Iron Mountain Trail

Loved this hike! Nice views of the Presidentials at the beginning of hike and again part way up! No view from the peak but DO continue on to the ledges a mile or so from the peak. Wonderful views there on large open ledges toward Pickering, Stanton, Langton, Atatash and many more. Somewhat steep, but Moderate is an apt rating overall. As others have written, the dirt road leading up to the small lot is very narrow and has gullies on both sides. Made it up in a car with no problem, but fortunately met no vehicle on the way. Not sure if two vehicles could squeeze by each other. Parking area is small but it seems this hike is “off the beaten path” enough to attract few hikers. We met only two people during our hike. A “ hidden gem” in my opinion!

Went on trail on first day after many days of rain. Was quite challenging and slippery. Would rate this as a hard moderate trail. Views were obscured because of slight fog. Tree cover at top also hinders views. Used the trail head from app. Went to summit and back.

This is a great trail! As others noted it’s quite steep, but overall I felt it was the perfect example of a moderate hike. If the trail were longer, I might feel differently. The terrain (rocks, roots, some fallen trees) is challenging, but just take your time to find the best path and get your footing. Because the views are beyond the peak, there’s a good mix of up and down; my knees never love any descent, so it was nice to mix it up in the middle. Bring poles if you’ve got them because there are some tricky spots where the extra support is handy to have. The dirt road up to the parking lot is very steep, long, and only one lane. Use caution and your AWD if you’ve got it! There is literally a sign that says “Parking” in the parking lot, so if your GPS tells you you’ve arrived and you don’t see that sign, just keep going, it’s not much further. Parking lot can hold a maximum of 9 cars if everyone parks just right. You cannot park on the road because it’s one lane with ditches or very soft shoulders on either side. If you’re hiking with a group, please meet elsewhere and carpool in, to save space for other hikers.

step at first but amazing views loss rocks and inclines its on the high end on medium

GREAT TRAIL SHORT BUT STEEP. MT. WASHINGTON ON THE NORTH OLD FIRE TOWER REMAINS ON TOP. LARGE CLIFFS ON THE SOUTH AND A IRON MINE FROM THE1880'S. COOL SPOT.

great, relatively short hike, with awesome view of mt. Washington at the overlook halfway up, and even better views facing south at the cliffs at the end. definitely worth it. :)

did this with my 7 yr and my 69yr old mother. I am not even close to fit and it took us 2 hours to summit (with a 30min break for lunch and pictures) and about another hour to get to the south cliffs and back. GO TO THE SOUTH CLIFFS! It is the best views of the hike. took us under an hour to come down. It is quite steep so poles would have been good.

Moderately steep. Very isolated trail. No views at all if you don’t continue to the ledges / summit.

great hike! pretty good incline the entire way up, only lets up a few times. make sure to stop at the lookout for a breathtaking view of mt washington! (at the fork that splits - go right.) after you get to the summit, you can go another .8 miles to the south cliffs for a better view!

It's not as far up the dirt road as I expected, when you see a small pull off area to the right and a large field (above you) to the left, it's marked "Trail". You hike up through a field to a short span of woods and then more field. Then into the woods for an 800 foot elevation gain in .9 miles to the summit. Before the summit, you'll see a split to the right for a gorgeous view of Mount Washington and the surrounding area. Definitely a nice place to rest for a few minutes. The summit is closed in with the ruins of a fire tower. Not really anything to see. Hike past the summit and down 3/400 feet elevation to the ledges. The trail was mostly easy to follow down until almost at the ledges and then it took a bit of watching to keep it, but totally worth it - the view is amazing from the ledges! Well worth the extra .7 or so of a mile and the extra elevation to get back. We spent lunch on the ledges and just enjoyed the view. We did not hike down to the mines, but others we met on the trail said it was another .1 mile and a bit of elevation again, but very interesting to see. It was very buggy with black flies in the am and mosquitos in the afternoon. I would say the first section to the summit was very steep and hiking down to the ledges had three sections that were steep for a short time. I am a very slow and not super fit hiker and handled it well, so I would rate the trail as totally fine for families. No drop offs really, except at the views, of course, so great for kids of all ages. Even the ledges had plenty of open space for kids to move around safety. Enjoy!

Fairly easy but today it was still wet in places, so could use a week or two to dry out some. It is steep though. The trail can be slick and you need to be careful in steep spots. Loose rocks and slickness means I don’t see it as a great family hike with small children. We made it to the first part of the top with large rock to sit on but not much view. We didn’t finish because of weather and we really just wanted some exercise. One nice touch was the view was nice at the bottom. The drive in was rough dirt road but fine going slow. Drive in could be better. Trail was easy to follow.

There are many amazing short hikes in the Whites, but for my money, this is the best hike under 3 miles by a long shot. The views from the cliffs are incredible. Great spot for the looking at some foliage late in the season as the eastern Whites have colors later and Iron mountain is the perfect height to get just above the deciduous trees and look down at all of them.

Beautiful views at the end. Short hike but really worthy !!

I did this hike today. Easy moderate hike. Great views from several offshoots heading up to the top and then amazing views from the ledges on the back(?). Definitely worth it to go the extra ,8 miles to the ledges. There are alot of leaves going up, I'd suggest poles or a walking stick for the way down since it can be slippery.

Moderately difficult, steep and slick at points, but great views on the little spot trails and the cliffs.

Short, sweet hike! It's a bit of a climb up some rocky areas. For the best views venture off the path a little bit when you can see large open rocks!

pretty steep for first mile or so to the peak. nice view off rocks in the middle and at the end. trail is rocky, kind of like a small ravine for most of the way, not a dirt path trail

Trail is well marked, beautiful views.

views from the south cliffs are amazing!

Great short hike for the whole family. Beautiful views at the start of the trail and from the ledges with a couple lookout spots along the way. Bring bug spray!

For a novice hiker that I am, some parts were challenging, but not intimidating. The length was just about right for a good workout. Took my wife and me about 2.5 hours to complete. The view from the ledges was quite spectacular.
Warning: insect repellent is absolutely essential, and still expect to be bugged by the hordes of mosquitoes there (at least in June).