The Scudder Trail to Mt. Ingalls (Shelburne, NH)

Shown below are a few photos taken recently while doing some maintenance work on the Scudder Trail which leads to Mt. Ingalls, and then slightly beyond to Ray's Pond.  Fewer photos than usual were taken since trail work took priority over photography!

I'm grateful that the Shelburne Trails Club (STC) took the initiative to reopen this trail which had been abandoned for many years due to logging operations in the area.

A terrific characteristic of the Scudder Trail is that you can make the hike as long as you want it to be.  For a shorter hike, you can trek 1.4 miles to a comfortable and spacious ledge, and then simply call that your destination for the day.  If you want a longer hike, then you can continue onward and upward for another 1.3 miles to the summit of Mt. Ingalls where there are extensive ledges just a few hundred feet south of the summit.

Regardless of whether you do the shorter hike, or the longer hike, you'll enjoy awesome views that include peaks in western Maine, Carter-Moriah Range, Presidential Range, and even the tops of a few mountains in the Crescent and Pliny Range.

And, if you go the full distance to the summit of Mt. Ingalls, then you might as well travel another tenth of a mile northward beyond the summit to visit the tiny body of water known as Ray's Pond which has a certain untamed wilderness feel to it.

At the lower end of this trail the corridor goes through an area that is sometimes filled with tall grass and weeds, especially during late Spring and early Summer.  If you would prefer to avoid that situation, then you might want to consider doing this hike in either early Spring, or late Summer and/or the Autumn.

Here is one other tip.  If you should opt to do the shorter hike, don't stop at the first set of ledges that you come to.  Continue onward for less than 5 minutes and you'll arrive at a larger ledge which has a very wide view.

The trailhead is reachable by leaving the north side of North Road (Shelburne, NH) at Millbrook Road and then driving 0.5 mile where there is ample parking for at least 4 cars on the right (east side) of the road.  If you're totally unfamiliar with the location of the Scudder Trail, perhaps the map shown below will be helpful.  The Scudder Trail is highlighted in yellow. (Click on map to enlarge it.)

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