Mount Sunapee:
After taking a long break from posting to focus on school for my senior year, I have finally decided to finish posting about my journey. For my second to last hike, I decided to hike Mount Sunapee with my little brother, Sam.
As with most of my hikes, our hike to Mount Sunapee wasn’t planned until late the night before. I honestly wasn’t even planning to hike this day, but I realized that I was running out of time to reach my goal mileage (100 miles).
The mountain has a large summer sports program with mountain biking, hiking, and much more. Because of this, the amenities at the bottom of the trail are fantastic. There are bathrooms, vending machines, and much more.
The start of the trail is a bit hard to follow as it weaves in and out of the ski trails and you need to search for where the actual hiking trail is. Once you hike high enough, the hiking trails become completely separate from the ski trails and it is much easier to follow.
Overall, this hike was incredible. It has a steady moderate incline with a greater incline at the end. The increase in elevation gain at the end wasn’t much of an issue for us though as the trail zig zags, making it much easier to make our way to the top without overexerting ourselves. The trees are pretty sparse throughout the entire hike, but, as with most hikes, they get even more sparse as the elevation gets higher. This wasn’t an issue though because the beauty and scarcity of the trees gave the forest an enchanted feel.
Mount Sunapee is usually pretty busy, but as the weather was less than ideal on the day we hiked, we didn’t run into people too often. The people that do hike this trail are sometimes disrespectful of those around them and of the wildlife present on the trails. I wouldn’t expect everyone to know to follow leave no trace, but I do expect people to be respectful of the world around us. There were people blasting music from speakers in their bags, dropping trash on the trail, etc. Of course we picked up all the trash around us, but I was appalled. I guess this is what comes with hiking such a traveled and public trail.
If you are looking for an easier hike with a rewarding view, I would definitely suggest hiking Sunapee. The day I hiked it, it was raining, so we didn’t get much of a view, but the top was still gorgeous with all of its wildflowers and other amazing wildlife.
The walk down was just as easy as the walk up and put very little strain on our knees, which was ideal. The bathrooms and the water fountains at the base of the mountain were very helpful after this hike. The town around Sunapee has place to use the restroom and such, but it is so much easier and cleaner to use the mountain’s amenities.
I really did enjoy this hike, and it was really nice to hang out with my brother for a while. I definitely recommend this hike for anyone, no matter your hiking abilities. Just remember to take a reusable bag to pick up some trash on your way up!
For Those Who Wander 