The Diamond Peaks Trail may be short, but it’s long on experiences.
The 1.1-mile long trail contains splendid outlooks to a great land. When we made our way to the expansive northern New Hampshire woodlands encompassing the trail, a young bull moose trotted across Route 16 serving as a welcoming ambassador.
The trail is located within Dartmouth College’s vast 27,000-acre Second College Grant, a rugged chunk of the untamed North Country near Errol. The college received the Grant from the state in 1807. The land is teeming with mountains and rivers, contains a handful of camps for the Dartmouth community, is used for timber harvesting, research and recreation from fly-fishing to mountain biking.
Seemingly in a no-man’s land bounded by Maine in the east, Dix’s Grant to the west, Atkinson and Gilmanton Academy Grant to the north and the small town of Wentworth Location to the south, general public access near Diamond Peaks is available through a southeast parcel corridor in Wentworth Location by the community’s small cemetery at the junction of Route 16 and well-signed Dead Diamond Road.
Though Dead Diamond Road is gated about 0.2 miles in from the pavement, the non-motorized recreating public is welcome to explore the Grant from that entrance with limited parking.
From there, the walk on the wild side begins. Though some may find a gravel road stroll during a hike underwhelming, the undulating small rocky mountain way would be ideal for a mountain bike on the return trip, and perhaps one will be used for a future Grant excursion. More importantly, the 2.2-mile trek to the Diamond Peaks trailhead is loaded with eye candy and stories.
Almost immediately on the north side of the gate, the heavens burst open as the road pierces a swelling wetland that would be ripe for winged wildlife appearances. The sub-3,000 foot Mount Dustan stands tall against the sky, the highest point in Wentworth Location. Later, a gate house with its kiosk contains informational tidbits about the Grant landscape with upland birds, ducks, deer, moose, bear, rabbit and brook trout. There’s also a useful map.
Steps from the gate house, walk over the splendid Perley Churchill Bridge. The timber structure spans the Diamond River, which eventually flows into the Magalloway. Named after a paper company engineer, the bridge was constructed in 1951 and later repaired following damage from a 1981 ice jam.
The road follows along a gorge with its deep drops to the water, foreshadowing the cliffs of Diamond Peaks. The next mile brings camps, a grassy airstrip and a spring. One camp bears a plaque memorializing two Dartmouth doctors who, despite their courageous attempts to survive, perished in a winter 1959 plane crash in the Pemigewasset Wilderness.
At a crossroads by the junction of Swift and Dead Diamond roads stands the Management Center for the Grant. Across from it are a couple of easy-to-read signs, one pointing to the start of the yellow-blazed Diamond Peaks Trail and both Alice and Linda ledges. After navigating some weathered planks, say good-bye to the level-like terrain as the pathway steepens quickly, soon leading to a side trail to the left to Alice and a look down to the Management Center and valley of the Dead and Swift Diamond rivers which also flow in the Grant. The ledge also leads to some decent patches of berries.
Returning to the main trail, the pathway retains its steep bite as it passes over several fine outlooks with sudden drops. Though the trail is just over a mile, it can feel like a long mile as the steeps, cols, blowdowns and outlooks keep coming until you pass a junction with the Diamond Back Trail.
Not long after that, the trail brings you to an outstanding cliff vantage point, a survey marker anchored in stone indicating the 2,040-foot top of Diamond Peak. From there, the Magalloway River wiggled its way through the largely undeveloped kingdom. The perch was a fine spot for a snack, but not the last spot. After the quick mile back down to the Management Center porch, the welcoming wooden chairs offer another fine perch and a perfect spot to end the 6.6-mile roundtrip ramble.