Stoddard’s Pitcher Mountain is probably best known for its abundant blueberries in August and its spectacular view of the foliage patchwork in the fall, but I’ve never experienced such things myself. Until last January, Pitcher had exclusively been an early spring mountain for me and the kids.

Last year, we were all pretty new to winter hiking, driven to trying such an activity by a combination of Covid restrictions and a 4-H project. That day, we had a whole convoy of kids, adults, and babies in packs. We went up shortly after a snow, but on the mountain the precipitation had landed as ice. The trees sparkled in their coatings, and the tops of the dormant blueberries looked like fairies had danced over them, leaving crystal footprints. It was windy and cold, but magical.

The hike up Pitcher is a short, steady uphill from the parking lot on a wide trail with only two turns. The first turn in the path sends you up parallel to a cow field, and you’re already so high up that the view over the grass is expansive. The second turn takes you the last steep stretch up to the bare rock, capped by a fire tower – less than a mile of hiking, and you’re there, Monadnock beckoning, the Antrim windmills spinning in a row, ski mountains in all directions visible with their snowy trails, the Whites on the horizon.

Remembering the magic of that trip, a few of us decided to go up again this winter. This time we also went up shortly after a snowstorm, but instead of fairy ice-paintings, this storm had dropped knee-deep snow in the higher elevations of Stoddard, where it had left Peterborough just lightly dusted. The parking lot was plowed out, but our crew was the first to break trail. The short climb was slow going; no snowshoes for us, so we were truly trudging, occasionally stepping into hip-deep drifts. Some of the littler ones gave up on walking and swam-crawled up through the snow instead.

At the treeline, any warmth we may have worked up fighting through the snow was blown away by strong gusts of bone-chilling wind, always a consideration for Pitcher (it may not be the best picnic mountain even in spring). The moms huddled under the fire tower while the kids broke off, ducking and hiding and building new civilizations in the blueberry shrubs.

Pitcher offers a choice of trails for the descent: you can return by the white-blazed path, which continues onward as part of the Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway Trail, or let the kids fly down a shorter, steeper blue-blazed trail that shoots a straight arrow to the trailhead. I tried to lead a charge to break the snow on the full loop, but when the cold wind finally drove us down off the rocks, we opted for a gentler angle and the help of our own footprints to follow on the way down.

Pitcher’s harsh, sparkling winter beauty is easy to access if you’re looking for that kind of thing, but I think we’ll save our next jaunt up for the full glory of its berry season.

Adventure Location: Pitcher Mountain, Stoddard, NH

Helpful advice: For winter hiking in general, handwarmers and footwarmers, whether the little air-activated packs or the reusable beaver fur kind, are indispensable. Maybe you’ll want an extra layer for the top, and an insulated jug of hot tea. Snowshoes are probably good, but I don’t really like them. Microspikes were nice for the icier hike, but the kids probably don’t need them.

Would I do this again? Sure. I got cold, but I wasn’t in pain, and this is such a short hike with such a good payoff that I feel like it’s worth it in any season.

Would the kids do it again? They rated this “one star” and said the only fun part was that they got to play with their friends.

Pitcher Mountain in Winter

Turn the Page

Greater Peterborough: Answering the Critics (A FAQ)