Puzzle Mountain and Woodsum Spur

This is a beautiful and popular mountain with spectacular views from its 3,156-foot summit and from the 1.8-mile Woodsum Spur, which lets you loop around the south side of the summit. It’s recommended that you hike the spur trail down, in a clockwise direction, to get a face-load of all the views!

The 3-mile trail to the Puzzle Mountain’s summit is fairly gradual and easy for the first 1.5 miles, before getting much steeper for the second half, with some scrambling up ledges. Views start to pop after the second mile. You’ll reach the first Woodsum Spur intersection at 2.5 miles; it’ll be on your right. In another half mile, you’ll reach the blessed top of the mountain. The elevation you have gained is about 2,370 feet.

At the summit, the trail continues north, along the long-distance Grafton Loop trail. Follow this if you want to do the Woodsum Spur. You’ll hike down iron rungs at one point, and in 0.4 miles, you’ll see the Woodsum Spur Trail on your right. The Spur is a more wild than the trail up Puzzle; you might hit some overgrown patches. We also found it easy to wander off trail a couple of times, since the blue blazes tend to be widely spaced apart in the woods sections. If you follow this mantra: Cairns are your friend and look for the blue,” you should be okay!

Directions: From the intersection of  Route 2 and  Route 26 in Newry, follow Route 26 4.7 miles north. You will see the Grafton Loop Trail sign and the parking area are will be on the right,  across from Eddy Road on the left. 

Photos, map, and info contributed by Michaela Goldfine.