Side Trip to a Crashed Plane on Mount Success

The Appalachian Trail has been full of surprises so far. I was super excited to hear from a NOBO that there was a plane crash just south of the hostel we were sitting in and about a quarter mile off the AT.  What’s more exciting than literally getting off the beaten path to explore and see a little piece of New Hampshire’s history? Obviously nothing!

Deets of the Crash Location

The crash is located very close to the Maine-New Hampshire border at mile 284. The side trail to it is about .3 miles south of the summit sign of Mount Success. (Anyone else see the humor in the plane crashing on Mount Success?) Trail is on left for SOBO, right for NOBO. From there you have to head down a fairly beaten path into the woods – maybe 500 feet – then take a right. You’ll start seeing yellow blazes and have to bushwhack your way through the foliage. Follow this trail for another fiveish minutes and you’ll find the plane. I’d say the crash is no more than a quarter mile from the trail and totally worth the time. This picture is taken from the AT and looking toward the plane’s side trail.

Deets of the Crash Story

High-level story is the plane experienced bad weather and the pilots were flying via instruments and ran into the mountain. From the four crew members and three passengers, everyone survived the crash. Since they weren’t rescued for a few days two crew members died from injuries sustained in crash. This was back in the 1950s. Some more details found here.

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Comments 2

  • Greeter Too : Aug 20th

    Good luck on your journey. It is wonderful that you took time to view this historical site, and aren’t just pushing for miles. Hope to see it some day.

    Reply
    • Allison DiVerde : Sep 6th

      Thanks for reading! Hope you make it out there someday too.

      Reply

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