Faraway & Roberts | 5/9/25

Placing the Lakes Region Conservation Trust patch on my vision board turned out to be a great idea. I have spent a lot of time in the Ossipees over the last few months, but I was awaiting summer conditions to hike Faraway and Roberts. With a somewhat clear day and Willow's proximity to the lakes region, we set out for a long but relatively quick day at the Castle.

Robert Ledges

At 9 am, we arrived at a nearly full hiker lot, where we applied plenty of bug spray before setting off (useless). I had previously drawn out the loop on Gaia, which was very helpful given the plethora of overlapping trails within the Castle in the Clouds area. There are many options for ascent, yet I choose a route up Settlement -> Cold Spring -> Faraway Mountain Trail -> High Ridge Trail -> Faraway Spur, in light of an effective tracing pattern. This cluster of trails was very typical of the Ossipee Range in that there were 13 switchbacks before we hit our first summit. In addition to being full of turns, these trails are also wide and even in grade throughout. I hope Elizabeth Callahan wasn't messing with me when she told me it was because the old owner used to drive up the trails- but it certainly makes sense as to why!

Smooth trails

Willow & cruised our 4 miles to the ridge, largely because if we slowed down we got swarmed with black flies. High Ridge trail was a tad muddy, but otherwise, the trails up and down were in great post-melt shape! As we made our final push up Faraway, we found the spur was chained off. Confused at first, I figured we weren't doing anything illegal since the barrier was likely for snowmobiles. The summit was underwhelming- we found a weather station of sorts, high grass, and no views. Black flies made for a quick turn around which was fine, because this might be the only bad view in the Ossipee 10.

Faraway Summit

The ridge from Faraway to Roberts felt shorter than I'd envisioned from the map, so it was a good thing Roberts had a summit sign to mark our arrival. I knew there was a good view from last time, but today the mountains were obstructed in a haze. That said, we held off on photos until the first ledge view of Lake Winnipesaukee. The best part about Mt. Roberts is that if you do it counter-clockwise, you get to look at the lake for nearly half the descent!

Mt. Roberts Summit

Hazy view down to Winnie

Unlike the way up, Mt. Roberts trail is one of the only non-switchbacked trails in this area. Rather, it follows a gentle yet rocky ledge back down to the grass field we started from on Ossipee Park Road. There are a few ankle-rollers through here, so I'd recommend bringing trekking poles to add stability.

Car-to-car, Willow and I hiked 10 miles with about 4 hours of moving time. Afterward, we extended our drive home to go to Kellerhaus, because, of course, I needed to progress my Scoops & Loops patch with some local ice cream. Grateful for another fantastic day in the mountains of New Hampshire!

Final Stats:

10 miles

1,628 gain