Black Mountain, Sumner and Peru

By Sam Shirley

In February, 2025, we went on a snowshoe excursion up Black Mountain in Peru. Previously I had only hiked it in the spring, but it turns out that it is a perfect winter hike! Black Mountain, one of the tallest in the area, is unique, as it has a large, flat plateau on top and a tiny pond.

If you can hike here during the winter, do so — the mountain isn’t ideal for summer hiking because there are lots of ticks and brush along the trail.

October, 2017, report, by Rebecca Goldfine: The route through logged areas on the mountain isn’t always easy to follow. When I hiked the trail, there were enough cairns, flags, and occasional spray-painted arrows on rocks to find your way (these are dependent on volunteers keeping them up).

These signs are critical because otherwise there is no discernible footpath for much of the way through the harvested area. Instead, through this initial section, you’ll follow grassy tracks or walk up skidder roads. Using AllTrail can be helpful.

At roughly 0.8 mile, you finally enter the woods and walk along a little footpath, which rather steeply climbs for a little more than 0.25 mile to the start of the mountain ridge. At this point you’ll see a fairly large cairn and views. The trail continues another couple hundred yards to another large cairn built up on the ledge. You can check out the tiny pond, too, once you’re at the top.

Directions: From Route 219 turn onto Greenwoods Road. Follow that for 1.35 miles until you reach the junction with Labrador Pond Road on your right. Take a sharp left here (you’ll still be on Greenwoods Road), and look for Black Mountain Road on your left, about .2 mile farther along. Drive roughly 2.4 miles on Black Mountain Road to the trailhead, which is past a house and up a steep hill. The trail is to your right, blocked with small boulders. The road can be pretty crummy; some people park .2 miles or so lower down and walk up to the start of the path.