You Are Here: July 2026

I used to hike Parker Mountain multiple times a week, almost every week while my kids were in middle school. I haven't been up there in over 10 years. They have developed 2 new trails off the backside of the mountain connecting to Evans Mountain. Laura and I decided to explore those today. It was still warm after a heatwave we just had, so we didn't want to do anything too strenuous. We parked at the cemetery on Evans Mountain Road. There is only snow mobile signage, so this one is helpful to have a map. There are no digital footprints that I could find yet, but there is a map on the town of Strafford page and some of the trails show up as they are snowmobile corridors. The trail starts on the continuation of Evans Mountain Road, alongside Evans Mountain Farm (a gorgeous property). We felt like we must have missed it because it felt like we were going too far, but we hadn't. This road descends and was a bit wet and muddy in places, but we were able to navigate around easily enough. Passes a few ponds and intersections. I had seen a picture from a previous hiker, so I knew what we were looking for. A blue sign set back a little indicating the start of the hiking trail part of Whippoorwill Trail. Turn left here and start to ascend up to the ledges overlooking Bow Lake. This section was really nice. A mix of climbing through boulders, ferns, and blueberries. I don't eat blueberries, but Laura enjoyed some. The trail was a bit of a rolling up and down and in just under a mile we reached the first of 3 ledges with views. Each one becoming slightly more open but all gorgeous views over Bow Low. Would be great to be up there for the 4th of July fireworks, I imagine. We continued the second ledge, which was off an unmarked, but easily seen spur from the main trail. Whippoorwill Trail ends at the 3rd set of ledges, where the old Spencer Smith Trail (blazed red, Whippoorwill Trail is blazed blue) picks up. We sat and enjoyed the view for quite a while before backtracking to the first of the ledges and picking up the newest trail, Partridge Trail, which is blazed orange. While easy to follow, you can definitely tell it's still in the development phase, although I know it has existed for at least 6 months. There were blazes and flagging tape and even some stumps in the ground painted orange. The trail used a combination of trail and snowmobile corridor at the end and wound around and up and down the slopes of Parker and then Evans Mountain before popping out right opposite the parking area. The worst part was it was up to return. And that section being snowmobile trail was some longer grassy areas. We each picked up a couple ticks in that area. Overall, I was reminded what a wonderful little gem this mountain is, right in my hometown!

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