Region
Highlights
- A scenic, rocky summit with expansive summit views of Lake Winnipesaukee.
- Extremely popular summit accessible by multiple trails including the Mount Major Trail, the Brook Trail, and the Boulder Loop.
Routes
44 climbs • 2.9 mi • 1,097 ft gain • 2 hr 50 min • Class 1
29 climbs • 3.8 mi • 1,083 ft gain • 3 hr 46 min • Class 1
13 climbs • 7.1 mi • 1,547 ft gain • 3 hr 39 min
Latest climbs

"Another redline day.. this time was a success. Finished Blueberry Pasture, Jesus Valley and went down the East side of Precipice Path, which was really tricky with all the leaves covering up the acorns! Recent fresh blazes on Precipice kept me on track for the most part (purple is hard to see when the sun is setting though). The summits were windy but great for the views on this lightly cloudy day." — SteveM_StickMan • Nov 18, 2024

"Originally intended to redline Jesus Valley Tr. and come out over Mt. Major, back down the newly rebuilt Mt. Major Trail that I wanted to check out. When I got to the Straightback Mt. turnoff on the upper part of JV, I realized I would not have enough daylight to finish. Having no headlamp with me, I opted to go over Straightback Mt. trail and down Blueberry Pasture to Old Stage Rd. It was longer and out of my way but safer and easier in the dark. Long trip out JV Rd and Rt. 11 back to my car with the cell phone light!" — SteveM_StickMan • Oct 8, 2024

"Hiked the Brook and Main Trail Loop on this windy, fall day to see the color-changing leaves. The parking lot was full at 10:30am, so we had to park along the main road about a quarter mile away. Easy to moderate hike with a few rock scrambles on the way up and down. Great views of Lake Winnipesaukee at the wide open summit many rock ledges to sit at. Good hike for dogs, about 3.75 miles in 2.5 hours. " — gregoryskiba • Oct 8, 2023

"Hiked this with my son. It was the first time he had hiked a mountain (he was 10) and the first time I had hiked in easily 8 years. It was rough but the smile on my kids face was worth every minute of it." — jessicahagan • Aug 11, 2023
"Crisp, cool but sunny day in the Belknaps. Not sure we saw 30 deg. Sparse crowd as we hiked the Quarries and Straightbacks. But a lot of people on Major. Snow cover everywhere though." — Alohabuffy • Nov 19, 2022

"Boulder trail up (yellow), missed the blue trail merge towards straight back mt, stayed on red trail loop(Jesus valley) to head back to lot, missed red merge and again ended up on snowmobile trail and out to 11, 1 mile walk on road to lot. It’s November so not sure if markers were hidden and trail merges were disguised but never saw either and road hikes are disappointing " — fbones • Nov 2, 2022
"A hike for Molly to finish her Belknap 12. We parked in the Major trailhead and headed off to Straightback first. Then we went over to Anna, then Mack. We went down to Round Pond, then up to Klem, then onwards to Rand. We hit both peaks of Quarry. Then on to Straightback, then Major for the finish. We came down the Boulder Tr back to the car. " — newenglandwarrior • Jun 28, 2022
"Waited for the rain to stop. Had some redlining in Jesus Valley to do. Sun came out at first, but by the time we worked around to Mt Major, it started to rain. Got moderate rain all the way down Boulder Trail." — Alohabuffy • Oct 31, 2021
"Went up Blueberry Pasture trail. It lived up to it's billing. Tons of ripe blueberries line the upper trail near the Mt Straightback summit. Delicious! Watched a rather large red tailed hawk on the Brook trail. It was hopping around a blowdown, looked like it was hunting up some lunch." — Alohabuffy • Jul 10, 2021

"Warm muggy hike. Started at 7:40 and it was 67 degrees. Went up the blue trail and ran into a lot of vertical at about 1300'. It was wet and slippery. Cole fell down several times but was uninjured. First time my son had to take a #2 on the trail. We reached the summit at 9:34. Departed the summit at 10:30 took yellow trail down and finished at 12:20. When we arrived there was nobody on the summit. During our time there a handful of people showed up. We ran into one person on the hike up and then hit the conga line when we were coming down. Views were OK as the skies were opening up. Blue was a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be. Great finish to the Belknap 12 hiking challenge!
" — GreggC • Sep 28, 2020