Black Mountain 9/4/2026

Although I've hiked over Black Mountain multiple times on my way to Rumford Whitecap, today was the first time that I hiked Black Mountain by itself, and the first time I had been to its western (highest) peak. We started from the ski area parking lot, and the trail was in excellent condition as we ascended.

Heading up a ski slope on the lower part of the trail

The trail is well marked!

One of the viewpoints on the way up

Black Mountain may not have one large expansive viewpoint, but the numerous viewpoints looking in different directions spread out through the ascent make for a very interesting and enjoyable hike. My favorite two viewpoints are the one from a large rock down a short side trail, and the one from a small rock ledge, just after crossing the last ski trail of the ascent. The views today were excellent, and the fall colors are starting to show more and more! After reaching the spot where the trail crosses the cell tower access road, we turned right onto the road and descended into the col between the east and west peaks of the mountain. From the col, it was an easy climb up on another cell tower access road to the highest point on the mountain.

The viewpoint where we ate lunch

Wind farm construction on South Twin Mountain

Signage pointing back to the ski area base

At the summit, there is a very substantial cell tower, along with a large rock ledge offering somewhat restricted views to the north and west. The most interesting part of the view from the summit was a framed up-close view of the extensive open ledges on Rumford Whitecap. From the summit, we descended back to one of the lower viewpoints for lunch, and then headed back the way that we came to the ski area base. Black Mountain is a great, easily accessible hike, that seems to be underrated as a mountain worth climbing by itself.

Cell tower at the west peak

Sampson at the summit

View towards Rumford Whitecap and the other ski area in Maine on a peak called Black Mountain

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The Roost 8/28/2026

After a quick walk at Valentine Farm in Bethel in the morning, we headed into the White Mountain National Forest for a short hike up The Roost in Batchelders Grant Township. After parking at the north trailhead, we walked down Route 113, past Hastings Campground, to the south trailhead for the Roost Trail. After crossing a few brooks on an easy section of trail, we climbed to quickly reach the summit at 0.7 mile from the road.

South end of the Roost Trail

At the summit of The Roost

I love the sign for the viewpoint spur!

At the summit, we took the view spur downhill to the viewpoint, where we watched rain storms move across the Carter-Moriah Range and down the Wild River Valley towards us. We ate lunch and left the viewpoint, just as the first few rain drops were falling. After returning to the summit, it was a quick 0.5 mile descent back to our car at the north trailhead. We got rained on pretty good on the way down, but it was still an enjoyable little hike!

View of the Wild River Valley

View towards Evans Notch

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Sargent Mountain 8/18/2026

Despite the uncertainty in the weather forecast, we ended up with a beautiful dry day on Sargent Mountain! Since my last visit in 2022, the road has been closed to vehicles, so now everyone has to start their hike from the end of Nordic Knoll Road, which is what most people did anyway. The grassy logging road is in good shape, and it makes for easy walking up to where the footpath turns off of it.

Start of the hike on an old logging road

On the footpath approaching the ledges

View near the summit

The footpath to the ledges was also clear, and we met a group on our way down that was doing some light trail maintenance. We ate lunch and enjoyed the spectacular view of the Mahoosuc Range from the best of the view ledges. I did continue past the ledge and did some poking around near the summit, visiting some of the other ledges that I went to on my previous Sargent Mountain hike. Besides the group doing trail work, we had the mountain to ourselves, and it was a great day to hike this lesser known Mahoosuc peak!

View west towards Mahoosuc Notch

View north through Miles Notch

View south towards Black Mountain

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Mount Zircon 8/14/2026

Today, we returned to a local favorite and one of my most hiked mountains, Mount Zircon in Rumford. However, we made a small detour on the way up that I hadn't done before to the old Mount Zircon Reservoir. The trail to the reservoir diverges to the right from the main trail, following a grassy track. Because of the grass, I would probably not hike this trail during peak tick season. After heading downhill for a bit, the trail reaches the dam. The reservoir, now with a much lower water level than when it was in use, is a beautiful spot! It is nestled in a basin surrounded by Thurston Mountain, Hemingway Mountain, Mount Glines, Mount Zircon, and Little Mount Zircon, all of which are visible from the dam. The lowered water level has created a meadow surrounding the water; and the water intake tower has a castle-like appearance. I am very glad that we made the short detour to visit this unique spot!

Mount Zircon Reservoir

Mount Zircon Reservoir

Bridge to the intake tower

Spring & spring house

After our detour, we continued up to the summit. One of my favorite things about Mount Zircon is that there are so many viewpoints near the summit, all facing different directions. I like to choose a different one to linger at each time I hike it. Today, we chose a viewpoint looking northeast towards Rumford and the Androscoggin River Valley. It was a spectacular clear day with a cool breeze at the summit and excellent views. We did see a few other people out on the trail, but it wasn't too busy.

View northeast

View northwest

View west

View south

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