QUICK TRAIL FACTS
- Preserve Size: 995 acres
- Trail Mileage: 1.5 miles one way
- Pets: yes
- Difficulty: moderate
- Sights: views, oak-hickory forest with rare eastern red cedars
Mt. Tom, at 1,073 feet, offers nice views for moderate effort. There are two ways to summit. The West Ridge Trail (in blue on my map) is the official route, maintained by The Nature Conservancy. While the northern trail, “Old Mount Tom Trail,” is on private property, it’s open to hikers. Both routes are 1.5 miles one way.
The summit has nice views of Pleasant Mountain; I found the best ones to be on the ledges a little beyond the summit marker.
The mountain sits within a 995-acre preserve that includes 3,500-feet along the Saco River and a silver and red maple floodplain around the river. The Nature Conservancy explains that Mount Tom is a “roche moutonnée, which means it is an asymmetrical hill with a sloping north side that has been smoothed and polished by a glacier. The down-ice side where the rocks were sheared off is abrupt and steep, leaving the exposed rocky southern cliffs.” Similar moutonnées in the area are Sabbatus Mountain and Hawk Mountain.
According to the Maine Mountain Guide, the elevation gain on the West Ridge Trail is 575 feet. On the Old Tom Trail, it’s 715 feet.
Directions: To access the southern trailhead for the West Ridge Hiking Trail, travel along Metonomy Road for about a mile. The good-sized parking area and trailhead kiosk are on the right. The trail is marked with white blazes. For the northern trailhead, turn onto Mentotomy Road from Route 302, and drive 2.3 miles and watch for the cemetery on the right. It is after the intersection with Bog Pond Road on your left. Walk up Menotomy road a little bit and you’ll see a sign for Mount Tom on the right. Continue on the dirt road, which passes by fields and several homes. Stay straight on this road, and you will continue climbing up until you enter the Nature Conservancy land. There are no blazes on this trail.
