Distance: 1.7 miles to the top, but options or more or less
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate
Variety of options for trails.
Located on Crotched Mountain Road in Greenfield, New Hampshire is the Crotched Mountain Accessible Trails. There are two trails here, the Dutton Trail, which is great for strollers, little legs, and beginner hikers. There is also the Gregg Trail that goes out to an observation deck then on to the top of Crotched Mountain.
From the parking lot there are two options for The Gregg Trail, go straight up a steady incline or take a right up a some switchbacks. The Gregg Trail provides a beautiful view of Rose and Pinnacle Mountains to the east.
Where the two trail reconnect you reach an observation deck that looks towards Mt. Monadnock and to the northwest. The views were beautiful.
If you hike up a little further you go through a blueberry field and get a much better view to the east and west.
From here you walk into the woods where there is a split in the trail. To the left you can take Shannon’s Trail to the top of Crotched Mt or you can take a right and follow the Lower Link that takes you to a series of other trails.
The Shannon Trail goes through the woods and over a stream. It is a fairly flat walk through the woods.
Roughly the last half mile of the trail is a steady incline up over some boulders. There is another trail split off to the left that takes to on the Bennington Trail.
There are several places to stop and enjoy the view before you reach the top.
Once at the top there is a picnic table and spectacular views of North Pack and Pack Monadnock, Mt. Monadnock and on a clear day you can see a ski mountain in Vermont. it was about 1.7 Miles to the top.
I love the view that you get from the Observation Deck via the Gregg Trail with minimal effort. If you want a little more challenge and a sweeping view of the area, I highly recommend continuing up the Shannon Trail to the top of Crotched Mountain.
