Jockey Cap Rock

This must be a popular spot with local people and visitors because at the base parking lot, there are signs instructing you not to park for more than two hours! Plus, there are only two designated trail parking spaces (the rest are for the adjacent country store). If need be, you can park at the school when it is not in session. 

There is no single trail up this rock, and whichever path you choose will get you to the 610-foot granite dome (as long as you walk generally upward!). The red blazes can also be helpful, and if you swing wide at the little loop right below the summit, it’s a little less steep.

The views are magnificent from the top, where there is also a neat bronze mountain finder, from 1938, that’s based on a drawing by Arctic explorer and one-time Fryeburg resident Robert E. Peary. The best part of this summit: it takes just a few minutes to summit! Jockey Cap’s ledges are popular with rock climbers, too, and if you take the trail that swings widely to the east, the bottom loop, you’ll come across large boulders and can gaze up the cliff face.

The Upper Saco Valley Land Trust says this rocky outcrop was an important landmark for the Abenaki, signaling the start of a Saco River canoe portage. A little cave in the boulder field is named after a famous Pequawket Abenaki healer, Molly Ockett, who was from this region.

Directions: The trailhead is next to Quinn’s Jockey Cap Country Store, on Route 302, close to the village. Park to the left of the store if you’re facing north. There are just two designated spots.