Hiking Sugarloaf, Tom, and Hale Mountains

White Mountain National Forest | Hiking Sugarloaf Mountain | Hiking Tom and Hale Mountains | July 2024

We woke up along the shore of the Gorham Reservoir and decided that, while it was a nice place, we wanted something a bit more established. The weekend was coming up and it was promising to be a full house in the White Mountains. After our morning chores we packed up and headed West on US-2 back through the town of Gorham then headed North. The National Forest has quite a few free dispersed sites on decent roads going through the mountains so we thought we would go to a new-to-us section of the forest near Mount Cabot. But as we drove the fourteen mile loop, we found that the trailheads were sparse, and what campsites that weren’t bogged down in shin deep mud were already taken.

I still needed reception for work so some of the more remote regions in Maine were out, and we weren’t ready to leave the high peaks of New Hampshire quite yet, so we ultimately decided to go to an established campground near Twin Mountain. We’ve driven through this area quite a bit, but there were still plenty of trails and peaks that I hadn’t done, and the road the campground was on was a perfect access point for it all.

We ended up finding a first-come-first served spot in Sugarloaf II and immediately settled in; doing work, relaxing, and reading. We ended up spending the whole day that way and most of the next. But I am anything if restless, and so on our second day in Sugarloaf, after my work was done, I decided to hike to a shorter nearby peak. It didn’t meet my prominence goals, but it was on the “52 with a View” list, and even though I had been burned by Mount Hayes, the trail was short enough that I figured it would be worth it anyway.

I walked the road a short distance up from the campground to the trailhead and then set off up the trail. It was steep, but short to a saddle between the two sugarloaves. I went to the shorter one first and was pleased that the views were significantly better than Mount Hayes. The second peak was also better and the trail ended at a wide bare rockface facing South. I briefly contemplated bushwhacking up to a nearby peak, but was quickly deterred by the steep cliffs. No need to become a stupid hiker statistic.

The next day (Friday) we were reluctant to move on, but we also knew that there were free campsites very nearby and the house battery needed a charge. We thought that, maybe if we left now we could snag one of the free sites and charge the car in the process. We were right about charging the car, but both loops of dispersed sites were completely occupied…at 9 in the morning! Maybe we were just too early to get the sites of people leaving, but we also just think that New England is crazy sometimes.

We decided to just go back to where we came from and suck up the cost of a couple more days. We knew we liked the campsite after all, and we even got our original site again. But I wanted to do a longer hike, so I after our accommodation was secured I asked Jess if she could drive me to the end of the road where there was a large trailhead to access some of the high peaks. She agreed, because she’s amazing, but she said I had to find my own way back to the campground. Deal.

Jess dropped me off at the Zealand trailhead which gives easy access to three 4000 footer peaks as well as some spurs to the Appalachian Trail. While I had been eyeing all of the peaks, I decided that today I would go for a triple and try and get Tom, Hale, and Wiley Mountains – an ambitious hike, but all three were 4000 footers, and Mount Hale met my prominence goals. The start of the Zealand trail was easy and popular, with lots of families hiking along the stream out towards the Zealand hut (or at least I think that’s where they were going). But I turned off onto the A-to-Z trail which connects Mount Avalon to Mount Zealand. This was not a popular trail as evidenced by the overgrowth and mud. But even here on this connector trail I ended up passing a dozen or so other hikers – most of them fellow peakbaggers after the 4000’er summits. The trail led up steeply to the saddle between Mounts Tom and Hale and I opted to get Mount Tom first. Somehow, the spur up to Mount Tom felt even steeper.

The summit of Mount Tom was tree covered with a couple gaps showing the presidential range, but I only stopped as long as it took to find some letterboxes. I had two more peaks after all. The trail up to Mount Hale was a lot nicer and soon I was at that peak and feeling good. Two down one to go and 6 miles in. I didn’t even stop for a picture on Hale because I knew I had to come back over it on my way out. I also had reception so texted Jess my progress and plan.

I started down from Hale which started gradually and then I stopped. I was standing at the top of a very steep section. I could see down the trail as it lost hundreds of feet in what felt like a fraction of the distance. It was practically a cliff! And in front of me I could see Mount Wiley, so far away yet so close…and the same elevation as I was then. If I was going one way, that would be one thing, I would just have to lose some elevation then regain. But my route would have me climbing up that elevation four times, and I just wasn’t feeling it. I had gotten 2/3 peaks, including my prominent peak. I was satisfied. I went back up the short distance to Mount Hale where I sat down at an overlook and made some soup for lunch. I had a great view of the Washington Hotel, but not much else.

Fully rested, I grabbed my pack and headed down the way I came. This was hardly the quickest way to get these peaks, but I felt like I had deserved and earned them. Wiley would have to be another day. Going down was uneventful, it was getting later and less people were on the trail, which I didn’t really think about until I got back to the trailhead and the parking lot was a practically empty. Here I had been thinking I could bum a ride back down to the campground, but that really only works if there are people. But road walking is easy so I kept going. I passed by another trailhead with a couple more cars and made it a bit further before someone finally drove by and stopped. His name was Zach and he gave me a drive the last 2 miles to the campsite. In return I told him about the mud near Mount Cabot and our nice camp spot near Gorham.

Overall the hike was just shy of 15 miles. You can see my recording here.