You Are Here: Gap Mountain

It was finally a really glorious weekend. No rain, no humidity.. Laura and I headed south to explore Gap Mountain. It's been on my radar for a while, and I read a recent report that the blueberries were ripe, so off we went. This week we planned a car spot.. it would make the hike much shorter, but also gave us the opportunity to really take our time and enjoy the area without the thought of having to double back! We spotted a car in the lot off Bullard Road in Jaffrey, which they call the North Parking Lot. This lot is down a dirt road, which was a little bit rough, I think primarily due to all the recent rains we've had, and I know is not maintained in Winter which adds additional mileage should you do it at that time of year. We then drove to the South Parking Lot off Upper Gap Mountain Road, another dirt road but in much better condition. We were surprised to see both lots almost full when we arrived, I hadn't though this a super popular area! Also surprising was a very clean porta potty at each lot! The trail starts at a kiosk behind the porta potty on a very gentle trail for about 0.3 miles before crossing a bridge to begin the ascent. We took a short detour before starting to climb Gap Mountain, onto the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail (heading left). We initially missed the turn as it's not well marked coming in from the parking lot. If you cross the bridge, you've gone too far. Once we realized we backtracked and saw signage coming from this direction. This also doubles as the Wantastiquet-Monadnock Trail which I am section hiking for my redlining spreadsheet. The start of this section was very messy with debris and the trail was a little hard to follow. There were just enough blazes to guide us through. Once we got through the debris, it became easier to navigate. Just as we got comfortable the trail started to ascend Fern Hill, which lived up to its name with a massive amount of ferns, pretty much disguising the trail. In retrospect it was very beautiful, but it was frustrating at the time as we weren't sure where to go in a couple places. We reached almost the summit of Fern Hill and I took a picture for the next time I come in from the opposite direction, so I'll know my turnaround point and headed back down. This time we crossed the bridge and continued towards Gap Mountain. The trail wandered through the woods starting to climb gently. It was muddy in some places, but overall was in good condition. Really well maintained. As the climb becomes steeper, there were some natural stairs built into the slope. Just as the climb was hitting it's peak and before a rockier section, there is an unmarked but obvious path going off to the right, as the main trail turns left. This is a spur to the Gap Mountain South peak. It's referenced in the guide book, so we did it. You descend slightly then climb moderately for a couple tenths to the summit marked with a large cairn. I had read there were no views at the summit, but just as we were starting the spur we passed a couple who were returning, he was a local and told us to continue past the summit cairn to a clifftop viewpoint. The path is obvious for this viewpoint and descends slightly. The clifftop viewpoint is small but mighty with wide open views across to the Wapack Range. We sat for a while and enjoyed a snack here. We doubled back down the spur to the main trail and climbed up the steeper, rockier section before reaching the blueberry bushes! This section was fun as you could barely see the trail at times but pushed through the bushes, stopping to snack before reaching the summit of Gap Mountain North peak. This was an open area with lots more blueberry bushes and a really gorgeous view across to Mt Monadnock and the South peak we had just been on. We continued towards the North parking lot. The trail descended rather moderately at times, and was rocky and a bit damper than the southern side. After a while the trail started to seem a bit neverending, but we eventually met up with the intersection of the Donovan Trail. We turned right staying on Metacomet-Monadnock Trail which now was a lovely flat section following a rock wall. The trail continued down, crossing an old road that the map labels Gap Mountain Road, which you could take back as it turns into Bullard Road where the parking lot is. We stayed on the trail, which started to climb gently again before reaching the connecting path to the parking lot. We had seen people throughout the day, but it was never crowded. The trails are in fantastic shape and really well maintained. A real hidden gem!

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