Alton, n.h.
That ledgy stage is not reached via an easy hike as many believe it to be. If location is everything, Mount Major has got it. The trailhead is on summer’s well-beaten path, scenic New Hampshire Route 11 between Alton Bay and Gilford with its wealth of tourist attractions and natural beauty.
The quiver of trails to the summit are well-marked and well-maintained. The parking area is nicely paved and has an informative kiosk.
Choose any path and the moderate hike with rock scrambles is readily done in under four miles.
Plus, popular Mount Major is only 1,786 feet.
However, the mountain’s got some serious bite, especially for unprepared hikers — you’ve seen the, — the ones carrying handbags, wearing sneakers, and holding a single bottle of water among three people.
Located on the eastern end of the low-lying Belknap Range that includes Belknap Mountain, Gunstock and Mount Klem, Mount Major has an incredible 360-degree panorama with a wonderful view of Lake Winnipesaukee.
Today, Mount Major is protected under a partnership with the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, the Lakes Region Conservation Trust and the Belknap Range Conservation Coalition.
This summit is prime real estate. Its open ledges hold copious amounts of blueberries in season, and the very top contains the remnants of a stone hut built in the 1920s.
The story goes that George Phippen, of Alton, bought the mountain top for $125 in 1914. He loved the view and the blueberries, and in 1925 built the hut as a shelter for hikers to escape harsh weather when it blew in.
However, that brutal weather also played havoc with the roof of what became known as “Mr. Phippin’s Hut.”
With an exposed summit, strong winds blew the roof off the very first winter. The next summer, Phippen was roof-building again, this time layering spruce poles, boards and corrugated iron.
This roof lasted two years and blew away in the spring of 1928. Another was never built.
The story of the hut’s roof should be a lesson to hikers about how exposed Mount Major’s summit is. Should foul weather blow in, get down.
But first one has to get up. The blue-blazed Mount Major Trail is the most favored and direct pathway to the summit, a 1.5-mile route featuring steep and exposed sections that can be icy and slick in inclement weather. The yellow-blazed Brook Trail is another option with its pair of brook crossings.
On a sunny midweek morning, my wife Jan and I decided on the orange-marked Boulder Loop Trail, a 3.2-mile round trip up and down the south side of the mountain. For Jan, it was her first time on Mount Major. For me, it was a return to a mountain I last climbed in the 20th century during an era when I called the Lakes Region home.
The first section was welcomingly wide as the path crossed a couple of appreciated plank bridges on a snowmobile trail before handing off to an old woods road, comfortable hiking for side-by-side fans. The trail narrowed when it hit an area of boulders with steep pitches. It was possible to scamper up and squeeze between some, but upon further inspection, thin dirt pathways were discovered that avoided much play on the boulders.
The pathway did ease up through the pines near the summit, affording excellent views those plentiful blueberry patches.
The summit views are jaw-dropping of Winnispesaukee, New Hampshire’s largest lake, and beyond. Rattlesnake Island is easily spotted to the north, one of more than 250 islands on the lake, and the one with the highest summit at 874 feet.
The Sandwich Range, Ossipee Mountains and White Mountains stand on the northern horizon, too, with the peaks of western Maine visble to the northeast.
The western sky holds the Belknap Range and Upper Valley area peaks such as Mount Cube and Smarts Mountain.
Wonderfully, we had the summit to ourselves for a magical 10 minutes or so, sitting on a stone bench in Mr. Phippen’s Hut that once had a wood stove for warmth. We peered out at the spot that once had a door upon shimmering waters and rippling mountains enjoying the splendor before the swarms of summer return.