New Hampshire trails · Elwell Trail
Elwell Trail
A 7.0-mile out-and-back in New Hampshire, with 1,275 ft of climbing. Reaches Little Sugarloaf and other lake/summit destinations. Managed by New Hampshire GRANIT.
Elevation profile
The climbing is spread fairly evenly along the route. It gives back about 1,314 ft along the way, so it rolls rather than climbing steadily.
3-D terrain
USGS 3DEP ELEVATION × ESRI WORLD IMAGERY · VERTICAL ×1.5
Reaches
- Little Sugarloaf (summit)
- Sugarloaf (summit)
- Bear Mountain (summit)
- Goose Pond (lake)
Getting there
Unnamed trail access — parking nearby. About 43 min drive (24 mi) from Laconia. 43.63938, -71.78057 · directions
Daylight at the trailhead
On October 14, 2026 — the day this page was generated — first light reaches this trailhead at 6:30 a.m., the sun rises at 6:59 a.m. and sets at 6:05 p.m., and the last usable light fades about 6:34 p.m. (EDT) — 11 h 06 min of daylight. At about 2.7 mph plus 30 minutes per 1,000 feet of climbing, the 14.0-mile round trip takes roughly 6 h 27 min, so leaving the trailhead at sunrise puts you back around 1:26 p.m. — 4 h 39 min before sunset.
Loop options
- Hebron Road + Blue Trail + Elwell Trail — 2.0 mi loop, 443 ft gain
- Elwell Trail + Vista Loop — 2.1 mi loop, 772 ft gain
- Elwell Trail — 4.0 mi loop, 1,555 ft gain
Nearby trails
- (closed) — 7.3 mi
- Crawford-Ridgepole Trail — 12.3 mi
- Northern Rail Trail — 13.5 mi
- Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway — 23.4 mi