Pliny Mountain rises to 3,602 feet at the southern end of the Pliny Range, one of two ranges that together make up the Northern Ranges of the White Mountains. Sitting just south of 4,000-footer Mount Waumbek and sharing a col with it, Pliny appears on the NH 100 Highest list. The summit is entirely forested, with only limited glimpses through birch trees, making it a destination for peakbaggers rather than view-seekers.
The standard approach follows the abandoned Priscilla Brook Trail (also called the Upper Ammonoosuc Trail) from a roadside trailhead near Jefferson, NH. The old logging road is easy to follow in its lower sections, running alongside the brook through attractive hardwood forest, but becomes progressively more demanding above 2,500 feet, with blowdowns, rocky terrain, and mud. From the height of land near the Waumbek-Pliny col, the route leaves this rough track and requires navigating through open woods to the rounded summit. The full hike covers roughly 6 miles and 2,000 feet of gain and is rated difficult, primarily due to off-trail navigation. A GPS device or topo map is essential. A small western subpeak called Pliny Minor lies just across the col, reachable through open birch woods.
