Waumbek is one of the Appalachian Mountain Club's "Four-thousand footers" and is located inside the White Mountain National Forest. The summit can be reached from U.S. Route 2 via the Starr King Trail, a segment of the Cohos Trail, from Jefferson village. The Starr King Trail climbs moderately to the summit of Mount Starr King where there used to be a lodge and then across the ridge to the wooded summit of Mount Waumbek. On some older maps it is shown as "Pliny Major" in the uninhabited township of Kilkenny.[3] A colony of gregarious Canada jays lives near the summit of Starr King year-round.
During the early 1960s, the northern flank of Waumbek was under consideration for a ski resort to be named Willard Basin Ski Area, but the project was terminated and the land conveyed to the federal government.[4]
