my feet than normal. Sometimes, particularly when descending, it took more effort to keep my feet moving quickly over the uneven terrain than the actual running. The entire trip was 2 hours and 40 minutes. I think I found the beginning of the “trail” to Mt. Bemis. Right after the first crossing of Nancy Brook there is a fairly distinct trail that breaks off to the right.