Peaked Mtn Hike Report
submitted by Gordon Farrell
Peaked Mountain hike report March 20, 2026
Peaked Mountain, elevation 1,739 feet, is located in the Green Hills Preserve in North Conway,, New Hampshire.
The Green hills area was originally considered common land where settlers in the North Conway area had rights to hunt, graze their farm animals, and cut firewood. In the early 1800s, the town sold off most of this property to private land owners. It wasn’t until 1990 when 2800 acres was acquired by the Nature Conservancy. Today there are over 5,500 acres and more than 50 miles of hiking and mountain biking trails included in the Nature Conservancy’s Green hills Preserve.
Friday March 20th, 12 hikers met at the Thompson Rd trailhead parking lot and started to hike at 9:25am under mostly sunny skies with the temperature in the low 30s with no wind.
A group photo was taken at the second kiosk at approximately 9:30 AM.
Hiking this day were Jean Morrell, Janet Arens, Toni Carros, Dale Nelson, Laura Sullivan, Kathy Huchthausen, Polly Lombardi, Jacob Schor, Greg Moulton, Pat Marchetti, Tina Estes and Gordon Farrell. Sheldon Ashby caught up to us as our plus one person about 15 minutes into the hike for a new total of 13.
We ascended up the Middle Mountain trail wearing micro spikes with intermittent conditions alternating between hard packed snow, ice, gravel, matted leaves and mud.
At a steep section close to the junction of middle Mountain Trail, and Peak Mountain Trail on a steep slope adjacent to the brook and cascades we encountered a large amount of steep ice that stretched across the trail. This was a little challenging to negotiate, as clearly slipping would quickly deliver one into the turbulent flow down the mountain. We all managed to get around it without any issues. At the Middle and Peak at Mountain trail Junction, we continued to the left up on Peak Mountain Trail.
As we closed in on the last quarter of a mile, we encountered a newly built set of switchbacks that were added in an area where trail erosion had become a problem. The new section of trail brought us out onto ledges with a nice view of the Mount Washington Valley.
Continuing on the final 2/10 of a mile over Ledges, we finally reached the summit. At the summit, we were in mostly overcast skies with a slight breeze, but temperatures were warming up into the upper 30s and low 40s. (Though relatively warm in contrast to some of our recent hikes, we all pulled out puffy jackets and descended a short distance to relax out of what Gordon described as a “slight breeze”. Some of us might have characterized that flow of air as wind).
We remained at the summit for about a half an hour, enjoying the views including Cranmore ski area, Mount Washington, Chocorua, the Moats while eating our lunches.
On the descent, we continued around the loop of Peaked Mountain Trail across many ledges with views of Mount Cranmore ski area. Slow and steady trudging brought us back to the parking lot around 2:00pm.
All in all, it was a pleasant day for hiking!
Next Week’s Hike: Tin Mountain Jackson, NH
Tin Mountain (2,031 ft. elevation) is located in Jackson, NH and lies at the center of a 228 acre parcel of property owned by the Tin Mountain Conservation Center. This aarea contains some of the oldest tin mines in the country. The hike consists of a 2.8 mile long loop with 793 feet of elevation gain. Estimated hiking time is 2 hours.
Length: 2.9. miles Elevation gain: 783 feet. Difficulty: moderate. Hiking time: 2 hours Driving time. 1.5 hrs RT
Trailhead: Tin Mountain Fieldstation, Jackson NH
Directions Link:
TICK SEASON IS FAST APPROACHING
While huddled out of the cold wind atop Peaked Mountain, the discussion turned to ticks and how they magically reappear once the temperature goes above 40 degrees. This knowledge made us greatly appreciate the chill wind. The consensus regarding our lack of appreciation of ticks was nearly unanimous. We were also of the opinion that it is time to start treating or retreating our hiking clothing with Permethrin Spray. Greg confessed that he had already done so. Given today’s weather conditions, he may have been a bit premature. Still, when it comes to keeping ticks away, being a bit early is far superior to being too late. Let’s put this on our ‘to do lists’.
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