Welch Dickey Mountain Trail in the White Mountains of NH

Wanting to go hiking during prime leaf peeping season in New England we headed to New Hampshire. We stayed at Ames Brook Campground located at 104 Winona Road in Ashland, NH. You can call them at 603-968-798 and find them at AmesBrook.com.

We had made reservations paying $36.00 a night for a full hook up. The store where the check in was had a good selection of food, souvenirs, and camping items.

We headed to our decent sized private site with a fire pit and picnic table. The only problem with the site (and all the sites) was the dirt rather than gravel on which we parked. That meant that if it rained the dirt would become mud. Luckily it didn't rain during our weekend in New Hampshire. There were many seasonal campers but plenty of non-seasonal as well.

The pool was closed but offered each night were "events." There were two movie nights and another night was a "make your own sundae" for $1.00. We had cable television, a laundry room, a game room above the store, a new playground (as well as the remnants of and old one which the teens seemed to prefer), horseshoe pits, volleyball, basketball, and brook fishing. Note: we have stayed at too many campgrounds all over the United States to count. Most of them either are near a railroad track or an airport. We clearly heard a train several times over the weekend but it never went by at night.

We would definitely at Ames Brook again. Ames Brook Camping is about 20 miles from the White Mountains.
We spent one day on a popular hike called the Welch Dickey Mountain Trail. If you want a meditative hike go later in the day or early morning. This hike is so popular there is a double parking lot and pit restrooms.

You'll find the Welsh Dickey Mountain Trail in the White Mountains in Thorton, NH. The White Mountains cover about a quarter of New Hampshire and a little bit of Maine. These mountains are part of the Appalachian Mountains and are considered the most rugged mountains in New England.

Its most famous peak is Mount Washington, which at 6,288 feet (1,917 m) is the highest mountain in the Northeastern United States. In addition, the White Mountains include several smaller groups of mountains including the Franconia Range, Carter-Moriah Range, Kinsman Range, and Pilot Range.

Although the Welch Dickey Mountain Trail is a 4.5 loop there are three ways to hike this trail two of which will take you to different places. You can hike to Welch Mountain and go back the way you came for a 2.0 mile hike. You can hike to Dickey Mountain and come back which is also a 2 mile hike. Or you can do what we did and that is the entire loop which adds half a mile (thus the .5 in 4.5) to get from Welch Mountain to Dickey Mountain. The views were among the best I have ever seen during peak leaf season and among the most beautiful in general.

I am not going to tell you to avoid this wonderful hike if it has rained. I would certainly say not to go if it is raining. The exposed bare rock (and much of this hike crosses rock) and the abundance of wet leaves on the ground made this a hair-raising hike even for the young people who were around us.

After parking we walked a bit and then crossed a brook. In spite of the rain this brook was manageable. In 1.3 miles we came to a very large exposed ledge which many people thought was the summit of Welch Mountain but was not. Welch Mountain is a little over 2600 feet. In about .6 miles you will reach the summit of Welch Mountain.

Although we had gorgeous views up the mountain and the sounds of a brook on our left we now had a 360 degree panorama of beauty. Some people turned around at the 1.3 mile mark because what was ahead were slippery ledges which without the help of our poles and some tree branches we could not have climbed. You will be going over some high boulders so wear long pants. Although many wore sneakers, hiking boots will help. It got quite cold and windy so wear layers.

The summit of Welch was a nice place to stop and have a snack; however, I then looked across at the Dickey Summit and said "I can't do that." The only option was going back down the almost impossible slippery ledges so on we went. The trail is well maintained and easy to follow with yellow blazes. In many places we found human made stone steps to help us up and in other places natural steps. Dickey Mountain is a little over 2700 feet.

We were told it was easier going back from Dickey and there were for sure fewer slippery ledges; however, the wet leaves made the going slow (unless you're under 40)!

This is called an easy to intermediate hike and is said to be good for families. In many places it is an easy hike but there are enough challenging areas to make even the most avid hiker feel fulfilled. The elevation gain is 1600 feet. Truly had it not been slippery this would have been much more enjoyable and a 5 star hike.

If you do not want to go as far as the White Mountains on Route 113 there are a number of trail heads. The parking lots were full. You can't miss the trail heads because of the number of cars and people on the road.