January 4, 2026

Start/End: Waumbek Golf Course, Rt. 2

Peaks: "Starr King" (3,907'), Waumbek (4,006')

Elevation Gain: 2,970 ft

RT Mileage: 8.07 mi

Duration: 4 hours, 32 minutes

Snow/Ice Difficulty: Grade I

After a brutal day on Pierce and Eisenhower two weeks ago, I spent a well earned week and a half in warm, beautiful South Carolina and Florida. Upon returning, I was immediately back in the Whites, attempting Waumbek to check off another winter 4,000er. I had already hiked Waumbek in winter conditions in April 2024, but April does not count as winter in the world of peakbagging. January 4 does, of course.

I left the house around 6:15 AM. It was lightly snowing in eastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire on the drive up, but none by the time I got to the Whites though. It was cold though, with the car thermometer reading 7° F when I arrived in Jefferson around 8:55, and temperatures were subzero all day above 4,000 ft with a Wind Chill Advisory in effect. In fact, MWOBS has not reported a temperature above 0° F since December 30. I tried to park at the Starr King TH but my car was getting stuck in the snow, so I parked back on Route 2 near the golf course instead. Besides a Jeep, a Subaru, and a GMC pickup, everyone else did the same today. After a 0.5-mile road walk back to the TH, I started hiking just before 9:30.

The Starr King Trail ascends gently out of Jefferson and never gets steeper than a 20% grade in its 2.6 miles to the summit of Starr King (not a 4,000er). Waumbek is popular and the trail was extremely well packed from start to finish, so spikes were more than enough. With the recent cold, cloudy weather, even the hardwood forest was coated in rime (and snow, of course) above 2,600 ft, which is not something I've seen before. At 2,900 ft, the trail entered the coniferous forest in one of the cleaner transitions between hardwoods and conifers in the Whites, and it was a complete winter wonderland from this point forward.

It was also noticeably colder in the coniferous forest than it had been below, and I had to pull out the hand warmers for the first time in years. The trail flattened out on approach to the summit of Starr King, which I gained around 11:20. It was unfortunately socked in, so there were no views of the Presis, but the forest was still beautiful. I shared the summit with a gray jay, just as I had last time, but this time with no other people.

From Starr King, the summit of Waumbek was one mile away on the Kilkenny Ridge Trail across the eponymous ridge. After descending 200 vertical feet to the col between the summits, the trail briefly opened up before re-entering dense coniferous forest for the gentle 300-vertical-foot ascent to Waumbek. Cloud cover thinned a little bit during this time, and glimpses of blue sky were to be had occasionally.

I summited Waumbek just before noon, sharing the wooded summit again with one gray jay and no other people. Despite some clearing overhead, it was still too socked in to have any views of the Presis from the viewpoint a few tenths of a mile further along the Kilkenny Ridge Trail, and I didn't bother checking it out.

The ridge walk back to Starr King and the subsequent descent back into Jefferson were straightforward. The increase in temperature during the descent back into the hardwood forest was definitely noticeable. I was back at the parking lot on Route 2 around 1:30 PM, and winter 4,000er #13 was in the books.