Upper Hall Pond

Length: 0.8 miles out-and-back

Difficulty (click for info): Beginner

Elevation Gain: 30 feet (+140 feet on return)

Rating (click for info): 5/10

Elevation: 1589'

Driving Directions:
Trailhead is on Sandwich Notch Road in Sandwich, NH. (Seasonal road - check status on TrailsNH to verify gate status). To get there, take Rt. 49 3.1 miles north of the junction with Rt. 175 and bear right uphill onto Sandwich Notch Road, which soon turns to dirt and becomes a steep and rough seasonal road. Drive 2.4 miles up the road and look for the gated road leading down to the pond. This road is quite steep and prone to washout, so we recommend parking on the roadside at the top and walking down the road to the pond. Click here for a Google map.

About the Hike:
Upper Hall Pond is the largest and northernmost of the Hall Pond trio, tucked away in Sandwich Notch. It is most often visited by fishing enthusiasts, but a walking tour of the pond is a suitable choice as well. A couple spots around the pond provide for the possibility of a nice picnic with a mountainside backdrop. From your parking spot at the gated road, walk downhill on the road for a quarter mile as it makes a sweeping turn first to the right, then back around to the left. The section leading down to the parking area is usually hardest hit by washout. At the northern end of the pond is a sandy beach, through which meanders the pond's inlet, coming from a marsh. Good views are had across the water from here over to Mt. Weetamoo's east peak. The pond's one lonely island pokes up from the water. Continue your exploration by following a path into the woods uphill from the parking area. This path cuts across the hillside above the pond, crossing a small stream draining in from above. After just over 0.1 mile, a path branches down to the shore, at a small camp clearing, with a different perspective. The main path dead-ends at a swamp another 0.1 miles beyond.

Printable directions page