Squam Range Extended Loop Hike via Crawford Ridgepole Trail

The Crawford Ridgepole Trail is a scenic ridge trail with numerous excellent viewpoints over the beautiful Squam Lake and nearby peaks of the Squam Range. It is accessible via several different trailheads and numerous routes are possible, including a point-to-point thru-hike with a shuttle. However, for hikers wishing to complete a loop and return to their car, a great route to see the majority of the trail's highlights is the extended loop hike of Mount Morgan and Mount Percival, adding the summits of Mount Webster, Mount Squam, and Doublehead Mountain. The extended loop hike is around 12.7 miles long, but can be shortened or extended by modifying the out-and-back sections along the Crawford Ridgepole Trail. The hike leaves from the Mount Morgan parking, which offers space for around 2 dozen cars. Another parking lot for Rattlesnake Mountain is across the street. The hike begins gradually but quickly steepens, approaching Mount Morgan, until the junction with the Crawford Ridgepole Trail at 1.5 miles. Here, the extended route turns left for 1.8 miles to reach the viewpoint at Mount Webster before turning around to return towards the summit of Mount Morgan. Shortly before the summit, a signed junction offers two routes to the summit - the less exciting route continues to the right, while the ladder route climbs steeply up towards the viewpoint and the summit over multiple ladders and a few short rock slabs. It's not a good route for dogs or very small children, but it's not too challenging if you have a head for heights and the trail is not icy, wet, or muddy. Shortly after the ladders, the Mount Morgan viewpoint offers a sweeping vista of the Squam Lake region. The true summit is just past the viewpoint and up a short, rocky trail to the USGS marker. From Mount Morgan, the trail continues down then back up to reach the summit of Mount Percival. For the extended route, hikers can continue to Mount Squam (0.8 miles additional each way), or all the way to Doublehead Mountain (an additional 2.0 miles past Mount Squam each way). At Doublehead Mountain, the best viewpoint is reached by hiking down the Doublehead Trail for 0.1 miles, although the views are similar to those on Mount Morgan and Percival. After returning to Mount Percival from the out-and-back, hikers descend via the Mount Percival Trail for 1.6 miles. The Morse Trail then leads the last 0.4 miles back to the trailhead parking to complete this extended loop hike of the Squam Range.