Grafton Loop Trail—East Side 6/28/2026

Yesterday, we tackled quite a long day hike! Over the course of 20 miles and 6,000 feet of elevation gain, we traversed the east side of the Grafton Loop Trail.

Starting our hike in Grafton Notch State Park

One thing to note about this section is that you should not rely on the Maine Mountain Guide description. Usually the Guide descriptions are quite good, but this one reads like it was written by someone quite some time after they hiked the trail. Landmarks are described in the wrong locations, slope steepness is described incorrectly, distances are misrepresented, some landmarks no longer exist as described, and the description overall is vague and not reflective of the on-the-ground trail experience.

West Peak on Baldpate Mountain

Sampson heading towards East Peak

In the saddle between the two peaks of Baldpate Mountain

We started our day at the Baldpate/Old Speck trailhead in Grafton Notch State Park. Our ascent of Baldpate went by pretty quickly, and we arrived at West Peak to find that morning fog still covering much of the mountain and surrounding area. As we crossed the saddle and ascended East Peak, the fog lifted, and we were treated to great views all around.

East Peak on Baldpate Mountain

View from East Peak

From this viewpoint on Baldpate, we could see the three ridges that we would spend the day traversing.

After a quick snack break, we started down the Grafton Loop. After passing East Baldpate Campsite, we reached Lightning Ledge. In my opinion, Lightning Ledge is one of the two best hidden gems on this section of trail. The ledge offers outstanding clifftop views of the mountains on the other side of Grafton Notch and the Bear River Valley. If it weren't such a long hike to get to it, I'm sure this would be a much more popular spot.

A ladder on the way down Baldpate Mountain

View from Lightning Ledge

Sampson on Lightning Ledge

Soon after Lightning Ledge, we came across the second hidden gem of this section of trail. Down a marked side path beyond Lane Campsite is a beautiful waterfall and swimming hole on Wight Brook. This is the same brook that eventually flows over Step Falls, and this waterfall is similar, although higher on the mountain and much more remote.

A section of trail through beautiful mossy forest

Sampson found this moose shed.

The waterfall near Lane Campsite

This section of trail follows a few branches of Wight Brook, and we navigated numerous stream crossings, some of which required care to stay dry on. We began the relatively gradual ascent of Long Mountain, crossing a seemingly abandoned snowmobile trail and passing Town Corner Campsite along the way. At the top of Long Mountain, we took the short spur to a somewhat restricted viewpoint, where we ate our lunch.

Town tri-point marker between Andover, Andover West Surplus, & Newry

Sign near the summit of Long Mountain

Looking towards Puzzle Mountain from Long Mountain

We descended off of Long Mountain, crossing a woods road and Chase Hill Brook. We then began the final ascent up Puzzle Mountain. Although not overly steep, I was getting a bit worn out by this point and the climb was slow going. We made it to the summit and enjoyed the excellent views from the variety of viewpoints on the mountain, before making the last descent off of Puzzle Mountain to the trailhead where my car was parked.

View up Grafton Notch from Puzzle Mountain

View towards Long Mountain from Puzzle Mountain

Sampson at the Southwest Peak of Puzzle Mountain

This was an awesome hike, and I'm super glad that I finally got the chance to hike a few of the more remote sections of the Grafton Loop. Perhaps the best part is that, despite it being a beautiful summer day, we didn't see another person over the entire course of 20 miles!

The signs marking the end of our hike

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Long Mountain 6/21/2026

With the possibility of thunderstorms today, we decided to stay away from any exposed peaks and instead headed to Long Mountain in Albany Township. The lollipop loop on this mountain is part of the Crooked Water Headwaters Forest and is about 5.5 miles long.

Start of the trail

Boardwalk through ferns

Hidden Falls

From the trailhead, we headed up alongside Mill Brook, with its many pretty cascades. At the loop junction, we went right. After continuing to climb along the brook, we reached South Ledge, where we took a snack break.

As usual, Sampson greatly enjoyed the hike!

A steeper section of trail

View from South Ledge

After climbing a little more, we crossed part of the expansive summit plateau. Soon after starting to descend, the trail reached North Ledge, where we had lunch. The views were generally pretty good, although the higher peaks in the Whites and Mahoosucs were in the clouds. Up until this point, we had seen a lot less people than usual for Long Mountain on a summer weekend.

View northwest from North Ledge

View southwest from North Ledge

After lunch, we descended back to the loop junction and the trailhead. We saw a lot more people (and dogs) on this section of trail! It ended up being a great choice for today's hike, and we didn't get rained on at all.

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Mystery Mountain Trail 6/19/2026

This morning, we headed over to Rumford for a short hike up the Mystery Mountain Trail to its two viewpoints on an unnamed 1,212' peak. It had been a few years since I'd hiked here, but things remained pretty much the same as I remembered. The short trail is in good shape and is well marked.

Junction of the Mystery Mountain Trail & Sweet Fern Road

View from the first viewpoint

Sampson at the upper viewpoint

We enjoyed good views from both viewpoints, and lingered near the upper viewpoint a bit. We also checked out the trail that continues to the higher peak above and followed it a short distance to a recently installed "No Trespassing" sign. On the way down, we changed it up a bit and followed Sweet Fern Road back to the parking lot. The road is quite overgrown and the trail is definitely the preferred route.

View from the upper viewpoint

Sweet Fern Road

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West Royce Mountain, NH 6/13/2026

It had been a couple years since I had hiked in the White Mountains, so yesterday we headed to Evans Notch in the White Mountain National Forest to hike West Royce Mountain. Although I've been up East Royce multiple times, I had never been up the taller West Royce. Even though our hike started and ended in Maine, the summit and much of the ascent were in New Hampshire.

Start of the Highwater Trail

Crossing the Wild River at the start of the trail

After leaving a car at the Laughing Lion Trailhead for our descent, we parked at the Highwater Trailhead, near the Wild River. Our hike started on the Highwater Trail along the north bank of the river. This trail was unexpectedly enjoyable, with impressively large white pines along the trail for quite a way. We following the trail until reaching the site of the former Forest Road 52 bridge at 3.2 miles. Here, we forded the river to the south bank.

An old mile marker along the Highwater Trail

Fording the Wild River

We then followed the Wild River Road (closed to vehicles since 2023) a short distance to the Burnt Mill Brook Trail. This minimally used trail provided a pleasant ascent up to the col between East and West Royce. It followed a beautiful brook for most of the way with lots of cascades. And, even though it got rather steep near the end, the footbed was generally soft with minimal erosion.

Start of the Burnt Mill Brook Trail

One of the cascades on Burnt Mill Brook

Burnt Mill Brook & Royce Trail junction

After reaching the Royce Trail, we climbed the steep switchbacks to the summit ridge of West Royce. This rather rugged summit ridge had beautiful spruce-fir forest and good views from multiple viewpoints. After checking out the fire tower footings and eating lunch in the shade (It was a hot day!), we spent a little time at the best viewpoint, enjoying the views to the south and east.

Signage near the summit

Fire tower footings at the summit

View east

View south

We descended the Royce Trail to the Laughing Lion Trail, which is both a very enjoyable trail and an interestingly named one. Somewhere in the last couple miles of our hike, we realized that the other set of car keys had been left in the car at the Highwater Trailhead! This unexpectedly added a 5 mile road walk back to the trailhead we had started at, but at least it was all downhill!

Royce & Laughing Lion Trail junction

Viewpoint on the Laughing Lion Trail

It was good to be back in the Whites, and we were surprised to only see two other groups of people on such a beautiful day!

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