Distance: 1.2 miles oneway with options for longer
Difficulty: Easy side of moderate
Located in Stoddard, New Hampshire is the trail to Bacon Ledges. From Rt 123 in Stoddard take Shedd Hill Road, than an immediate right onto Old Antrim Road, which is unmarked. This is a narrow dirt road that goes by several houses. About a half mile past the last house you see will be a turnout and the trailhead. There is a brown trail sign on the left hand side of the road marking the trail. I read many posts that the road was challenging at times, but I think the road has been fixed up as we did not see any issues.
The trail meanders through the woods for about a half mile of fairly flat walking. The trail is marked by yellow blazes.
The second half of the trail is a steady incline up to a small rock scramble right before you reach the summit.
The rocky summit provides beautiful views of Highland Lake looking toward the fire tower at Pitcher Mountain and Mt Monadnock in the distance.
After enjoying the view walk behind the ledges to a carin.
A few feet back from the carin is a view looking towards the northeast. It is not as good as the first view, but still pretty.
From here you can continue to Round Mountain and Trout Pond. We did not continue, we turn around and headed back to the truck. Our round trip was almost 3 miles. We did pull several ticks off of us, tick spray did help on the hike back. Make sure you do a good tick check.
Overall I loved this hiked it reminded me of Gap Mountain and Kidder Mountain. For little effort there were some beautiful views. After your hike make sure you stop at Mills Village Country Store for sandwich or ice cream.
