Mount Passaconaway is a peak with limited views, located in the Sandwich Range Wilderness, just down the ridge from Mount Whiteface, its more interesting neighbor. The trails offer glimpses of Mount Whiteface to the south, Mount Wonalancet, its 3200-foot neighbor, and of the Tripyramids from a small ledge near its peak. Other lookouts from the Walden Trail afford views to the south and east. The summit itself has no view.

This hike is most often combined with Mount Whiteface (4020 feet, which has lovely views from its ledges and false peak. The two combined make a nice 11.9-mile loop that offers 3900 feet of climbing that will take around 8 hours. Mount Passaconaway is the 42nd-highest peak in New Hampshire.

The trails are moderate and well-maintained. The approach to the summit sees some rocky sections, but nothing particularly challenging. 

Mount Passaconaway is named for a famous native American chief, who led the Pannacook tribe in the 1600s. Check here for a detailed history of Chief Passaconaway.

In the decades prior to 1911, the unregulated logging practices of private timber companies in the White Mountains had resulted in a damaged landscape susceptible to both fire and flood. Fires had burned thousands of acres, and flash floods affected the water power necessary to the mills of major industrial centers downstream, such as Manchester, New Hampshire, and Lowell, Massachusetts. Concerns over losses to industry, business, and tourism, and the growing conservation movement led to citizen action. The Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) and Society for Protection of New Hampshire Forests (SPNHF) spearheaded an effort to ensure the permanent protection of the White Mountains from further depredation. After years of lobbying and intense public pressure, Senator John Weeks of Massachusetts, a native of Lancaster, New Hampshire, introduced legislation that became known as the Weeks Act. The Weeks Act was passed by Congress in 1911, appropriating 9 million dollars to purchase 6 million acres of land in the Eastern U.S. In turn, this led to the creation of the White Mountain National Forest (WMNF) in 1918, and twenty-one other national forests throughout the north and southeast. Many of the groups who were instrumental in the passage of the Weeks Act, including the SPNHF and the AMC, are still active today, and the WMNF has grown from 7,000 acres to almost 800,000. Today, the reforested mountains and hillsides supply forest products and provide magnificent recreational opportunities while maintaining healthy watersheds and ecosystems.