Mount Waumbek in the Pliny Range of the White Mountains is one of the 48 New Hampshire 4,000-footers, with an elevation of 4,006 feet. The most common route to the summit is the Starr King Trail, which starts near Jefferson and passes over the summit of Mount Starr King, where there are some views of the Presidential Range. The trail is about 6.7 miles long and gains about 2,736 feet of elevation. Mount Waumbek is named after an Abenaki word for "white". 

Hikers should only park within the provided parking area, respecting the private landowners along the road leading to it. The Starr King leads to the summit of Mt Waumbek, where it continues as the Kilkenny Ridge Trail. Mount Waumbek is the lowest of the 4,000 footers at 4,006 feet, and although it offers no real views, hikers must first cross the sweeping outlooks of Mt Starr King to reach it.

In the decades prior to 1911, the unregulated logging practices of private timber companies in the White Mountains had resulted in a damaged landscape susceptible to both fire and flood. Fires had burned thousands of acres, and flash floods affected the water power necessary to the mills of major industrial centers downstream, such as Manchester, New Hampshire, and Lowell, Massachusetts. Concerns over losses to industry, business, and tourism, and the growing conservation movement led to citizen action. The Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) and Society for Protection of New Hampshire Forests (SPNHF) spearheaded an effort to ensure the permanent protection of the White Mountains from further depredation. After years of lobbying and intense public pressure, Senator John Weeks of Massachusetts, a native of Lancaster, New Hampshire, introduced legislation that became known as the Weeks Act. The Weeks Act was passed by Congress in 1911, appropriating 9 million dollars to purchase 6 million acres of land in the Eastern U.S. In turn, this led to the creation of the White Mountain National Forest (WMNF) in 1918, and twenty-one other national forests throughout the north and southeast. Many of the groups who were instrumental in the passage of the Weeks Act, including the SPNHF and the AMC, are still active today, and the WMNF has grown from 7,000 acres to almost 800,000. Today, the reforested mountains and hillsides supply forest products and provide magnificent recreational opportunities while maintaining healthy watersheds and ecosystems.

The AllTrails website has a description and map of a hike at Mount Waumbek.