Mount Sanford

I did this one, and I owe an honest correction first. I'd pitched it as the closest thing to Mount Higby, the ridge that gives you views the whole way up. It is not that. Up until the overlook it's all woods, no views. So it's really a Bluff Head kind of hike, where the payoff is saved for the top, not a Higby one. Setting that straight up front.

What it is, though, is easy and quiet, and it does both really well. The trail rolls along with ups and downs, easy going but not flat, then climbs up to the top. Parking was easy, and it was not busy at all. The quiet is the thing I'll remember. Up at the overlook the wind through the trees sounds like distant cars going by, and it is genuinely serene, the kind of still you drive out of the way for.

All woods until the top, then one climb and the whole central valley opens up. The wind up there sounds like distant traffic.

Then the top pays off. The overlook faces west over the central valley, rolling forested hills running out to hazy blue ridges on the horizon under big open sky. Honestly it might be the best single overlook of my ridge hikes so far. Because it faces west, it's also a real sunset spot, which none of my other ones are.

So where does it land? It doesn't dethrone Higby, that's still the views-the-whole-way champ, and the woods-then-one-view shape puts it right next to Bluff Head. But it wins on quiet, and the view is a beauty. My crew hasn't done it yet, so I'm holding the ratings for the family trip. If you want a low-effort, super-quiet hike with one great payoff, this is a keeper.