We had some important bike purchasing to do in Plymouth, NH at Rhino Bike Works on the weekend before last (get ready for some bike blogs!), and stopped off in the White Mountain National Forest for a short walk afterwards.  We decided to check out Peaked Hill Pond via the Peaked Hill Pond Trail.  The trail is off of Route 3 in Thornton and sees very little traffic.  It’s one of those trails that has really easy access, but it’s so close to more dramatic and impressive hiking spots in the forest that it is probably often overlooked.

The beginning of the trail has some major damage (from Hurricane Irene??), but other than that the wide woods road trail is an easy uphill hike.  The private land to the north is an active maple sugar bush with impressive sap lines and a small sugarhouse just off the trail.

After the private land turned to National Forest we could hear Bagley Brook rushing with water below us.  There were several good viewpoints of cascades and falls, inviting possible future exploration.  The surrounding topography of a steep sloped rocky ravine, suggested there may be some very impressive waterfalls and maybe a flume that may be overlooked due to being a not well-known hiker destination.

As the trail started to move away from the brook, we passed another woods road that went towards a distant opening in the forest canopy.  A look at that map showed that another pond named Mud Pond was not too far from our route, but the destination today was for Peaked Hill Pond.

As the woods road continued further into the forest, there were some sink holes to deal with from the freeze-thaw cycle, but nothing too hard to navigate around.  The wildlife also use this road, as evidenced by the moose tracks and coyote scat.

Eventually the trail leads away from the woods road and downhill slightly toward Peaked Hill Pond which is partly bordered by private land.  Luckily the place looks like it doesn’t get too many visitors.  We picked up some trash and carried it out, hoping that others will do so to make sure this place stays open to the public.

Alden wished we had brought his fishing pole, but we only spied eastern newts in the water.

A nice walk for Earth Day!