Waaaaay back, I hiked Whiteface Mountain. (Click here if you want directions.) It was a pretty blah hike with a pretty blah view, but at an intersection, there were signs for Piper, another mountain I hiked last year (along with Belknap and Gunstock). I wanted to see what that trail was like, so I decided to (I think for the first time in my hiking career) hike a mountain from an opposite side to see if it's a better route. It was.
I started at the same trailhead for Whiteface, got barked at by a dog, felt awkward as I walked into the woods between 2 houses, began the ascent, and visited the old destroyed house again. It looked about the same, but perhaps a little more destroyed.
I was feeling good and happy, knowing that the intersection wasn't far away, so I just listened to my music and enjoyed being in the woods.
I got to the intersection pretty quickly. It's quite obvious.
I took a break here, then headed up. The trail started out almost at the width of a fireroad, and was also much steeper than I was expecting- not bad at all, but still- I started to feel exhausted and out of energy, and it was only getting steeper. After a short while, it did something I wasn't expecting at all, and opened up into open rock face which was pretty awesome.
At this time, the black flies started to annoy me to the point where I was visibly crazy from them. I don't understand these bugs. They never bite me. They barely even land on me. They just fly around me and get in my face for NO REASON. I eventually just shut my eyes and sprayed bug spray in my face. It helped, sort of.
Look at this sweet bug!
As I climbed, the mountain started to open up, and turning around, I saw how awesome of a hike this had now become.
This was a very unique view of Whiteface and the flatter land in between the Belknaps and Winnipesaukee, and it was quite pretty. The trail was too. I'm not a big fan of open rock face climbing- often they're way too steep with bad grips, and I basically just spend the entire climb waiting to slip. But this one was great- not very steep, tons of grip, and lots of trees, rock pileups and cairns everywhere. This is a good hike.
I saw a sign I didn't notice last time I was up here. Man, I love trail signs and stuff like this.
And then I was at the summit.
It's no grand 4000 footer view, but for an hour drive and an easy to medium hike, it's pretty solid.
I spent awhile on those rocks, thinking of how cool it would be to have a concert up there. That rock formation could absolutely be a stage, and the fans would have the band with a sunset behind them, while the band got to look out over the mountains. I played air guitar to this song, and imagined how awesome something like that would be, then spent the next 20 minutes hiking wondering if something like that would even be possible. The logistics alone are absurd, and I'm sure it's illegal. Maybe something acoustic? I'm putting it in the idea hat.
On the way back down, I noticed another sign, and wondered what South Piper and Swett Mountains were.
I took the trail and either I'm terrible at following trails, or it pretty much stopped after a very short while. It came out to a sort of clearing that could actually be South Piper/Swett, but I'm not sure. I was happy I took it though, because there were some great spots for pictures in there.
Like this skeleton arm tree coming out of the ground. If it had been dark when I was up here, this might have been a problem.
There was also a small puddle pond that, after some editing, became absolutely glorious. What a pretty spot.
But the highlight of the hike for me was this view. On the way back down, you come out of the woods and there is a skijump-esque ledge to tree tops. I sat there for awhile and really took it all in.
Seriously, backcountry ski bums need to make a jump out of this.
I decided to be that guy and take a picture of me staring out at the great beyond. It worked with surprising results.
King of the Belknaps
I really loved this hike. It was harder than I was expecting though. I can't find mileage, but I'm guessing it's 3-4 miles roundtrip with around 1200 feet of elevation gain- certainly not hard by hiker standards, but I was thinking it would be smaller. I was very surprised at how much of a hike was left when I reached the split, and I thought of the random dude we hiked with when we did Piper, Belknap and Gunstock, who, while we sat and chilled at the top of Piper, claimed to have hiked down to Whiteface and back, and still caught up with us halfway up Belknap. The guy was either an absolute monster of a hiker (which he did seem to be), or he didn't go all the way to Whiteface (as I think it would have added like 3 miles to the trip). I'll probably never know. I'm going to choose to believe that he was a monster.
Anyway, yea, this was a beautiful hike with unique perspectives, a sweet ledge/skijump with an amazing view, a great long trip across fairly flat rock face, and an awesome view from the top. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a hike in the Belknaps who doesn't want to hike Major- this, along with West Quarry and Major are probably my favorites. It didn't hurt that I didn't see a single person the entire time either. Love those Belknaps!
currently listening to: Dorena- "Nuet"
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