[at-l] Trip Report: Columbus weekend - #7 Belknap Mountain

[papabear.nyc at verizon.net (Papa Bear)]

Belknap Mountain - October 13, 2003

I had one more mountain to climb to complete my Fifty Finest Columbus weekend marathon: Belknap Mountain.  I remember going to Belknap when I was about 13 years old with a church group on a ski trip.  I guess the ski area is on Gunstock, the next peak to the north, so I in fact had never before been to Belknap.  This mountain is actually the lowest in elevation of all the Fifty Finest (at 2382') and near the bottom of the list in prominence (No. 47 at 1872').  Nevertheless, with its position just south of Lake Winnipesaukee it stands out wonderfully and forms a nice pair of sentinels on the lake with Mount Shaw just across to the north.  Its trailhead is also the highest of all the peaks I would visit, at the end of a long and very steep dirt road coming out of the town of Gilford.

I drove around the east end of the lake from Mount Shaw on Route 109 (through Woldfboro Falls) onto 28 and then to Route 11 and finally 11A to Gilford.  Once again I used the AMC Southern New Hampshire Trail Guide for directions. As I went along the Lake on Route 11 just before getting to Route 11A, I passed the Mount Major Trailhead and there must have been at least 100 cars parked along the road and in the lot.  I guess this is the prime viewing spot for the lake and on this sunny Columbus Day it was irresistible to many.  I arrived at the Belknap parking lot at around 2:15 PM, about an hour and a half's drive.  

Since the trails to the summit were rather short, I chose the longest I could find to make a loop, the Blue trail going up and the White Trail coming down. These each went through the col on either side of the summit: the Blue through the Gunstock-Belknap col and the White through the Belknap-Piper col.

At the parking lot I had to dodge around two small boys throwing stones boisterously at trees as I approached the Blue Trailhead.  Once on the trail it was quieter since most folks took the shorter Red or Green Trails.  I saw a very small Garter Snake on a rock and took a picture of it before a family came by, perhaps to squash it.  The woman asked if it were poisonous and I said no, just a Garter Snake. I said they eat mice and that reassured her.  Once away from the parking lot I was quite alone up to the col (in a nice Spruce grove) and then over and up to the summit.

Just before the summit there was something of a view towards the north but the better views would come later. Just before I reached the lookout tower at the summit, I managed to fall and hurt my left thumb, my only injury of the whole weekend.  When I got to the open summit, there were the two boys who had been throwing rocks below, now jousting with large tree limbs.  I guess there's no getting away from them.  There was a modest crowd of about a dozen on the summit, all but myself having come up the short way (.7 miles).  I got someone to take my picture and I climbed the tower and got some nice views.  But I didn't tarry at the summit since I preferred getting away from the hubbub.

I took the White Trail and immediately I was rid of the summit clamor and found a lovely viewpoint. It was much nicer looking over the lake at Mount Shaw and beyond from this pretty sub-alpine rocky knob than on the lookout tower with the throng.  I got a few more pictures and then proceeded down through the col, and then turned west again back towards the parking lot.  But I soon discovered that the trail here had recently been relocated over several great viewpoints.  One faced out along Piper Mountain towards Manning Lake and gave a nice view of this little jewel.

The trail worked its way over and down the slope and it was actually a rather nice route with good views and interesting terrain. But I soon came out on the road below the parking lot having seen no one at all on the trails up or back, but alas, many at the bottom and at the top.  So pick your routes carefully and you will get a nice hike out of this.  I could see with more time going all the way from Gunstock to Piper or other interesting peaks in the area.

I did the round trip in a little over an hour and a half, so this last mountain was the easiest and shortest.  But there's no such thing as a bad mountain or an easy mountain, and even here I'd like to come back some time when it's less crowded and I have some time to explore more of the area.

Now I really did have to get going.  Making my way over to I-93, through traffic jams in Concord and on Route 3 and finally making it to Natick, exhausted but happy by 7:30 PM.  It had been a long exhausting weekend and I loved every minute (well, not quite every minute) of it.


Belknap Mountain, Gilford, New Hampshire 
No. 47 of the New England Fifty Finest
Elevation: 2382', prominence: 1872' 
Trails Blue up, White down 
Distance hiked: distance: 2.2 miles, elevation gain 860'

Resources:
Trail guide: AMC Southern New Hampshire Trail Guide (1999)
Topozone: http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=43.51778&lon=-71.36972&s=50&layer=DRG25&size=l&u=0
DeLorme New Hampshire Atlas and Gazetteer (2001), page 36

Photos: http://gallery.backcountry.net/papabear_2003_NE_FF?&page=2
 

Reflection

On the last morning of my long weekend I was driving east on Route 4, feeling very sleepy and groggy.  I had got up before dawn four mornings in a row and I hadn't slept all that well in my tent in Hanover. I was tired and I hadn't eaten more than a few proper meals all weekend.  I got to wondering why was I doing this?  At this hour it didn't seem like much fun at all.

An hour later I was on the carriage trail nearing the top of Mount Shaw and I remembered my thoughts in the car.  I looked around at the beauty and I thought to myself: THIS is why I do this, THIS is why!
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