Imp Face is a dramatic cliff outcrop on the flanks of Imp Mountain in the Carter-Moriah Range, perched above Pinkham Notch across from the Presidential Range. The cliff takes its name from a rock profile visible from below, a grotesquely misshapen face said to resemble a wood-sprite imp. At 2,959 feet, the viewpoint delivers one of the finest perspectives of the Presidentials from this side of the valley, with Mounts Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and Madison spread across the western skyline and the vast hollow of the Great Gulf Wilderness visible beneath them.
The Imp Trail, accessed from NH 16 south of Gorham, makes a 5.9-mile loop to Imp Face with roughly 1,870 feet of elevation gain. The trail climbs alongside Imp Brook, crossing it before the grade steepens for the push to the cliff. The terrain is typical White Mountains metamorphic rock, rough and uneven underfoot, with modest scrambling on the upper section. The cliff itself is genuinely exposed, with a sheer drop of several hundred feet on multiple sides; the loop's gentler second half descends via a trail that often runs as a creek bed in wet conditions.
The best season runs June through October. Snowmelt in early spring can complicate the brook crossing, and the open cliff is exposed to lightning in afternoon thunderstorms.
