Doublehead Mountain

PHOTO: Doublehead Mountain has two summits–two heads!  Julie on South Doublehead’s summit.  North Doublehead is higher, elevation 3,051 feet, looming large behind her less than a mile away. There are many ledges with wide open outlooks on South Doublehead’s summit ridge. Mount Washington, Carter Notch, The Moats and Stairs Mountain and many more can be seen from South Doublehead. 

by Amy Patenaude
Outdoor/Ski Writer

Doublehead Mountain in Jackson has two peaks, North and South. Both summits have splendid views. Julie suggested we hike them last Sunday, reminding me that I told her she ought to hike them.
To get to the trailhead we drove right by Black Mountain Ski Area. Black Mountain’s last day of the season was May 3rd. I had a lot of fun closing out my ski season there. There was still a little strip of snow and it appeared a few skiers were trying to make something of it.
The trailhead parking area is less than a mile from the ski area up Dundee Road on the left. We parked our car here. We leashed up the dogs and donned our packs and walked for 1/3 mile further up Dundee Road to the New Path Trailhead. There is no parking there.
We were both so happy it wasn’t raining and the sun was out.

There are a few different ways Doublehead Mountain can be hiked. We decided to make a big loop by going up the New Path to the South summit and then taking the Old Path to the North summit and down back to our car on the Doublehead Ski Trail.
The New Path reaches the South summit in 1.2 miles. The first half mile is rather pleasant and climbs gradually. The rest of the way the trail climbs steeply and the trail goes straight up–no switchbacks. The footing is rather bad with plenty of loose rocks and slippery gravel. Julie’s dogs, Izzy and Lila, had no issues scrambling on their all fours; they made it look easy. Climbing up this is less difficult than trying to go down it. We were breathing hard by the time we hit the ridge.
We turned right and continued over to South Doublehead and to the end of the spur path. The south ledge has great views east and to the north looking up at North Doublehead and beyond to Carter Notch. We decided to hike back and take a longer break on the ledge we walked past near the summit cairn.
Julie had a Fluffernutter and peanut butter sandwich and she fed doggy treats to the pups. I munched on a bag of chocolate covered pretzels mixed with peanuts. We pointed out the mountains and enjoyed looking at the snow still on Mount Washington’s slopes.

As we neared the intersection we passed by a family on their way up. We were surprised we had not met anyone earlier since there were half a dozen cars in the lot when we arrived.
The hiking along the ridge up to North Doublehead felt a lot easier since it isn’t as steep as what we had just climbed. The woods were pleasant and the footing was nice.
On top of North Doublehead sits the WMNF Doublehead Cabin, it was all locked up. The cabin requires reservations and a fee and must be arranged in advance. I once saw the inside when some people staying there let me take a peek. It’s pretty dark and old. I recall thinking I would rather hike or ski the 1.8 miles down the Doublehead Ski Trail back to the parking lot than spend the night.

The summit is heavily wooded and it is too bad that they don’t clear the trees to allow the light to reach the cabin and open the view. But there are nice ledges a short distance from the cabin looking north and east over Mountain Pond and into Maine.. An effort to remove treetops to allow for a nice view of Mount Washington from just outside the cabin has been made but more tree work needs to be done.
The ski trail is wide and grassy and not as steep as it winds its way off the summit. (Maybe you remember reading about Becca and I skiing here a few years ago). Lots of wildflowers were
growing but not a single bloom did we see along the way. After passing the intersection with the Old Path we knew we had about half a mile to go. The dogs were loving the seasonal streams that crossed the trail. We met another family on their way up the trail as we hiked down.
The loop was nearly 4 miles with almost 1,700 vertical feet of climbing. We had fun and we were happy to enjoy an outing without any snow and the blackflies weren’t out biting yet.

Have fun.