Denmark Mountain Hikers

Next Hike:

October 31, 2025

Province Pond (1,526 ft), Chatham, NH – 3.2 mi RT, 400  ft elevation gain.  RT hiking 2.5 hours.  RT driving 1.25 hours.

Meet at the Denmark church at 8:30 a.m  An easy walk to Province Pond and the USFS shelter next to the pond.  We’ve done this five times, (I think),the last time in July 2024. This is a three-season hike as the access road is gated starting about mid-November and not maintained in winter.  Muddy shores and not much fun for swimming. 

Directions to Province Pond trailhead:  From the Fryeburg village post office drive north across the Saco River on River Road, and at 1.1 miles turn north onto East Conway Road/Route 113 towards Evans Notch.  In another 1.0 mile where Route 113 turns sharply to the right, keep going straight on Green Hill Road/Route 321.  Pass the eastern entrance to Hurricane Mountain Road on the left at 3.4 miles, and then at 4.3 miles from the Route 113/321 split turn left on Peaked Mountain Road/Forest Road 450 at the trail sign.  Go 2.4 miles to the parking lot and the trailhead.

Tucked away in a quiet corner of the White Mountain National Forest is a secluded mountain pond that is well worth a visit.  Province Pond is a pretty, little mountain pond in Chatham, NH.  It is actually two ponds – the original glacial pond on the north end and a beaver pond on the south end.  Don’t be discouraged at the first view of the pond’s boggy south end from the trail.  This southern half of the pond is more wetland than pond with stumps and standing dead trees harkening back to when there was active beaver activity there.  But follow the trail along the east side of the pond to the north end and discover the deeper and lovely glacial pond.  The north end also boasts a three-sided Adirondack-style shelter that sleeps six.  It was built in the 1930’s and is maintained by the US Forest Service (USFS). 

The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department (NHF&G) lists Province Pond as one of their backcountry trout ponds, twelve acres in size and with a maximum depth of ten feet.  The deepest part of the pond is on the north end.  The NHF&G regularly stocks it with fingerling brook trout. The NHF&G also built a timber crib dam on the south end of the pond in 1960 to stabilize the water level because of the beaver activity.  In 2009 the USFS replaced the older dam with an earthen and concrete structure, including a concrete spillway.

Province Pond lies on the eastern edge of the 10,325-acre Kearsarge Inventoried Roadless Area.  Dominating the skyline west of Province Pond are four small mountains – Mount Shaw (2,585 feet), the Twins (Gemini North at 2,519 feet and Gemini South at 2,490 feet) and Peaked Hill (1755 feet). The view across the pond to these small peaks is impressive.  The mountains are an extension of the range extending northeast from Mount Kearsarge North.  According to Steve Smith in his Mountain Wanderer blog, there was a network of trails on the Shaw-Gemini ridge in the 1930s and 1940s.  These trails have all been abandoned for decades.  There is an exposed ledge on the north shoulder of Mount Shaw.  According to Smith there was a fire on the mountain started by a lightning strike many years ago (Smith quotes Dave Govatski, retired forester and fire officer from the White Mountain National Forest) and signs of the fire are still faintly visible.

The last time we hiked the pond was July 19, 2024. Allen Crabtree was on that hike with us. Obviously much of this description of the hike and its history was copied directly from his email report.