Mount Tire’m (1,104 ft) is a short (1.3 miles, appx. 35 minutes) out-and-back hike via the Daniel Brown Trail, right in the village of Waterford. I hiked it recently in the winter, but this is an all-season hike, presenting a brief, but moderately steep climb. A story, too convenient to be anything but apocryphal, has the name coming from the Pequawket tribe near Fryeburg saying the climb would “tire um out.”
The trailhead is located just uphill from the Waterford Congregational Church on Plummer Hill Road, with parking on the shoulder. While there wasn’t much snow, the grade of the climb and the ice had me pulling on micro-spikes fairly early.
The summit area includes some rock formations and a “cave,” a glacial erratic, which is popular with children, as well as summer blueberries. The sparse winter vegetation and abundant sun allowed for more light through the trees, and views throughout of nearby Keoka Lake, to the east.
This well-packed and frequently used trail was relatively empty on this winter weekend morning, with only two other hikers, a fit older couple with a dog. In this quiet, I could hear the wind rattling and rustling through the winter forest’s dried leaves, the distinctive squawking of crows and intermittent chickadee songs.
