The Double D on the Peaks Challenge!

Trip Details
Date: May 18^th, 2018
Total Distance: 10.04 mi (via Garmin fenix 5X)
Total Time: 4 hours 46 minutes
Total Elevation: 3189 ft gained
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Time to start hiking again. The 4000 footers are still a few weekends away from a snow free existence, so we took advantage of the nice mid-May weather to finish up the Belknap Range and finally send away for that patch. Last May we started our hiking season by hiking all the mountains on the Mt. Major loop so this time around we just had to hike the northern Belknap mountains. I first hiked Mt. Major probably 20 years ago so it was nice to finally summit the rest of the peaks. This hiking is far from difficult and though we gained a good amount of elevation over the day, it rarely ever felt difficult. These are definitely good mountains if you want to have a "good" time (more on that in a bit) or are looking for some beginner mountains to get into hiking.

You might have asked yourself, "what in sam hell is the Double D on the Peaks Challenge?" Well fine sirs and madams, that is when you eat a Dunkin' Donuts donut on each summit. So for this particular challenge, we had to eat six donuts on six summits! Sounds easy, but it is not and you basically neglect any workout you get from actually hiking...net zero calorie burn! But at the end we can say we completed it!

• When planning any trip into the Belknap Mountain range I highly recommend taking a peak at the Belknap Range Trails map. A lot of work was put into it and it is the bible for hiking this area.
• With two cars, we parked one at the end of the paved section of Belknap Mountain Road and then drove to the Gilford Elementary School where the Mt. Rowe Trail starts. Even though school was in session we got there around 0900 so it was rather quiet and the parking lot still had a bunch of spots left. 
• Always looking for a challenge we diverted to the unmaintained Yellow Trail, that looked quite maintained. This was probably the steepest portion of the hike.
• None of the trails are very long and before we knew it we were near the summit of Mt. Rowe. The true summit is unlabeled and is saddled between a Plate Boundary Observation Station and a Sprint cell phone tower.
• We then followed the Belknap Range Trail to the summit of Gunstock Mountain. The ski mountain is currently in the in-between season and was prepping for their summer opening on Memorial Day. We just hung out, took advantage of the facilities, and relaxed. Side note is Detroit Rock City came up behind us later in the day and took in the sunset in one of the Adirondack chairs at the currently closed Panorama Pub.
• The hiking trails coming from the summit of Gunstock are kind of a mess to find. There is clear sign pointing you in a direction, but directly behind it is a clear trail/herd path. We took the herd path and ended up backtracking to the summit once we realized we missed the trail we needed (Brook Trail). 
• The Brook Trail descends Gunstock so you have to watch out for the split and then jump on the Saddle Trail to head to Belknap Mountain. 
• Belknap Mountain is the tallest mountain in all the range, but is also a heavily wooded summit. A firetower is present (and was open on this day) if you want to get a great 360º view. There is evidence of some old structures on the summit and also some heavy duty communication lines leading to a communication tower. It kind of takes the majesticness out of the summit.
• The north peak of Piper Mountain is the highlight of all the summits as someone has taken the time to build a rock chair, rock couch, and rock picnic table/fire pit. The rock chair is the best piece and it looks out over the Mt. Major section of the range. Someday I will come up here to watch the sunrise.
• The south peak is wooded so there was not much to see.
• The trip over to Whiteface Mountain was interesting. At one point you come out into a field and then eventually on to a 4x4 road. The 4x4 road goes all the way to the summit where it is clear that people come up to let loose, rage, or have one of those woods parties you see in the movies where everyone parks there trucks/cars in a circle with a giant fire in the middle (this is that aforementioned "good" time I was referring to). Unfortunately, it was kind of a dud summit to finish on and I would only recommend if you were completing the list.
• Hiking out is straightforward and eventually you come to the end of the trail and have to walk down a short section of the dirt road portion of Belknap Mountain Road to get back to the parking lot.

If you are interested in getting a patch, the information is located at the Belknap County Sportsmen's Association website.

Below are some photos from the hike:

Gilford Elementary School parking lot

The path leading down to the nature trail and the Mt. Rowe Trail.

The importance of this photo is that Boomer is on a bridge! Boomer hates bridges but went for this one no problem.

Boomer jumped into the high grass. I expected to find him covered in ticks, but thankfully did not.

You can sense Boomer's hesitation as you can see that he is pretty low to the bridge.

The unmaintained Yellow Trail looked a bit sketchy at first but once we went up this slope it was easy to follow.

The Belknap Range Trail is a well labeled trail that crosses the whole range.

The Plate Boundary Observatory Station

Sprint cell phone tower just past the Mt. Rowe summit.

We are right next to the tower and the best we could get is two bars 3G...what the hell?

Donut #1

Laconia Municipal Airport

Looking out at Lake Winnipesaukee from the Gunstock Mountain summit.

Some of the structures on the summit.

Mt. Washington still showing some snow.

The zipline tower is in the background.

Donut #2

Next time I should check my photos after taking them and maybe I will get a good one that does not cut the top of my head off...

This sign is supposed to guide us to the start of the trails...we ended up trying to take the herd path directly behind it...

Here is where you have to jump on the Saddle Trail or end up descending down to the parking lot for Gunstock.

Belknap Mountain firetower

The fire warden's cabin

Fire warden's outhouse

I really hope these are communication lines and not power lines as I just barely missed bumping them with my head.

BishopX taking in the views from the firetower.

Donut #3...notice how mine are getting squished.

The communications tower

This valley in-between Belknap and Piper I can only suspect would look epic during the fall when the colors are changing.

Jump on the Orange Trail for Piper Mountain.

The trails got more and more eroded as we continued on. They started out with excellent footing and by the end they were quite similar to the trails in the Whites.

The view from Piper's north summit. This is looking out over the Mt. Major loop mountains.

I suspect this is a trail marker, but also the marker for the north peak summit as it looked like the highest point.

The picnic table/fire pit.

BishopX sitting in his throne.

BishopX now taking a nap.

Relaxing

Donut #4...at this point I had to reside to taking handfuls of pieces.

The south peak summit cairn for Piper Mountain.

Donut #5...squished but it stayed relatively intact...win!

The field on the way to Whiteface Mountain where I am pretty sure sacrifices are performed.

The summit of Whiteface Mountain.

Mt. Kearsarge in the distance. There were decent views from here as we could see Mt. Monadnock clearly.

Donut #6...blob of donuts to finish it out.

This was a better view just before the summit of Whiteface Mountain. That is Belknap and Piper in the foreground.

Look at that mansion!

Rockwall at the junction of the Piper-Whiteface Link and Whiteface Mountain Trail.

Looking towards the paved section.

From the parking lot and looking towards the dirt section.

The alarm for when we hit 10 miles happened right when we got to the car. I then forgot to turn it off until it alarmed for 11 miles. I think I edited it correctly to fix that fubar.