Whiteface, Swett, and Piper Mountains (Belknap Range)

Whiteface, Swett, and Piper Mountains (Belknap Range)

Hike Type: H

Distance: 7.74 miles

Elevation: 1,998 feet

Time: 3 hours, 4 minutes
Hiking Challenges: Belknap Range Redliner; Belknap Range Grid

Parking: "Whiteface Trailhead" on Google Maps. Parking on side of road for a few cars at the end of Belknap Mountain Road.

 

The Hike 

After a wonderful day yesterday celebrating Linnea's birthday as a gaggle of Hannah Montanas, I was on my way home from Jay a little after 7:00am with the intention of stopping back in the Belknaps for a little more exploring! My drive was nice and easy on a bluebird morning. I was a little sleepy, a little sore, and probably a little hungover, but in great spirits! It took exactly one Hamilton soundtrack plus seven more minutes of driving to make it from Jay to the Whiteface Trailhead, which was a win! I was at the trailhead at 9:30am. It was 44 degrees and mostly sunny, and I was ready to go!

[9:35am - Start of Hike]

The hike starts at the end of Belknap Mountain Road, at a Class VI road sign. On the Belknap Range Trails map, it looks like the Class VI road goes for a while and can actually link up with Whiteface via another Class VI road or even an unmaintained trail, but I've never seen much info online about it. I walked past a home and the official trailhead is between that home and another private propery. It is WELL signed!

[9:37am - Whiteface Mountain Trail]

My favorite sign reads "Private Property. Quiet Zone. Dogs on Lead" - I assume they meant leash. The trail follows a TALL fense with "no tesspassing" and "area under video surveillance" signs and soon comes to a more official looking trailhead with an informational kiosk.

"Piper Mountain Conservation Area

This 84 acre woodland was generously donated to the Lakes Region Conservation Trust in loving memory of Bud and Doe Slusher by their daughter and son-in-law, Vicky and Chuck Brox. The trail leads to the public lands on Whiteface Mountain and to the open ledges of Piper Mountain and its trail connecting to Belknap Mountain. We hope you enjoy the well-maintained trails, spectacular views, vegetation and wildlife available here"

"Welcome

This conservation property is open to the public for low-impact activities during daylight hours. Help us protect this property: Camping, overnight use, fires, biking, and motor vehicles are not permitted. Please carry out what you carried in"

from the Trailhead Kiosk

There was also an information sheet about the Belknap 12 patch, one of my earlier patches!

A bunch of little songbirds and a morning dove sun to me while I climbed up the reasonable grade, which felt like an old road with leafy footing, with occasional blue blazes. The trail turned onto a flat spot onto another old road, continued to climb, crossed a small stream, and then continued to climb again. The forest began to change from deciduous trees to coniferous trees as the trail eased up and got slabbier, flattening out before the junction with the Piper-Whiteface Link.

[9:52am - Whiteface Mountain Trail/Piper-Whiteface Link]

I turned right to continue on the Whiteface Mountain Trail and gently descended past a trail runner into lovely, sunny, open area. The trail is joined by a snowmobile/ATV trail (I assume) here, and with that came muddy ruts and grass, but thankfully the grass was still flat from the winter (ticks are always on my mind). Thankfully, the muddy ruts were all avoidable with well-beaten side paths.

Climbing again, the trail split for a moment - I went right to follow the AllTrails map, but it would turn out that both sides rejoined just a few yards further down the trail. It looked like I might have missed a view, but I'll check that out on the way back! From here, the trail descended again, passed a few more muddy ruts, offered a tree view to piper, and started the final, super rocky climb up Whiteface Mountain. The trail split again, and I stayed right again, leading me to the summit area!

[10:10am - Whiteface Mountain Summit]

There are two summit areas on Whiteface - the lower with the MUCH better views, and the upper with obstructed views. Both are in the open and wonderfully sunny! The lower summit was occupied by a group of four women having a wonderful time (we exchanged quick "hellos") as I passed on to the higher summit area, which had a few views towards low-lying hills and through the trees to Piper. It looked like the ATV trail continued down the far side of the mountain, while a slightly beaten footpath descends the back side.

Back at the lower s ummit, there was a stunning view out to Moosilauke, which had just a coating of snow left on its open summit. Franconia Ridge was on the right, with the Sandwich Range poking out just before the shoulder of Piper/Belknap. It was especially fun to see the 4000-Footer Whiteface from this Whiteface! And of course there was a lovely view to Piper ahead. The women asked me if I was doing "the three" today, and I paused, not sure which three until they said "Swett and Piper?," to which I said "yes!" They said "well we'll see you again!"

[10:15am - Whiteface Mountain Trail]

Now heading towards Piper Mountain, I took the other half of both splits. The higher one was just a rocky, gravelley trail, and the second had a slightly obstructed view towards the Sandwich Range. I noticed one of the muddy ruts had gelatenous frog eggs bobbing about, but it also looked like they might dry up soon. I made it to the low point and climbed up, past the nice open area and some older "PIPER FOOT TRAIL" and "NO MOTORIZED VEHICLES" signs to the Piper-Whiteface Link, with LRCT signs welcoming hikers to their land (I wonder whose land I was just on?).

[10:30am - Piper-Whiteface Link]

I crossed paths with a few other hikers as I started my journey up Piper, which started in relatively flat, open woods. The sun felt just wonderful. The trail was now a footpath instead of an old road, which was also a nice change. I crossed a few markers for the "Town of Gilford Conservation Area - No Motorized Vehicles" and began to climb!

The climb up Piper is mostly slabby with a few thigh-steep stretches. Thankfully, the slabs were super dry and had wonderful grip. The forest gradually began to change over to conifers and it became shadier and cooler, but now that I was huffing and puffing, the change was welcomed!

There were views opening up behind me as I slogged up, but I was going to save them for my return trip. I crossed paths with a couple and their three insane dogs that they might have been trying to train? hard to tell. The trail continued to get prettier and prettier, and soon enough I was at the junction with the real target for today - the Vista Trail! I decided to do this before summiting Piper just in case I ran out of gas. Onward! 

[10:45am - Vista Trail]

I had a vauge memory of exploring the upper part of the Vista Trail at some point in the past becuase it sure looked familiar, but if I did I didn't go far. The trail starts mostly in the open with cairns and blazes on rocks marking the trail - it felt much less traveled. I caught up to and passed a friendly couple as I easily descended along the open slabs with occasional wooded patches in between - it was really quite lovely! There was a final longer (still short) wooded stretch before the trail really staretd to descend down the shoulder.

From the top of the shoulder, there were some wonderful views to nearby ponds and the interior Belknaps and the views continued to reveal Belknap Mountain as well. The trail descended steeply on slabs (thankfully with dry, good grip) before reentering the woods and descending even steeper on dirt, soon entering land owned by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. 

The footpath had pretty leafy footing and I managed to roll my ankle pretty hard (thankfully I have strong ankles, becuase if I didn't this roll would have been a PROBLEM). I noticed some older dark green blazes, too? (UPDATE FROM THE FUTURE: This stretch of trail used to be the "Swett Mountain Trail" and blazed green according to old maps).

The descent momentarily mellowed in an open area with tree views before STEEPLY descending again, scrambling down a rock pile before hitting the long, flat col betweel Piper and Swett. I passed what looked like an exploded bird (with some yellow feather, Seek said it was from a northern flicker). I meandered for a bit, passing an unmapped, unblazed trail on the right that descended off the ridge, and later entered the Sweet Mountain Conservation Area. A sign read:
"PRIVATE PROPERTY. Welcome to the Swett Mountain Conservation Area. Access for day trips has been made available to the public by the owners. Please treat the property with care and respect. Pedestrian Access Only - Hikers Welcome. No vehicles allowed. Discharge of firearms by permission only. NO CAMPING. NO FIRES. Please help keep this land open to the public. Report any violations to Charlie Mitchell, PO Box 11, Gilmanton NH 03237 - 603-581-2696."

Following the sign, I rambled along the ridge a bit longer and then hit the final push, which really wasn't much of a push. There were rocky slabs bordered with moss - it was super pretty! There was an obstructed view to what I think was Suncook Mountain and Belknap Mountain from a different angle.

[11:20am - Swett Mountain Summit]

The trail continued up, past what might have been a summit cairn? (no signs or anything else to indicate the high point, but it sure looked it!). The trail continued past to another area with views south towards Pack Monadnock, I believe. I took a few photos here, but had a quick turn around to continue my journey!

The best part of the return trip was simply that I was hiking away from the sun instead of into the sun - for both my eyes and my photos. The flat part of the return went very quickly and I was feeling the BURN on the scramble! Thankfully, the trail mellowed out after the scramble, providing some relief. I continued my climb, exiting the SPNHF land steeply and eventually hitting the lovely stretch that was similar to the Pumpelly Trail on Monadnock. I passed the same duo from before, now on their return trip, and just after I ran into the quartet of women from Whiteface! We exchanged "hello agains!" and moved along. I also crossed paths with two dirt bikes? It sure felt like they shouldn't have been there, but maybe I was being judgemental...?

Regardless, the rest of the return trip was an absolute delight, and I was even more thrilled to make it back to the Piper-Whiteface Link!

[11:59am - Piper-Whiteface Link]

I turned right to hike towards Piper's North summit, never knowing if that or the south one is the actual high point. I crossed paths with a trail runner as I enjoyed the views towards the lake and Belknap Mountain. I loved how pretty this stretch was and also how not difficult it was!

[12:06pm - Piper-Whiteface Link/Piper Mountain Trail]

I booped the top of Piper's North Summit, and started my return trip! I passed the same duo from before for a third time, they comically said "didn't we JUST see you?" - yes, I'm just crazy!

[12:14pm - Piper-Whiteface Link/Vista Trail]

I passed the junction for the Vista Trail and started to descend on the scenic slabs with wonderful grip. Apparently, I didn't spend time getting many photos of the views, but I sure did enjoy them! The last bit of slabs were slightly covered in pine needles, but they were completely fine in terms of grip. The trail left the Town of Gilford Conservation Area, mellowed out, and then came to the junction with the Whiteface Mountain Trail!

[12:25pm - Whiteface Mountain Trail]

I hit the 7-mile mark right when I got to the Whiteface Mountain Trail junction - I was HUNGRY. I zoned out for a bit and blasted off on my descent, only blacking back in to see a collapsed shed of sorts in the woods maybe 100 yards before the trail kiosk? I didn't remember seeing it before when I visited in 2022, but according to my photos it's been like that since! I again giggled at the "dogs on lead" and was soon abck at the Class VI Road!

[12:37pm - Class VI Road]

[12:39pm - End of Hike]

The road walk was short and sweet and I made it back to my car feeling great! There were five cars total now (two that were there before, mine, and two new ones). I did a quick change into dry clothes, and I was on my way home! I made it a goal to get at least two new Belknap trails in 2026, and I accomplished both this weekend - yay!

Step-by-Step

- Walk along Class VI section of Belknap Mountain Road.

- Turn left onto blue-blazed Whiteface Mountain Trail.

- At summit, turn around.

- At jct., continue straight/right onto light-green blazed Piper-Whiteface Link.

- At jct., turn right onto yellow-blazed Vista Trail.

- At Swett Mountain/terminus, turn around.

- At jct., turn right onto Piper-Whiteface Link.

- At North Piper Mountain, turn around.

- At jct., turn right onto blue-blazed Whiteface Mountain Trail.

Belknap Range Map (2023)

Photo Album