Manchester, NH: Dixville Peak via Cohos Trail
Explore a wild path that leads through quiet woods and over vista-packed summits.
Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! Download the app.
New Hampshire’s 10-year-old Cohos Trail is a 162-mile path through the state’s thick woods and wild summits–and when the last few miles are completed, it will stretch from the Presidential Range to the Canadian border. This moderate 14-mile out-and-back samples a remote stretch of the Cohos, where moss, mushrooms, and moose thrive in a spruce-fir forest. From the trailhead at Dixville Notch State Park, head south, passing 50-foot Huntington Cascade at .75 miles in. Hike on another 1.5 miles to reach Table Rock, a steep outcropping with views of Balsams Grand Lake below. The trail stays fairly flat as it crosses the top of a ski area, then plunges back into the wilderness en route to 3,400-foot Dixville Peak. From the open summit, you can gaze at vistas stretching into Maine, Vermont, and Canada. Continue walking for two more roller-coaster miles through beech, cherry, and spruce to the Baldhead lean-to at mile 7, where you’ll wake to still more views of Vermont’s Mt. Monadnock and the Connecticut River Valley.
Info: cohostrail.org. (603) 538-6707; nhstateparks.org
Hike provided by Cohos Trail Association and Lucie Villeneuve, Outdoor Escapes New Hampshire.
Waypoints
DIX001
Location: 44.8359069824219, -71.3176651000976
Dixville Peak