Christmas Eve Along Smarts Brook

After two days of snow, freezing rain, and all sorts of other wintry precipitation dumped on the state I was itching to get up into the Whites to get in my first snowshoe trek of the year. With only one wintry hike under my belt so far this month, I decided to keep it relatively flat and try out a loop around Smarts Brook in Waterville Valley.

I got to the parking area for Smarts Brook off of NH-49 around 10:30 a.m to find it plowed (but very slick asphalt nonetheless) with two cars there before me. After getting out of my car and strapping on my bright green snowshoes, I headed straight into the forest next to the kiosk at the parking area and took an immediate left onto the Pine Flat XC (cross-country) Ski Trail. It started out nice and flat and mostly well-tracked, not leaving much for me to pack down with my snowshoes. However, the shoes did come in handy as I ventured off trail in many spots all around the loop to get an up close look at winter slowly taking hold of Smarts Brook.

A beautiful scene of marshmallow boulders along Smarts Brook

I came to the first major blow-down on the Pine Flat Trail just past its junction with the Old Waterville Rd. Trail. It was about a 6" diameter tree laying across the trail that was easy to step over. From this point on to the junction with the Yellow Jacket XC Trail, the weight of the prior days' snow made more and more trees sag into the trail, including one more major blow-down with most of its branches left waiting to snag a down jacket and one section of so many trees sagging in such low succession that the best way to tackle them was to plow straight through.

Some previous hikes had given one of the evergreens along the trail some Christmas spirit

At the sign for the Yellow Jacket XC Trail I took a right to head southeast down towards the junction with the Smarts Brook Trail. It was clear that this trail had gotten much less use compared to Pine Flat, as my snowshoes came in handy most of the way along the route, packing down a set or two of footprints that hadn't done much to break out this stretch of trail. However, the snow, with its crusty, crunchy top coat of ice from yesterday's rains, was not deep enough to make the task of packing down the trail too arduous.

Walking along the Yellow Jacket XC Trail

After shooting off trail along the way a couple times to take in some views of the brook, I finally came to and crossed the large wooden bridge that brought me to the Smarts Brook Trail for the final leg of my loop. To my surprise, this was the least tracked out of all the trails I took! It shocked me that the only primary hiking trail I was using had the least amount of usage upon my arrival. Therefore, I was extremely happy to have my snowshoes here as I flattened the path of sunken footsteps along the way.

Up until the final junction of my hike, all the prior intersections had been clearly marked with large signage to point me the right way. As I neared the final half-mile stretch of my hike, I came to a split in the Smarts Brook Trail, with the wider trail most closely resembling what I had been on going to my left and a narrower, but still well-tracked trail delving deeper into the woods to my right. I took the trail to my left first and got a little ways down before I checked my AllTrails app to see that I was walking down Smarts Brook Road at this point instead of Smarts Brook Trail. It was a quick backtrack to the junction I chose wrongly at the first time and then I ducked into the narrower trail in the woods which led me on a nice downhill stroll where I emerged out of the woods a short distance from the parking area, with a nice view of Welch and Dickey Mountains in the distance.

Welch and Dickey in the distance as I completed my hike

In all this was a wonderful hike to get back into the swing of snowshoeing. The few ascents I had were never steep, with most of the hike being nothing more than a nice stroll in the woods, breaking trail along the way. This loop is probably one I'll visiting again one spring when the snow has thawed and the brook is roaring, a several cascades along the way looked like they would be quite wonderful to see that time of year.

Finishing the Belknap Peaks Challenge: West Quarry and Rand Mountains

With the forecast showing cloudy skies, I figured today would be a good day for my pup and I to finish the last two peaks on the Belknap Peak Challenge list, the viewless summits of West Quarry and Rand Mountain. The recently created parking area off of Reed Rd. in Alton Bay has made these once very remote peaks now much more accessible for a medium-sized day hike, as was our plan for this day.

Entrance sign at the Reed Rd. parking area

We arrived at the new parking area around 9:30 a.m. and started our journey by continuing to walk down the road toward where the Reed Road Trail properly entered the woods. As we got further down the road, the condition of it slowly deteriorated, starting as a rocky, gravel road, then once past a large three-car garage, a completely fallen out pile of rocks and rubble. At this point we came to the SPNHF gate put up to block dirt bikes and ATVs from continuing any further. From there the condition of the road continued to be a pile of rough rocks until we came to our first view over Lake Winnipesaukee, where the ground was a better mixture of hard-packed dirt and small rocks.

Gate blocking ATVs from the roughest section of Reed Rd.

Looking back at the Belknaps and Ossipees from the top of Reed Rd.

As we continued along the road, ascending at a moderate clip, we came to the best mountain view of the day when we reached the staircase into the woods signifying the proper start of the Reed Rd. Trail. Looking back from the rocky staircase the summits of Belknap, Gunstock, and several of the mountains across the lake in the Ossipee Range stretched out before us. It was a nice panorama to take in before we set off into the woods.

The stone steps that felt like entering an arena

The way the stone stairs were laid out, welcoming us into the forest, felt like we were walking into an arena to truly begin hiking. From here, the climb continued to be steady, with a few switchbacks along the way to try and ease the grind of the relentless climb higher and higher. As I've noticed to be common, this was another sneaky tough climb in the otherwise small elevations of the Belknap Range. It would not be our last grind of the day.

The footing on this section of trail was mostly hard-packed dirt, stiffened by all the water collecting and freezing underneath with the cooler temperatures of late fall taking hold. I could feel the ice underneath the dirt crunching beneath my feet in several places, and we even noticed a few "hiking frost heaves" along the way where some of the ice had pushed through to the surface. There were a few spots of actual ice along the trail, but they were few and far between on bare rock slabs, and easily stepped over or walked around.

Electric green moss on the Dave Roberts Quarry Trail

Once we reached the junction of the Dave Roberts Quarry Trail, we turned right onto it to head toward West Quarry and Rand. We had one last, quick steep ascent up a rocky ledge and then the trail finally leveled off for a good long stretch, becoming a peaceful walk in the woods almost all the way to the summit of West Quarry. As we neared it for our first summit of the day, we had a moderate climb to get to the top, and enjoyed a small lookout just before reaching the summit sign. With that peak, it was eleven Belknap peaks down, and only one more just a mile away. To Rand we went!

View from the lookout just before the West Quarry summit

It was a quick drop off the summit as we headed down West Quarry into the col between it and Rand. We came to a split in the trail where we could go by the Quarry Ledges or take a bypass into the col for our descent. My pup headed toward the bypass and thus I followed, happy we chose this as a descent after going up the ledges to change things up on our return. Especially as the weather gets colder and more ice builds up, I would not recommend the ledges for descents, as one slip could result in some nasty injuries and lots of bare rock.

My favorite trail signs, the rustic, hand-painted arrows in the Belknaps

The bypass had much better footing with soft forest floor the whole way, albeit steep. Once in the col, it was another nice walk in the woods before things turned into a mixture of tough elevation gain mixed with a blank of dead leaves and big rocks for the final climb up to the summit of Rand. This was yet another sneaky tough climb in this small mountain range that had me huffing and puffing as we approached the summit sign of our final peak of the challenge list. We took a quick break at the summit to bask in our "glory" before retracing our steps and heading back down the way we came.

My pup using the summit of Mt. Rand as his victory throne

While the 4000 Footers get all the love here in New Hampshire, the overlooked challenge of the Belknap peaks is definitely a fun one that is suited for a wider range of abilities. I highly recommend it for someone who finds the 4000 Footers or 52 With a View a little daunting, and the Belknaps are great training ground for those bigger mountains as well while still packing their own gorgeous views in many spots (Mt. Major, Straightback, and Whiteface being my favorites). Even with the peak challenge completed, I'll still be coming back to these peaks to enjoy the views and keep my hiking legs primed for the bigger challenges in the Whites.

Blue Hills Reservation: A Nice Little Massachusetts Challenge

I'm no city boy, but I'll enjoy the view from a hill!

After last Sunday's storm ravaged many of the hiking trails in New Hampshire, I decided to head south into Massachusetts today to check out an area I'd looked into a couple times before but had yet to explore, the Blue Hills Reservation. This large area encompassing several small hills just south of Boston was supposed to have some good views of the cityscape, so my pup and I set out to explore it a little.

The plan was to do a loop on the Skyland Trail as suggested in my Hiking Southern New England book. At 4.5 miles and around 360 ft. of elevation gain, it seemed like this would be no trouble at all for us and a good choice to break in some new hiking shoes.

Kiosk at the start of the Red Dot Trail

We arrived at the parking area for the Blue Hills Trailside Museum around 10:20 a.m. and it was already jam packed full of cars. I hadn't thought about it until we got there, but it would make sense that this recreation area would be so popular with such a large population surrounding it (duh, Michael). We started up the Red Dot Trail with our sites set on the Eliot Tower...only to see an a-frame sign at the beginning of the trail saying the tower was closed for repairs. I was hoping to get a good view of the Boston skyline from there, but undeterred, we continued on our planned route with hopes of finding a good view on one of the other hills we'd be traversing throughout the hike.

Panorama from near the base of the weather observatory

The Red Dot Trail was an easy-side-of-moderate ascent to the tower. I was very surprised to see just how rocky this trail and much of the other stretches of our hike were. I wasn't expecting so much rugged technical way-finding, but it made more fun than I'd envisioned! Since the Eliot Tower was closed, we took a detour up to the weather observatory at the top of Great Blue Hill. From there we got a pretty good view to the west, which was pretty flat, but it was neat to see the country's oldest weather observatory still in operation. After a quick break here, we looped around the tower until we met up with the south Skyland Trail, marked by a small stone pillar engraved with the name, and headed deeper down into the reservation.

Weather observatory at the top of Great Blue Hill

The Skyland Trail was well-marked with blue blazes for our entire loop. It and the rest of the trails were practically bone dry despite the heavy rains from the beginning of the week, with only the leaves on the ground a careful footing on some rocky sections being the only things to watch out for along the way. It was a steep, rocky drop off Great Blue Hill, with some good views of other hills in the reservation on the way down. Once off the hill, it was a pleasant stroll on softer ground in the woods with some solid fall colors still showing. After a little time through here it was yet another steep, rocky ascent to the top of the mostly viewless Houghton Hill, before we were headed down again and out across Hillside St. heading toward the park headquarters.

View coming down the Skyland Trail

We took a little lunch break at the picnic tables by the park headquarters and then headed up what would be our steepest ascent of the day, the Skyland Trail route up Hancock Hill. Man! This short stretch was a relentless, rocky climb to the top that echoed many a tough stretch on the much mightier White Mountains on a much smaller scale. Talk about priming yourself for bigger climbs. This was it!

View from Hancock Hill

Hancock Hill ended up having the best views of the day, with some great views right as we crested the Skyland Trail onto the summit ridge. We continued on the Skyland Trail across the hill until I noticed what looked like the Boston suburbs off to our right, so we took the side trail that headed that way to see if we would get a city view. Lo and behold, after a few minutes on this trail we came upon another side trail that gave us a great view of the Boston skyline framed by the trees in our immediate foreground. It was a neat site to be in such a natural place taking in a not so natural skyline. From there, we backtracked to our original side trail, saw yet another side trail coming off it, and followed it very briefly to a good view of the Boston Harbor. After enjoying this view it was all the way back to the Skyland Trail to continue our loop back to Great Blue Hill.

Peaking at the Boston skyline through the trees

Boston Harbor view

The drop off of Hancock Hill was once again steep and rocky leading to a nicer walk in the woods. The rambles over Hemenway and Wolcott Hills were still rocky, but much easier than our previous two. From Wolcott it was one final steep rocky staircase trail back up to the Eliot Tower, before we descended the Red Dot Trail we had started on to return to the museum parking lot.

The Blue Hills Reservation definitely exceeded my expectations in terms of the technicality of the trails. I had underestimated these small hills, thinking they'd be an easy ramble in the woods. On the contrary, this reservation ended up being a great spot to work on technique when handling rocky ascents and descents. It seems like it would be a perfect training ground for folks in the area wanting to build their skills before tackling the bigger mountains of New Hampshire. Plus, the interesting perspective of the Boston skyline was a fun summit find, making Blue Hills a unique spot surrounded by so much civilization.

Exploring the Cardigan Subpeaks

Taking in Mt. Cardigan a different way

Mount Cardigan gets a lot of love, as well it should, for the dramatic views from its bare, windy summit. I hadn't been up that way in a couple years, and with the nice forecast for Saturday, I decided to return. When I arrived at the parking area on the west side of the mountain it was packed as I expected, with cars streaming down the road into every nook and cranny to create a spot. When I got out of my car and realized just how crowded it was, with several large groups getting ready to head up, I decided to change my route for the day, skip the big draw of Cardigan's summit, and make a loop to check out three of its subpeaks instead: Rimrock, Orange Mountain (Gilman Mountain), and the South Peak. This plan ended up giving me exactly what I wanted, a longer day on the trails, and dramatic views all to myself from three peaks that I argue rival the draw of Cardigan itself.

The 6-mile loop I created for myself involved 6 trails all around Cardigan, so rather than trying to write it out in as thorough a story form as possible, I'm going to break this hike down by trail and summit, bullet pointing the highlights of each section; so, without further ado, let me begin where I...um...began:

West Ridge Trail (orange blazes, 0.5 mi, 14 min.)

• A moderate half mile climb to to junction with the South Ridge Trail
• Trail was still soggy most of the way from the rains on Wednesday and Thursday, with long stretches of mud, some standing water, small puddles, and slick leaves, but no deep sections of mud cake to sink into

Up to Rimrock

South Ridge Trail (orange blazes, 0.7 mi., 33 min.)

•  The first short portion up onto the South Ridge trail was tough to follow, but after finding a set of rocks looking like stairs, the first blazes appeared and it was smooth sailing from there.
• Started as a moderate climb for the majority of the 0.7 miles to the Rimrock summit
• Longer stretches of wet leaves, standing water, and mushy footing here as compared to the West Ridge Trail
• A steep, slick, rocky switchback section requiring extra care with my footing led to the final drier ridge walk to the Rimrock summit

Panoramic view from Rimrock summit

Trail junction sign on summit. Mount Gilman is the direction for Orange Mtn (same peak)

Scenic view of Orange Mountain (dark hump furthest left) as the descent began over the ridge in the foreground

Skyland Trail (Rimrock to Orange Mtn., white blazes, 1.1 mi., 44 min.)

• Unlike sections of this trail further south, this portion between Rimrock and Orange Mountain was well-blazed and the foot path was easy to see and follow the whole way.
• Dramatic, scenic, steep descent to start over more smooth ridges (would have been treacherous if they were still wet from the rains, but thankfully this section was dry) with a view of Orange Mountain in the foreground 
• Trail then dipped into a long forested col, with softer, easier footing and electric green moss bordering both sides of the trail
• From the col it was a moderate short climb up to the ledges of Orange Mountain, with the views of Mount Cardigan getting progressively better until my favorite spot of the trip, a large open ledge just below the summit with 180º views stretching from Cardigan to Newfound Lake

Typical forest floor along much of the Skyland Trail

Looking back at first peek of Cardigan summit heading up to Orange Mountain ledges

Panoramic view from large ledge just below the summit of Orange Mountain

Vistamont Trail (yellow blazes, 1.0 mi., 43 min.)

• Another descent down a smooth rocky ridge to start. However, this one was still wet from the rains the previous few days, making the footing iffy in spots
• Once in the forest again and below the conifers, the footing became even slipperier as the trail was completely covered in wet fallen leaves. Luckily, I could still make out the path along the forest floor and the trees were well blazed all the way down as well. Slipping every couple steps on a pile of leaves, however, was not the most enjoyable part of the hike.

Trail sign at the top of the Vistamont Trail

View from one of the ridges while descending the Vistamont Trail

A thick blanket of leaves covering the Vistamont Trail

An unnamed brook in full force that I crossed shortly before reaching the Clark Trail junction

Trail sign at Clark Trail junction. It was straight ahead from the viewpoint of this photo to head up the Clark Trail

Clark Trail (yellow blazes, 0.7 mi., 27 min.)

• Nothing on the trail junction sign noted I had met up with the Clark Trail, but I knew from my map that it was 0.7 miles from the Grand Junction noted on the sign; so I knew it was the correct spot to turn back uphill
• This section of the trail was still covered in leaves, but much drier as it was being hit by the sun the whole way up, making for a much easier ascent compared to the slipping and sliding down the Vistamont Trail.
• The trail did become wetter and muddier as it neared PJ's Ledge.
• Trail was well blazed and signed up to PJ's Ledge, where I then took a left to go onto the Hurricane Gap Trail.

View from PJ's Ledge

Hurricane Gap Trail  (0.4 min. to South Peak, 15 min.)

• 1st half of this trail just past the AMC High Cabin was some of the wettest of the day, with large slippery rocks, large puddles, and small streams running on the trail
• After about halfway the trail turned to much drier footing on a soft forest floor with more rich green moss bordering the edges like the Skyland Trail until it met up with the South Ridge Trail

AMC High Cabin along the Hurricane Gap Trail

South Ridge Trail to South Peak

• A short climb up a dry rocky ridge to the best view of the approaches to the Cardigan summit and the firetower (and loads of people) at the top

View of Mount Cardigan from South Peak cairn

Panoramic view to the southeast from the South Peak. Orange Mountain is at center, with Rimrock at the right edge.

From South Peak it was another descent along a rocky ridge back down to Rimrock where I decided to take the Skyland Trail over to its junction with the West Ridge Trail for my descent, rather than trying to navigate the wet, rocky switchbacks of the South Ridge Trail I had gone up in the morning. The first half mile of my descent down this portion of the West Ridge Trail was particularly damp, muddy, slippery on its rockier stretches.

As I said at the start, I got to enjoy the views from these three peaks all to myself, as I saw dozens and dozens of folks heading up to the main Cardigan summit while resting at each peak. The loop I took was an enjoyable challenge, climbing and descending multiple peaks in a day while traversing rocky ridges and rich forest floors. It really couldn't have ended up being a much better day out on the trails, and I highly recommend this loop to anyone wanting to experience the Mount Cardigan area in a little different way.

Get out there and explore!

Kidder Mountain: A Fantastic Wapack Trail Side Trip

Spur of the moment, into the woods we went

I didn't plan on hiking anywhere yesterday after having gone up Kearsarge with my wife and pup the day before for some fantastic late afternoon views. However, as I was outside in the morning cleaning out our cars, looking at the magnificent clouds in the sky matched against the fall colors with the unseasonably warm temperatures making it all feel just perfect, I knew it was too nice a day not to go hiking; so I settled in front of my computer after eating lunch the find a hike quick enough to fit into a spur of the moment afternoon trip. Eventually, I ended up at one of my favorite trails in southern New Hampshire, the Wapack Trail. Looking for a section of it I hadn't tackled yet, I found the spur trail off of it up to Kidder Mountain. At 3 miles round-trip, I knew I could fit it into the afternoon, so off my pup and I went!

I decided to start from the parking area for the Wapack Trail off of NH-123/124. However, as I quickly learned after arriving, there are two parking areas for this section of the trail. The first one I stopped at was directly across from the Windblown XC Skiing sign along the highway. When I pulled in I saw a couple other cars there, so I figured I was in the right place...except for the fact that I didn't see a trail or signage anywhere in the parking area. After looking a little harder, I found what looked like a small footpath at the back of the parking area, so we headed up that way into the woods. We quickly turned around, however, when I didn't notice any of the traditional yellow triangle blazes (the Wapack Trail has always been very well blazed in every other portion I've hiked) and the "path" I had first followed dissolved into nothing but overgrowth.

The correct parking area off of Old Rindge Rd.

Back in the parking area, the other folks who had parked there happened to have come back from their hike, and they informed me that the correct parking area/trail start was back down the highway directly off of Old Rindge Rd; so we walked out of the parking area we were at, turned left and started walking south down NH-123/124 until I saw the street sign for Old Rindge Rd. and, lo and behold, another parking area complete with yellow traingle blazes and a Wapack Trail sign. From there, we were on our way!

The yellow triangle blazes of the Wapack Trail

This hike kept us on the Wapack Trail for just over half a mile, with much of it just being a gentle meander through some gorgeous autumn woods. The trail was well-blazed as I expected, and very dry from having no rain in quite some time. A brief portion of the trail opened up into to what seemed like someone's backyard, but was back in the woods after some quick elevation gain up a short rocky stretch.

Turn LEFT here

At about a half mile, there was a T-junction, with a sign denoting a left turn to stay on the Wapack Trail, and nothing noting what a turn right meant. I knew from my quick research beforehand that we had a right turn around this area to go up the Kidder Mountain Trail, so we took this one...only to be wrong again! Thankfully I'd read we should have hit the power lines quickly, and once we didn't I knew this turn was a wrong one. Therefore, we backtracked, got back on the Wapack Trail, and shortly thereafter ran right into the power lines with a clear sign marking our right turn to head towards Kidder Mountain.

Kidder Mountain trail sign on the gravel road

Similar to the Wapack Trail blazes, Kidder Mountain blazes are blue triangles

From here, there was no more confusion from the signage and blazes and the path to the summit of Kidder was well-marked. It was a quick walk along the gravel road running alongside the power lines before another sign directed us to cross back into the woods. Once in the forest, the trail was much like the Wapack section had been, adding in several elevation gains I would call the easy side of moderate. The footing changed from a forest floor of pine needles, fallen leaves, and dirt to a rockier path as the trail climbed to small ridge for a good stretch. After a couple more easy climbs, including walking by what looked like some very fancy bird baths–especially for how far into the hike we were!–we arrived at the open directional views of the Kidder summit.

Interesting "bird baths" along the way

The summit was dominated by a long, low stone wall that almost sliced the mountain in half. There were several cairns all along this area that led up to a small one at what was the high point of the summit as far as we could tell. There were a couple smaller side trails that led into the woods at the top, but none of them led to anywhere in particular as far as I could tell. I had seen photos of people next to a summit sign for Kidder, but I missed it or didn't run into while I was there.

Fantastic views from the summit

The view from Kidder was fantastic, especially for such a small peak. Most all of southern New Hampshire stretched out in view. I had read that on a clear day folks have claimed to have seen the Boston skyline from the summit, but with a bit of haze on the distant horizon, I couldn't verify the claims. It didn't matter though, as the views of the nearby peaks set again the unbelievable sky were plenty enough for me.

Enjoying a cairn's-eye view

 For a last minute trip, Kidder very much exceeded my expectations. It was an easy hike that I thoroughly enjoyed with a huge payoff of a view at the end making the whole trip worthwhile. Knowing all the corrections now, I'm guessing I'll enjoy it even more the next time I get around to visiting. I can't recommend the Wapack Trail enough, as this hike made that path that much better. If you haven't gotten around to checking this mountain out I highly recommend it. It is a great bang-for-your-buck hike.

Peaked Hill Pond: A Hidden Gem in the Whites

Small on crowds, big on serenity

On the last day of our anniversary trip in the Whites, my wife and I decided to do a hike that was on the road literally right next to where we staying at the Valley Brook Cottages in Thornton: Peaked Hill Pond. This little known trail is usually looked over by everyone skimming a map of the White Mountains, as it is out of the way of all the other main hiking areas in the notches. However, as we learned after our hike, if you happen to be in the area, this is one that's well worth the trip.

The trailhead was at the end of the aptly named Peaked Hill Pond Road. Since we were in an AWD SUV we were able to drive all the way to the metal gate that marks the start of the trail and park on the left-hand side. There was a parking area a little before where we parked for cars that can't handle the sandy, rough road at the end. It only adds a short bit to the hike and no real elevation gain at all.

From the gate we there were two paths to take, but thanks to the White Mountain Guide we knew to take the larger, more eroded/collapsed road on the left into the woods. This was the only part of the trail where we had to double check our heading, as the rest of the turns along the way were well marked, either by signs clearly stating "Peaked Hill Pond" with an arrow pointing onward or with diamond-shaped yellow signs with large arrows sending us the right way.

The trail was wide, dry and leaf covered the whole way. Aside from a couple stretches of elevation gain tending to the easy side of moderate, this trail was more of a walk in the woods than a hike. It was mostly flat with good footing the whole way to the pond.

Unnamed waterfall below the trail

After passing the first "Peaked Hill Pond" sign with an arrow, we heard the roar of a brook in the gorge-like area of the forest below us off to our right. Through the trees, we could see what looked like a pretty sizeable waterfall, so we ventured off trail, tumbled down into the rougher stuff, and came upon a magical cascade. There were two side-by-side that looked to be 15-20 ft. tall, making for an awesome off trail discovery. We were even more surprised to not see this waterfall listed in our insanely thorough New England Waterfalls book when we got home. It made us feel like grand explorers, discovering such a spot, haha!

As "Fall in New England" as fall in New England can get

We arrived at the pond to find a serene view of Peaked Hill over its namesake pond. The pond was still, peaceful, and quiet. The hill was at peak autumn color, and with a rich blue sky full of white puffy clouds behind it, it made for a quintessential New England setting. We were actually surprised to see two canoes on the shores when we arrived, which I found later are possibly used by adventure groups that make regular trips out to the pond. Other than that, it was a wonderful natural setting

If you are ever in the Thornton area, or want to find a trip to add on to other adventures to and from the Whites, I highly recommend this hike. It's a simple stroll that'll take you to a place where you can feel miles away from everything else. I can definitely see this being an add-on hike to one of my trips in the future.