Belknap Range Trail

[peakbagger]

I would like to head south at some point this weekend and visit the Belknap Range Trail that apparently has received new signage and a lot of attention in the last few years by some dedicated volunteers. For anyone who has hiked it, is there any preferred direction to hike it?.

My rational is east to west from Mt Major to Gunstock as if there is a need to bail due to bad weather, there are 3 or 4 ways of dropping down to the ski area parking lot. I don't see the same option on the Mt Major end.

I look forward to hiking some new territory, despite the long drive, (for me )

 

[John in NH]

I've hiked it several times and in the range regularly. It's a great hike, way nicer than the modest elevations would indicate. Your east to west reasoning is sound in terms of bailout and better to go over major earlier before its even more of a zoo later in the day.

In the middle of the range you have two choices, follow the designated BRT over Mt. Anna (no views, nothing special) or take the Quarry Loop which has several viewpoints, scrambles (a couple are a little tricky to descend-but no biggie for seasoned hikers). I'd recommend the latter, just be sure to go the Straightback summit and pick up the Quarry Loop after going beyond it westbound. There is a nice area of quasi open ledges around the straightback junction. The "boulder trail" section of the BRT ascending Belknap Mountain has an interesting talus field then a bunch of steeper open ledges that are nice.

An alternative westbound ending point with several bailouts would be to park at the base of belknap mountain road by the gate for the carriage road. That way you could do the north and south peak of piper and visit its open ledges. A short out and back towards the swett trail to the junction with the valley view would give you an extra .5 miles of open/semi open ledge and more coyote poop than you could image (the fur in it is a dead give away). If doing piper you'd probably want to skip gunstock though. Choices...

Here is an awesome map of the range.

 

[rocket21]

A few notes...
- There is plenty of parking at Gunstock. Mt. Major, on the other hand, overflows onto the highway faster than most White Mountain trailheads now.
- There is a bailout from North Straightback onto the Brook Trail (green blazed), which allows one to drop elevation quickly and skip Mt. Major.
- There are likely still plenty of blueberries on Straightback, perhaps just east of the summit.
- There is a view on Anna, but you have to descend the Blue Trail to get to it.
- The BRT behind Gunstock Mountain has rough footing at the end of the day. You can descend the old route on the ski trails (furthest to your left downhill...still some old white blazes) and then hop onto it in multiple places (a short herd path a probably less than a quarter of a mile down, or where the BRT trail bumps into the ski trails below the top of the Tiger Triple chairlift)...the footing on the BRT at that point (herd path or junction) is much better and is pretty good the rest of the way over Rowe and down the access road.
- Probably the best views on Rowe are south of the summit, in a nice open area that may still have some blueberries. There are also views just below the communications tower, but they're not sit-down-enjoyable.

 

[peakbagger]

Thanks all for the hints and information. We did the signed route on a very hot and humid day. The hike was longer and physically more demanding then expected but attribute that to the temp. I appreciated the new signage installed in July. Given the many junctions and non uniform blazing colors encountered, navigating this route would have been a significant challenge prior to the new signage. One past Straight back we encountered no one until near the Belknap summit.

Overall quite a surprising variety of terrain and views along the way.