Ridge Trail to Giant Mountain and Rocky Peak Ridge is a 7.7 mile heavily trafficked out and back trail located near Keene, New York that features a river and is rated as difficult. The trail is primarily used for hiking, nature trips, and snowshoeing and is best used from April until November. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash.
dogs on leash
hiking
nature trips
snowshoeing
forest
river
views
wildlife
muddy
rocky
scramble
Although dogs are allowed to use this trail, users have reported that they may have trouble with the scrambling.
Hiked the traverse on 5/30/2020. Started off with nice weather, then rain, then back to gorgeous weather. RPR is my favorite hihhpeak so far. View were incredible.
Great hike, the warmer weather earlier in the week melted all the leftover snow/ice. No need for microspikes on either Giant or Rocky Ridge.
This is a great hike but don't underestimate it at this time of year. It's steep from the beginning and doesn't really let up so we really felt it in our knees by the end. While the first 3/4ths of Giant was dry and had no ice or snow, the last quarter became snowy and icy. We're in good shape and had spikes and poles but it was tough and felt dangerously slippery. The col between Giant and RPR was very difficult- very steep on the way down from Giant and pretty much all wet snow/ice. The places without snow and ice were slippery rock slabs with running water going over them. We were really relieved that neither of us slipped on them. The col took us way longer than we expected- 2 hours to get from Giant to RPR! I'm sure that in the summer and fall, it would take much less time. Fortunately, when you finish the steep downward path from Giant, the way up RPR was a little shorter (still snow-covered) and with spikes it wasn't too bad. The way back from RPR to Giant took us about an hour. The total time for us was about 8 hours. The views were great and we had both summits to ourselves! But now that we know what it's like at this time of year, we definitely recommend waiting until everything has melted to have a more enjoyable time.
Giant & RPR are tough on the feet and knees. Saw quite a few groups have to turn back when they were almost at the summit because they couldn’t go any further without crampons.
The trail to Giant is pretty much unrelentingly steep and the last mile or so was icy and snow covered. It was treacherous even with crampons. We attempted RPR but it was like a glacier in a few spots of the col and after a couple of bad falls we decided to try the summit on a less icy day. Beautiful views from Giant and several other points!
Was a great hike with these two mountains. A little before the 2 miles in part definitely recommend micro spikes, it will make it a lot easier. I also recommend going around the bump when given this option on the trail. It was very windy at the top of giant but beautiful view. When heading over to rocky peak ridge, it was snowy/ slick from melting at first and then there are a few very icy parts that would be near difficult without micro spikes. Trail is marked pretty well and the top of rocky peak ridge was a 360 view. Coming down was tricky with the melting snow and ice in some parts and took a little longer, but once we got back to the giant intersection it was great. Enjoy!
On April 15th 2020, we attempted ridge trail up to giant mountain. We underestimated the top and assumed there would be ways around most icy parts on trails, but we did hit a part where we could not continue. Crampons needed still to safely accomplish this hike. Although we didn’t go to the top of giant mnt, we went down to nubble trail instead & the views are absolutely amazing! Definitely worth the extra mile or 2 for those views! Will be back soon when the ice melts being the crampons we ordered won’t be here until mid June now Overall, 10/10 amazing hike! Love the scrambles!
