You Are Here: Chapel Rock & Pine Mountain

Today I set out for Pine Mountain in Gorham for 54/100 on the NH Fire Tower list, which also turned out to be 14/52 on the 52 With a View list for me. I hadn't realized at the time that Pine Mountain was one of the recent additions to the 52 With a View after several were removed for their views becoming overgrown. I parked on Pinkham B Road at the Pine Link Trailhead for Mt Madison. The access for Pine Mountain from this side is up the access road for the Horton Center, a Christian children's Summer camp. Hikers are welcome as long as they stay on trail and away from the camp buildings. I later learned that access to Chapel Rock is restricted from June-August, which I had absolutely no idea about. There are plenty of signs indicating access to the camp is restricted, but the trail to Chapel Rock has no indication. I felt bad once I learned this, as I would never intentionally visit somewhere off limits. So, if you happen to trip across this blog looking for information on Chapel Rock, the Horton Center has asked that hikers visit off-season only.

The road walk is approximately 1.4 miles. Alternatively there is a trail that branches off at 0.9 miles from the parking area called the Ledges Trail. Everything I had read described this as, although short, quite steep and tough, so I opted for the "easy way". I was happy with my choice as the road walk was definitely relatively easy. At 1.4 miles, the road continues straight into the camp which is Private. The Pine Mountain Loop Trail heads off into the woods to the right and parallels the road for approximately 0.2 miles before coming to an intersection with the Pine Mountain Trail. This little section appears as though it is relatively damp year round, but there are many log bridges over dicey areas making this a fun little section. At the intersection I chose to do Chapel Rock first, so I went straight on the Pine Mountain Trail for 0.3 miles at which point the trail swings left on bog bridges and follows the power line cut to the Chapel Rock entrance. Chapel Rock has gorgeous views over to Pine Mountain and Mt Madison behind. Being a Sunday morning, I savored the view for a moment and reflected on the beauty of the surrounds before heading back down and over to Pine Mountain. Back at the intersection for the Pine Mountain Loop Trail, this time I headed left for the summit. There are 3 viewpoints along the way, the first being Chapel View which also has a shelter available for rent and a lovely wooden bench at the outlook. Gorham View is second and Angel View is third (although the sign has been destroyed, the spur path was very obvious). Not far beyond the Angel View spur is the summit of Pine Mountain. Viewless, there are remains of the fire tower with the 4 cement footings. I had read about beautiful open ledges at the top of the Ledges Trail with a memorial bench carved into the rock, which according to 1 trip report was only 0.1 miles from the summit.. so I decided to go and check these out without having to actually traverse the steepest part of that trail. Definitely worth the short walk. The views are absolutely spectacular, and I can see why this mountain was added to the 52 With a View. I found the memorial bench and sat and enjoyed the view for quite a while. I could feel weather starting to come in, so after my break, I headed back to the summit and down the way I came up. I didn't encounter anyone else until the final 0.1 of the road walk, so overall a really wonderful day.

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