Lake Solitude Trail

Lake Solitude is a pristine high-elevation pond at approximately 2,500 feet on the summit plateau of Mount Sunapee, cradled in a glacially carved basin and surrounded by dense balsam fir forest that isolates it from the ski resort infrastructure on the adjacent summit ridge. The Lake Solitude Trail approaches from the lower parking area, climbing through old-growth northern hardwood forest with exceptional fall foliage display in late September and early October, when sugar maples, yellow birches, and American beeches turn the mountainside vivid orange and gold. The lake itself is a glacial tarn, formed when retreating ice deposited a moraine dam across a bedrock depression roughly 12,000 years ago. The clear, cold water supports native brook trout and the surrounding boreal forest shelters breeding common loons — the lake is one of the higher-elevation loon nesting sites in New Hampshire. Yellow-rumped warblers, Swainson's thrushes, and white-throated sparrows sing from the krummholz fringe around the lake's shoreline. The complete stillness and isolation of the lake, contrasting sharply with the busy ski resort a half mile away over the ridge, makes this one of the more surprising destinations in the southern White Mountains region. Views of Lake Sunapee are available from open ledges along the approach trail.