Trailhead and parking area are at the end of Bennett Street in Sandwich, NH. From Rt. 113A, 2.9 miles north of the western junction with Rt. 113, turn west onto Whiteface Intervale Road. Drive just a tenth of a mile and take the first left onto Bennett Street. Drive 1.7 miles down this dirt road to a fork with a bridge on the right. Bear left, past the residential portion of the road, where it becomes less well-maintained (and may not be plowed during snow season), and proceed another half mile past to the end of the road. The parking area will be on the left just before the gate. The trail continues up the gated portion. Click here for a Google map.
Flat Mountain Pond is a scenic delight in a remote area of the Sandwich Range Wilderness. It sits on a high shelf between two nearby mountains that have been inexplicably given the same name - you guessed it, Flat Mountain. The two Flat Mountains are the less well-known peaks of the Sandwich Range in between Sandwich Dome and Mt. Whiteface. The lengthy pond is almost three quarters of a mile from end to end, an attribute it was helped along with by the addition of a dam on the southwest end in the 1960s, which caused the water to rise and combine two nearby ponds into one. This end of the pond offers the nicest views, looking down the pond lengthwise with Mt. Whiteface and the Sleeper Ridge as a backdrop over the deep blue waters. The hike to the pond is quite gentle, following the route of an old logging railroad, although it is moderately long and requires some brook crossings which can be difficult when water is high. It also passes Great Falls on the way, which can be done as a shorter hike.
From the parking area, start walking up the gated woods road, which soon approaches Pond Brook, a wide and voluminous waterway. After 0.2 miles, pass a bridge on a privately owned road crossing the river on the right. Several places along the way are close enough to walk out to the brook and see a number of cascades, which are powerful in heavy water flow. In another 0.3 miles, make a right fork onto Bennett Street Trail. This narrower forest path dips down to cross a little brook, then runs mostly level through open woods for 0.35 miles to cross a slightly larger brook. Wandering into darker spruce woods, reach an intersection with Gleason Trail after 0.2 miles more. Bear right and stay on Bennett Street Trail, which soon approaches and runs along the top of the rounded bank above Pond Brook. In just over 0.1 miles, it passes a low cascade and pool and crosses another brook just above where it empties into Pond Brook. The trail continues to stay relatively close by the brook, and in another 0.15 miles, comes near a broad cascade into a sizeable, stone-rimmed pool. The trail then swings uphill away from the brook for a bit and descends to rejoin it, reaching the base of Great Falls after a quarter mile. Here you have a view upstream through the narrow channel in the angled rock walls which constrain the full force of the brook into Great Falls. Though lacking in height, the power of the falls is inspiring. Two large pools swirl below the falls, with a small cascade in between them. Just ahead on the trail, you can walk around to the top of the falls and look down into the miniature gorge.
The trail continues right alongside the brook past the falls, and in 0.1 miles crosses a smaller brook just above its mouth in Pond Brook. It swings to the left and follows this brook uphill for 0.2 miles until crossing it back again. It then makes a jog away from the brook and turns to climb uphill more steeply, with one section of stone steps, for another 0.2 miles before reaching the junction with Flat Mountain Pond Trail. This is the trail you started on, although if you had stayed on it, it would have taken longer to get to this point. With the steepest part of the hike over, turn right onto this trail, which follows the track of an old logging railroad. In a very short distance, the trail crosses a nameless brook originating high up on Sandwich Dome, which the trail now traverses the lower slopes of. It swings out to the right and makes a wide turn around the lower end of an eastern ridge of Sandwich Dome, then heads straight along the hillside deeper and deeper into a remote valley around a branch of Pond Brook. The wide trail ascends at easy grades, crossing a couple more small brooks, with increasingly rocky footing. About 1.1 miles from the junction, it approaches and then crosses the branch of Pond Brook it has been following at a ledgy hummock in the brook bed. After crossing, it stays on the opposite side for less than 0.1 miles before crossing back. If the water level is too high to cross the brooks here, it can be easily circumvented by walking through the woods for a short distance to bypass this section. In a quarter mile, the trail comes into a boggy clearing at the headwaters of this brook, which can flood in wetter times. With views of the hillsides around, it crosses the brook and meadow and makes a 180-degree turn to start heading back out the valley on the other side. Again, avoid this trail with recent wet weather or else you may have to make a tricky detour through the woods around the bog.
Now on the way back out of the valley, the trail is more of the same as it continues to follow the old railroad on its giant switchback across the valley. Those comfortable with navigation off-trail may be tempted to make a 0.1-mile long bushwhack down over the brook and up the other side of the valley, starting a few tenths of a mile before the double brook crossing in order to cut off nearly three quarters of a mile of the section leading up to this. After 0.6 miles on this side of the valley, the trail swings gradually to the left around a small ridge concealing the pond and begins to head into the valley around the main branch of Pond Brook. It comes alongside the brook after 0.2 miles and follows it for another 0.2 miles to a trail junction at the southwestern end of the pond. The left turn is the trail continuing around the pond. Straight ahead, a short spur path leads to the bushy edge of the pond, where low vegetation extends out into the water and fine views are seen of the northern Flat Mountain on the left and the rolling Sleeper Ridge to Mt. Whiteface on the right. You have the best view of the length of the pond from this vantage point, although still much of the pond is concealed around the curve. To the right at the junction, another spur path leads to the Flat Mountain Pond Shelter, in a clearing by the pond's southwest outlet at the small wooden dam. From a few points on this side, you can now see the summit of South Tripyramid. This end of the pond offers the best views and is a good stopping point, but the main trail does lead alongside the entire length of the pond (over a mile each way to walk) and beyond, offering further exploration potential.
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