The Cohos Trail

The Cohos Trail:

The Cohos Trail is the newest and longest foot trail in the Eastern United States to be constructed in the last 70 years. It stretches from Hart's Location, (The Davis Path in Crawford Notch)... to the Canadian Border in Pittsburg, N.H. It is 162 miles long with two gaps in it that will be put in within a couple of years if approved by the State. The first gap is a two mile walk along scenic Rt. 145 onto Cedar Stream Rd. to the back of Lake Francis...The second gap is the 10 miles that go up Rt. 3 from Ramblewood to the East Inlet Rd. This is road-walking...Across from East Inlet, take snowmobile Trl. 5 just South of Deer Mountain Campground. This will take you out to the back of U.S. Customs.

If all goes as planned, this trail will eventually hook up to the Canadian Trails being constructed by the Sentiers Frontaliers. Their trail will go from the Canadian Border to Mont Megantic, 40 miles away, at Notre Dame du Bois, Quebec, ending at an astronomical observatory on the summit of Mont Megantic.

The highest elevation on the trail is Mt. Eisenhower, and passes over (4) 4,000 footers: Mt. Eisenhower (4,761'), Mt. Isolation (4,005'), Mt. Cabot (4,170'), and Mt. Waumbek (4,006').

Most of the trail is marked with small brown signs with yellow lettering, (CT), or yellow flags, and in some places yellow blazes. It was constructed by the T.C.T.A (The Cohos Trail Association) and is maintained by the same club. For a detailed description of the trail and everything you need to know, see: www.cohostrail.org

The T.C.T.A. will be operating three facilities along the CT. The Percy Loop Camp, the Baldhead lean-to on the summit of Baldhead South, and the Panorama lean-to on the north ridge of Mt. Sanguinary. These three sites are 12 to 13 miles apart. The Percy Loop Camp and the Lean-to atop Mt. Sanguinary (Panorama) have water sources, but the Lean-to on Baldhead South has none. Water must be brought from Nash Stream, just below Bulldozer Flat, two miles away.

There are many access trails leading up to the Cohos Trail for those interested in only hiking a small portion of the trail.

We started our day hike last summer at the Wayside Picnic Area in Dixville Notch, continued up past impressive Huntington Falls, to Middle Brother, and some of the other rock outcrops in the area. Fabulous views of The Balsams in Dixville Notch and Sanguinary Mtn. The trail takes you to Flume Falls, Huntington Falls, Sanguinary Mt., Three Brothers, Table Rock, and Dixville Peak, not necessarily in that order. Nice View from Dixville Peak!