Mount Starr King & Mount Waumbek (5/28/13)

Mt. Starr King
--3,907'--
--2.6 mi (one way)--

Mt. Waumbek
--4,006'--
--3.6 mi (one way) & 1 mi from Mt Starr King--
--#46--

The trail head begins at the end of Starr King Road in Jefferson, NH. The road is located right across the main road from the Waumbek golf course entrance. There is no fee. Drive slow up this dirt road, I bottomed out a couple times.

This was a great hike...well besides all the mud! My friend and I had to cross the trail many times to walk on the least muddiest side. There were also a couple of trees down on the trail.

  

 

I'm not sure about distance, but I'm guessing the first 1.5 miles or so were the hardest. Only because, like mentioned before, the mud and also because it was steep. I'm glad it was gradually steep though!

The trail is well shaded from the sun and wind (although there wasn't wind today, I can only assume). It becomes less steep the closer you get to the half way point. **TIP** To know if you're nearing the middle/top of Mt Starr King, the trees will change and moss will be on the rocks/ground (I need to learn my types of trees!).

Once the steepness was gone, my friend and I power hiked the rest of the way to Mt Starr King. Just a great workout that's for sure! There was a little bit of snow on the this summit. Here's what we saw today:

I read somewhere that there used to be a shelter here and this fireplace is the last standing part of it.

On the right side of that fire place is the trail to continue onto Mt Waumbek!

Look for that "Path" sign.

From here, it was only 1 mile until the 4,006' summit. It's the 46th tallest mountian in New Hampshire. (My second 4,000 Footer hiked from the list). This 1 mile hike was really easy, another time to power hike and get great cardio in. 

A lot more snow

The sign that you're at the summit. 

There wasn't ANY view from the summit of Mt Waumbek. It was a little disappointed so we decided to hike further down the Kilkenny Trail. After about maybe 20 feet, there was a clearing where we got some great views! 

Zoomed into Bretton Woods Ski Area! 

To return we hiked back down the same way we ascended the mountain, stopping again on Mt Starr King. Round trip, this hike was 7.2 miles. We started a little before 10 and was down after 2.