Piper, Belknap & Gunstock
It’s been a while since I’ve been in the Belknap Mountains. My Cousin and I decided it would be a great hike for a cloudy morning and hoped things would clear up by the afternoon.
We set out to hike up Piper Mountain, Belknap Mountain and Gunstock Mountain. We parked at the gate to the carriage road and started up the piper trail and were the second car to arrive that morning.
| Date: | 10-16-2021 |
| Location: | Gilford, NH |
| Distance: | 5.3 mi |
| Elevation Gain: | 1701′ |
| Total Time: | 5 hr 53 min |
| Parking: | 5+ cars |
| Difficultly Rating: | Moderate |
In the Belknaps, most of the trails are adopted by volunteers who maintain the trails. On some trails, these individuals or groups are acknowledged with trail signs at the start of the trail.
On our way up things were very damp and large drops of water and even larger acorns were falling from the trees most of the way up. The trail rises the hardwoods. Mostly covered with damp colorful leaves. As we approached the summit there were a few ledgey sections. The moss and lichen on these sections was extremely slippery.
At the summit of Piper there is a look out that was completely socked in with clouds. The only thing visible was the stone chair. We each took a seat in the chair and imagined the view that was behind the clouds.
After a quick break we went on our way over to Belknap Mt. This is the tallest mountain in this range and has a fire tower to boot. We followed the BRT trail down piper and up Belknap. Once at the top the clouds were still thick so still now views. We sat had a snack then moved on toward Gunstock.
On our way to Gunstock the rain had completely stopped and we even saw some blue peak through the could once and a while. Once we got to the gunstock summit the clouds were breaking and offered some views of the New Hampshire foliage and Lake Winnipesaukee.
There were a number of leaf peepers out that had taken the chair lift up to grab some views.
From here we made our way down the Gunstock trail back to the car.
I had forgotten how steep some areas of this trail are. So there was a lot of careful stepping on the way down.
By the time we got back to the car the weather was beautiful and the sky was blue. The sun really brought out the colors of the foliage in this area.
Over all it was a great hike with very few people on the trail. I’ve done this loop a few times and it never disappoints. I Highly recommend this hike for a half day jaunt or evening hike.
