Backpack Trail Guide

Trails / New Hampshire / Sandwich Range and Kancamagus

Flat Mountain Pond

Sandwich Range, White Mountain National Forest (Bennett Street trailhead, Sandwich)

Flat Mountain Pond is a 30-acre pond at about 2,320 feet, tucked in a saddle between the two summits of Flat Mountain according to the Concord Monitor. A Forest Service lean-to on its southwest shore makes it a gentle one-night trip, and SectionHiker calls it a “really nice one night backpacking trip.”

Much of the way follows the bed of an old logging railroad, which SectionHiker calls an easy walk.

The hike

From the Bennett Street trailhead in Sandwich, the Concord Monitor’s Marty Basch describes a walk of about 5 miles to the pond. The Bennett Street Trail follows Pond Brook through hemlock groves past two waterfalls: an 8-foot horsetail and, about a third of a mile farther, Great Falls, a 12-foot cascade. SectionHiker’s Sandwich Dome trip from the same trailhead notes swimming holes in Pond Brook near the start.

The Flat Mountain Pond Trail then follows the grade of the Beebe River Railroad, a 22-mile logging line with about 12 camps that operated from 1917 to 1942, according to the Monitor, which says track timbers, rails, and spikes still turn up along the trail. SectionHiker calls this stretch an easy walk.

The shelter sits near the pond’s southwest shore. The Monitor says the Adirondack-style lean-to was built in 1964, sleeps six to eight, and has an overflow tent area and a composting toilet nearby. SectionHiker describes the pond as “breathtakingly beautiful” and fished Pond Brook on the way. SectionHiker and a friend reached both Flat Mountain summits from the pond by bushwhacking.

The Flat Mountain Pond Trail continues to a second trailhead off Whiteface Intervale Road, making a “10-plus-mile horseshoe” between the two lots. With a car at each end, the trip becomes a traverse instead of an out-and-back.

Nearby, SectionHiker’s 13.8-mile Sandwich Dome loop from the same trailhead passes Black Mountain Pond, which has a designated campsite with tent pads, and Guinea Pond. For another pond-side shelter just north of the Kancamagus Highway, see Sawyer Pond.

Tips

Camping

No permit is needed, and the shelter is free and first come, first served (Campflare). The Forest Service bans camping within a quarter mile of shelters except at the designated site itself, and lists Black Mountain Pond as a 200-foot Forest Protection Area. Inside the Sandwich Range Wilderness, hiking and camping groups are limited to 10 people, and bikes and other mechanized transport aren’t allowed. The Wonalancet Out Door Club says there is no ban on camping within 200 feet of trails in the Sandwich Range Wilderness, but points to the Forest Service’s current backcountry rules.

Outside wilderness areas, the Forest Service lists bear canisters, food lockers, or a hang 12 feet up and 6 feet out as acceptable food storage; Campflare recommends a canister here.

Inside Intel: Basch’s 2018 Concord Monitor column describes lingering on a flat rock at the pond’s southwest edge. SectionHiker camped at the shelter and found the shelter and shoreline mostly free of the bugs that plagued the woods; a commenter mentions tent sites near the shore.

Trail facts

The Lowdown

Overflow camp beside Flat Mountain Pond:

When the lean-to on the southwest shore fills, a small tent in the overflow area is the backup plan. See the backpacking tents testers like.

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Where this comes from

This page draws on the sources below, along with other guides and trip reports. Links go to the original pages.

Before you go: This page is based on published trail guides, trip reports, and reviews, along with official park and agency information where we could find it. It’s meant to help backpackers discover new trails, not to replace current, official information. Conditions, closures, permits, campsites, and water sources change, and some details here may be out of date or wrong. Confirm everything with the managing agency and check current conditions before you head out, and don’t rely on this page alone for safety or navigation. Backcountry travel involves risk.