Ridge Trail to Giant Mountain and Rocky Peak Ridge is a 7.8 mile moderately trafficked out and back trail located near Keene, New York that features a river. The trail is rated as difficult offers a number of activity options.
hiking
nature trips
rock climbing
snowshoeing
walking
forest
river
views
wild flowers
wildlife
The climb up Giant was amazing as a good portion of the trail is open rock face with great views. The decent/accent/decent/accent going to rocky ridge and back is pretty brutal but well worth it. You can see Vermont and lake Champlain from rocky ridge on a clear day. My 7th and 8th high peaks and favorite hike so far. Be on the lockout for copperheads sunbathing on the open rock face. Ran into a couple on my hike.
Fun and challenging trail. Was a bit slippery and muddy with the rain.
This hike was our first of the 46 Peaks and was challenging but rewarding as well. My wife and I are slow so it took us over 9 hours to complete. Over to RPR and back descending and ascending Giant were the most difficult. The end of the trail beers were refreshing.
Great views almost all the way up Giant (damn those false summits!) but definitely some steep parts. Trail to RPR requires some butt sliding on rock faces but its relatively short. At one point on the descent towards RPR you have a clear view of RPR summit, very nice view (seems far away but takes only 45 minutes to get there). Took my wife and I 9 hours round trip but we are slow and steady, especially on the descent.
Strenuous hike up but well worth it, the views were amazing and the rock scrambles were very cool. Heading down to rocky Peak ridge was a little gnarly at points, especially where the exposed rock was wet. Once at RPR we met A man with his daughter who took us back down the other side to new russia and drove us back to the primary trail head where we started. This was a long but absolutely beautiful trek. My knees were toast the last two miles but the scenery was worth it. FitBit Stats: Chapel pond > Giant >RPR > New Russia Trail Head = 44,697 steps
6/28/17
Incredible views basically from start to finish with several cut outs and false summits on the way to the giant summit (and giants washbowl). Trail was very steep but well worth it. Adding rocky peak was difficult mainly in that the first half of the 1.2 miles was straight down so climbing that before starting down the trail from giant again was really difficult. Legs were pretty fatigued by the end of the day. Views were stunning from both peaks.
2.5 hours to giant summit
Another hour to rocky summit
the trail to rocky is a bit tough...