Breaking Trail in the Belknaps: Whiteface Mountain

Panoramic view from the summit of Whiteface

This past Sunday the temperatures finally crept around 10ºF (balmy, compared to the negative temps and brutally cold wind chills of the days and weeks before), so I decided to get out my snowshoes and head up to the lakes region of New Hampshire to revisit one of my favorite lesser known summits, Whiteface Mountain in the Belknaps. It is overshadowed in both size and recognition by the New Hampshire 4000-footer of the same name and the well known summit in the Adirondacks, but it provides a great view of the Squam Lake area and the southern Whites from its exposed summit for not too much effort.
I had never made the trek to this mountain in winter before, so I was excited to see how the Whites would look with their snow-capped peaks from the summit. The "bomb cyclone" that roared through the state on Thursday dumped a tremendous amount of fresh snow on the trail, and with it being a lesser-visited summit, I knew I might have to break trail to the summit, yet another first experience for me.

Go as Gumby tells you

I arrived at the parking pullout at the end of Belknap Mountain Road just before 1 p.m. and walked up to the trailhead where it became clear my snowshoes were going to be required. As usual, I saw the big brown "Whiteface Mountain Trail" sign on one of the trees at the start, but just below it was a tinier arrow-shaped "Trail Hike" sign pointing me into the woods. What I loved about it was that a Gumby figure was sitting atop the sign as well, pointing me the same way. I know it may have been someone's that was lost along the trail, but its positioning here was a humorous way to start the trip.

At the very beginning the trail was roughly broken out, most likely by the folks in the house next door to this first section entering the woods. A short ways past their backyard the trail had snowmobile tracks on it from them as well, but quickly the trail turned into untouched powder. It looked like they may have bare-booted a little ways up the trail, but once past the Lakes Region Conservation Trust kiosk, I was breaking fresh snow most of the rest of the trip.

Blue blazes made route finding easy the whole way up

The trail was well-blazed, so there were no issues in keeping track of it even with the fresh snow blanketing the usual path. For the majority of the stretch up to the saddle between Piper and Whiteface mountains, the snow ran about 6-10" deep, making my footsteps feel like I was walking on pillows and waterbeds along the way. I learned quickly that breaking a trail gets the quads working overtime. This made me happy that I had picked a smaller mountain with shorter mileage for this first experience.

As I neared the saddle between the two peaks I ran into my first significant snow drifts of the trip, ranging in depth from about 2-3 ft. It was no fun watching my snowshoes sink into deep, soft snow with all my weight sinking with them. This made the final pitch up to the right turn to continue on the Whiteface Mountain Trail even more difficult than the trail breaking that led up to it.

From the saddle, I turned right to continue on the Whiteface Mountain Trail to the summit of Whiteface. Along this section, the trail ran the whole gamut from a crusty 2-3" to more 2-3 ft. drips. The deepest drifts came right where the trail heads into a small open field before continuing along the ATV route to the summit. Once I crossed the field, I was able to hike along some snowmobile tracks some of the way to the summit, while still breaking trail when the tracks would disappear in the blown over snow from the previous few days.

Snow capped peaks of the White Mountains in the distance

At the summit, the snow was covered in a thin icy crust and not deep at all. There were several snowmobile tracks running along it that had broken the snow pack down to form a path. The view to the north was magnificent, with several snow-capped peaks in the Whites standing out. I enjoyed an hour on the summit all to myself before heading back down. As I had about a half-mile left to get back to the trailhead I ran into the only other hiker I saw that day. He thanked me for breaking trail as he continued to pack down the work I started. The descent from there was wonderful, gliding on my snowshoes on fluffy white snow, smoothing and packing the trail further the whole way down.

The trail was much more enjoyable on the way down!

It was an interesting experience breaking a trail for the first time, one that makes me even more grateful for those folks that do it frequently. It's something I definitely don't have the legs to do on the bigger summits of the Whites, but it was a good to get my first taste of it on this little trip. As always, I can't recommend this lesser-known Whiteface enough. I've visited the summit three times and have never had to share the view with anyone. Happy hiking!

Peaked Hill Pond: A Hidden Gem in the Whites

Small on crowds, big on serenity

On the last day of our anniversary trip in the Whites, my wife and I decided to do a hike that was on the road literally right next to where we staying at the Valley Brook Cottages in Thornton: Peaked Hill Pond. This little known trail is usually looked over by everyone skimming a map of the White Mountains, as it is out of the way of all the other main hiking areas in the notches. However, as we learned after our hike, if you happen to be in the area, this is one that's well worth the trip.

The trailhead was at the end of the aptly named Peaked Hill Pond Road. Since we were in an AWD SUV we were able to drive all the way to the metal gate that marks the start of the trail and park on the left-hand side. There was a parking area a little before where we parked for cars that can't handle the sandy, rough road at the end. It only adds a short bit to the hike and no real elevation gain at all.

From the gate we there were two paths to take, but thanks to the White Mountain Guide we knew to take the larger, more eroded/collapsed road on the left into the woods. This was the only part of the trail where we had to double check our heading, as the rest of the turns along the way were well marked, either by signs clearly stating "Peaked Hill Pond" with an arrow pointing onward or with diamond-shaped yellow signs with large arrows sending us the right way.

The trail was wide, dry and leaf covered the whole way. Aside from a couple stretches of elevation gain tending to the easy side of moderate, this trail was more of a walk in the woods than a hike. It was mostly flat with good footing the whole way to the pond.

Unnamed waterfall below the trail

After passing the first "Peaked Hill Pond" sign with an arrow, we heard the roar of a brook in the gorge-like area of the forest below us off to our right. Through the trees, we could see what looked like a pretty sizeable waterfall, so we ventured off trail, tumbled down into the rougher stuff, and came upon a magical cascade. There were two side-by-side that looked to be 15-20 ft. tall, making for an awesome off trail discovery. We were even more surprised to not see this waterfall listed in our insanely thorough New England Waterfalls book when we got home. It made us feel like grand explorers, discovering such a spot, haha!

As "Fall in New England" as fall in New England can get

We arrived at the pond to find a serene view of Peaked Hill over its namesake pond. The pond was still, peaceful, and quiet. The hill was at peak autumn color, and with a rich blue sky full of white puffy clouds behind it, it made for a quintessential New England setting. We were actually surprised to see two canoes on the shores when we arrived, which I found later are possibly used by adventure groups that make regular trips out to the pond. Other than that, it was a wonderful natural setting

If you are ever in the Thornton area, or want to find a trip to add on to other adventures to and from the Whites, I highly recommend this hike. It's a simple stroll that'll take you to a place where you can feel miles away from everything else. I can definitely see this being an add-on hike to one of my trips in the future.

Adventures in the Lakes Region: Five Finger Point & West Rattlesnake

Greetings from Five Finger Point!

Yesterday I decided to check out some of the lesser used trails around one of the best "bang-for-your-buck" spots in all of New Hampshire, West Rattlesnake Mountain. This 1260 ft. summit is small and stature but huge in views (photos further down), and it is most commonly reached by way of the very easy 0.9-mile Old Bridle Path, a trail that I've referred to as walking up a very gradual ramp. However, my main destination in this area on Saturday was not that summit, but instead the loop trail around Five Finger Point, an area I would discover was a wonderful forest walk along the shores of Squam Lake.

My pup and I started from the Col Trailhead, which is about 6.5 miles from the junction of US-3/NH-25 and NH-113 in Holderness. This trailhead isn't actually marked at all, but it is a woods road a little ways past the large parking area for the Old Bridle Path. Coming from Holderness, it is just before a sign noting the Allen Preserve, and there is room for about 3 cars on the right hand side after you pull into the road.

Start of the Col Trail

From the parking area, we walked around a chain "gate" blocking access for cars to go further down and started down the woods road on foot. It began as wide and easy as the parking area, and was well blazed by a combination of faded yellow marks (the old trail blazes) and newer blue diamonds nailed into trees along the way. After about a quarter-mile, a yellow arrow above a blue diamond noted the clear left turn off the woods road onto a more traditional hiking trail. At this turn, the Col Trail was very thin and slightly overgrown, but this section was short lived and was the only portion of the trail that was in any sort of rough shape.

After the turn into the woods it was a moderate climb around a bog area, where I noticed one sizeable beaver dam, up to the junction with the Ridge Trail. Along the way the trail had pretty good soft footing with only a couple heavily rocky sections along the way. The forest was pretty wide open in this section and allowed views deep into the trees, although we didn't spot any big rambling creatures.

From the junction with the Ridge Trail we took the quick right followed by the quick left (all well noted by trail signs) to continue down the Col Trail, and I mean DOWN. From the junction it was a quick, steep drop down to the Five Finger Point area, heading down off the mountains and closer to the shoreline. Thankfully the footing was soft the whole way down, but I did have to take care to not slip on the pine needles blanketing the ground. Once at the junction with the Pasture Trail, there were once again several trail signs making easy to make sure we stayed headed in the right direction to the Five Finger Point loop.

Trail signs making it easy to stay on track

A left turn just after the Pasture Trail and we were headed out towards Five Finger Point, with this stretch of trail being a pretty rough mix of rocks, roots, and soil. We were hiking right along the edges East Rattlesnake Mountain, looking down at what would be a fun tumble through the woods on our right. Finally we arrived at a large sign denoting the start of the Five Finger loop and began the trek around the shore in a counterclockwise direction.

First view along Five Finger loop

We came upon our first view quickly, just teasing the expanse of Squam Lake as we continued on to the main outlooks further along the trail. The loop had very nice, gentle footing for almost the entirety of the trip. The forest out there was simply magical and felt miles away from any civilization, even as we saw lake houses from the outlooks. Something about the sound of the loons calling to each other and owls hooting in the distance made me feel like it was just me, my pup, and the forest, a real connection with the nature around us.

Tip of the main outlook along the loop

Natural Area Sign at main outlook

The main outlook came about halfway around the loop, where a sign denoted the Five Finger Natural Area as a long stretch of rocky shoreline that slid into some of the clearest lake water I've seen. While my pup took a dip in the lake, I enjoyed the expansive view of Squam Lake stretching out in all directions in front of me. Aside from the group guys chatting among themselves when we arrived, this was one of the most peaceful spots along the lake.

Interesting fungus along the way

We continued from there to finish the loop, taking in a couple sandy outlooks as we walked by on the trail. Once back at the beginning, we headed back towards the Pasture Trail junction, where my pup and I decided to add on to our trip by checking out that way up to West Rattlesnake, a summit we'd been to several times before.

Trail junction post denoting the Pasture Trail

We quickly learned that this decision was a steep and slow one, as the Pasture Trail never let up in elevation gain until we came upon the cliffs at the summit. Thankfully, as with most of the trail, the footing was soft and forgiving, and we didn't really have to navigate any rocky or root-covered climbs.

As usual, the view from West Rattlesnake was beautiful as always, with a view over Squam Lake that just can't be beat. Even on this cloudy, cool day, I was shocked we only saw a couple other families the entire time we were up there.

One of the few families we saw briefly taking in the view

And what a beautiful view it is

After a little less than an hour on the summit, we took the Ridge Trail down to meet up with the Col Trail we started on. It was a quick steep descent, although not as sharp an elevation drop as the gain we had up the Pasture Trail. Once we met up with the Col Trail, it was an easy stroll out to our car, taking in some of the colors of sunset in the clouds as we came around the bog near the woods road as we wrapped things up.

I would definitely recommend a visit to Five Finger Point if you want great views of Squam Lake with less crowds than on West Rattlesnake. It's also a great option when you want to get out in the woods for a little while, but you don't feel like climbing a mountain. As I said at the start, this area is home to some of the best "bang-for-your-buck" hiking in the state, and I can now say that that mantra extends beyond the summit of West Rattlesnake to the trails all around it.

For anyone wanting to get out and explore this area, the New Hampshire Division of Forest and lands has a great trail map in this pamphlet from their site. It's the one I used to plan our route!

Here is the time breakdown from our hike:

• Start at Col Trailhead - 2:28 p.m.
• Ridge Trail Jct. - 2:50 p.m.
• Pasture Trail Jct. - 3:10 p.m.
• Start of Five Finger Loop - 3:25 p.m.
• Finished Five Finger Loop - 4:18 p.m.
• Back at Pasture Trail Jct. - 4:33 p.m.
• West Rattlesnake Summit - 4:45 p.m.
• Departed Rattlesnake Summit via Ridge Trail - 5:38 p.m.
• Back at Col Trailhead - 6:05 p.m.