| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Crotched Mountain, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Link Trail, Summit East Trail, Upper Link, summit spur, spur to ski area, Shannon's Trail, Lower Link, Summit West Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, October 25, 2026 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Plenty of room at the trailhead on Farrington Road just off Route 136 in Francestown. Just one car when I arrived, maybe a half-dozen when I got back. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Leaves - Significant/Slippery |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Only a few small creeks that were easily rock-hoppable. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Only a couple of blowdowns, none of which were difficult to get around. Signs were in place at most junctions, except for the spur trails at and near the summit of Crotched - Alltrails was useful for that maze. More on that below. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Saw a few. There are some steep, rocky sections of the trails, but no major issues. |
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 | Bugs: |
None. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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|
 | Comments: |
The trail started off pretty easy, and was flat or gradual for about the first two miles. The trail then started to ascend seriously and soon got steep and rocky. It's a strenuous climb, but luckily doesn't go on for too long. The lookout near the top has amazing views, and then the top of the ridge is pretty close from there. The ridge contains several small but steep ups and downs, some of which wind around the slope to avoid cliffs and rock faces. The view from the open area just above the junction with Upper Link is superb. Be careful at this spot, though - there's a well-trodden path marked with a white diamond that leads toward the top of the ridge. However, if you look carefully, someone wrote on that white diamond "This is not a trail", and that is correct - it peters out pretty soon. The actual trail, marked with yellow diamonds, descends sharply but briefly from that open area to the junction with Upper Link, which is signed.
Upper Link has some ups and downs, and runs along the base of a cliffy area for a bit. I didn't see the side path leading from it to the road to the communications tower, but to be fair, I wasn't looking for it very closely. It then ascends to an open area with a superb view at the junction with Shannon's Trail. There's a picnic table here - a previous report said that it was in ruins, so it must have been rebuilt. This area has a lot of unmarked herd paths, and Alltrails helped confirm which one was the path to the true summit. The very end of the path had a few blue blazes, but most of it is unmarked. The summit area has no views, but does have the remains of an old fire tower, and the communications tower is close by. I followed another path (maybe the continuation of the blue-blazed path?) downhill to a T-junction. The trail to the right led to the top of the ski slopes, which is where I wanted to go. It was intermittently blazed in yellow, but had several places where the path would briefly split in two and then quickly rejoin. Views from the top of the ski slopes were excellent. I retraced my steps back to the T-junction. An after-the-fact reading of the SNHTG suggests that the trail continuing straight from there was the Bennington Trail, but there were no signs to indicate this (none of these side trails are shown on the maps in the SNHTG). So I turned left at the junction, and then turned right on yet another unblazed path at the top of a steep pitch. This path led me back to the clearing with the picnic table, where I had lunch.
I then descended Shannon's Trail. The first section was steep and ledgy, down to a trail junction. Shannon's Trail turned left at that junction, and the signs there indicated that the trail continuing straight was the Bennington Trail. However, the SNHTG suggests that this trail was just a spur of the Bennington Trail, not the trail itself. I thought these contradictions were a little bit weird. Continuing on Shannon Trail, it descended for a little bit more (the fallen leaves made this section very slippery), and then flattened out. There were a couple of places here where it looked like the trail could go one of two ways, but Alltrails helped to confirm that I made the right decisions at them. Lower Link was a steep descent via switchbacks that was fairly slow because the fallen leaves were again very slippery. Once back on Summit Trail West, it was flat or gradual the rest of the way back.
I saw maybe a dozen people on the trail today. Everyone was enjoying the beautiful weather. |
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 | Name: |
GN |
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 | E-Mail: |
ghnaigles@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2026-10-25 |
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 | Link: |
 https:// |
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Disclaimer: Reports are not verified - conditions may vary. Use at own risk. Always be prepared when hiking. Observe all signs. Trail conditions reports are not substitutes for weather reports or common sense. |
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