Welcome to this Web site about hiking the White Mountain National Forest of New Hampshire. This Web site contains excerpts of the complete guide, which will be available 12/98, depending on interest.
My name is Bob Taylor from Haverhill, MA, formerly of New Hampshire. I have been hiking the Whites since 1970, long before it became a popular hiking destination.
All the information in this site has been carefully researched and sources identified. I encourage students, teachers, and novice hikers to take a look at this site, because it contains information that is not available to them in the existing hiking guides for the Whites. This is a condensed, complete package that tells the novice and intermediate hiker, "where to, when to, and how to hike," and make it a rewarding experience.
If you have any questions or need more specific data for planning a hike or for researching a school project, please contact me at rwtaylor1@hotmail.com
NOTE: due to changing weather conditions and trail reconstruction, some trail descriptions may be inaccurate. Despite painstaking research and a lot of footwork, the use of the information in this site is at the risk of the reader.
ANOTHER NOTE: due to conflicts in historical data, especially that which has been recently published, the author used the most reliable and scholarly sources (e.g. the source on Indians was compiled by over 150 scholars in North American Indian history). Sometimes folklore, along with a number of historians and authors handling a subject, can lend bias or inaccuracies to historical facts. In certain cases, an old source was used here only if the information therein could be verified with two other sources with about the same publishing dates (+ or - 30 years). Please consult the bibliography if you have any questions. If you have a dispute with the historical data, please submit your rebuttal with three reliable, readily available sources that do not credit each other. I will then make changes as is appropriate, and credit you here with the research.
This is an educational as well as a functional site. I encourage hikers and readers to validate or invalidate any of the information here with their own research. Anything about the White Mountains is of great interest to me, and I consider myself to be a lifelong student of them. Learning never stops here, so I'd like to hear from you!
Below- pictured is the south slope of Mt. Washington's (6288') summit cone, from Boott Spur (5500'). Tuckerman Ravine is bottom right.
About the White Mountains:
The name “White Mountains” is actually a translation. The mountains were referred to by the Indians as Waumbekket-Mentha, or “snowy or white rock mountains.” The first written record of the name “White Mountains” was by a writer and traveler named John Josselyn, who referred to these mountains by that name in his work published in 1672, New England Rarities Discovered. By some of the descriptions in his work, Mr. Josselyn had interactions with the Indians. He was also one of the first White Mountain hikers of European descent (Kilbourne, F.W., 1916, p.23; Hixon, R.& M., 1980, p.176).
The White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire and Maine could very well be described as a suburban forest. No other eastern United States mountainous national forest or park is so close to so many cities as the White Mountain National Forest is. Metro New York, Washington DC, Greater Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Buffalo, and even Toronto, Ontario are all within a day’s ride. Thousands of Americans visit the White Mountains every year, and all year, in fact.
The White Mountain National Forest is becoming a mecca of sorts for Canadians, who seek good hiking terrain within a reasonable proximity to their home. There is no trail system in Canada that rivals the well established ones in the Whites. To find another mountainous national forest so close to a large urban area, you have to go to southern Califonia to Angeles National Forest, also known as the San Gabriel Mountains!
The fact that this is a national forest is significant, as opposed to being a national park. Where national parks are focused strictly on preservation, national forests focus on preservation and use. This makes the Whites a multi-use region, where one can hike, backpack, sightsee, hunt, fish, and so on. Even limited logging (professional only) is allowed by the permission of the US Forestry Service.
Tuckerman Ravine headwall in late June. The young hiker reminds us to bring insect repellent!
Highway Access:
The White Mountains are close to several interstate highways. I-93 provides the easiest access from the south; the Franconia Notch Parkway and the Kangamagus Highway (Rt. 112) tie in directly to I-93. I-93 gives direct access to Franconia Notch, by merging with Route 3 to the south of the Notch and then splitting from it to the north of the Notch. In between, this highway is called the Franconia Notch Parkway. I-91 ties into I-93 north and west of Franconia Notch. Rt. 16 provides easy access to the eastern end of the Kangamagus Highway, Rt. 302, and to Rt. 2.
Because of its closeness to Northeast urban centers, highway access to the White Mountain National Forest is easy. From Metro New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, Hartford, Bridgeport, and New Haven, along with points further south along the Atlantic seaboard, I-95 to I-91 is the most direct route. If your destination is N. Woodstock or Lincoln, NH, follow I-91 north to Exit 15 in Fairlee, Vermont. Turn onto Rt. 25A and cross the Connecticut River into NH. Drive east on Rt. 25A for about 15 miles. Turn left onto Rt. 25 in Wentworth, NH, and drive north about 5 miles to Rt. 118 in Warren. Turn right onto Rt. 118, and drive about 10 miles to Rt. 112. Go straight, and N. Woodstock is only 4 miles ahead. This may seem like a few turns, but the roads are well signed, and they are easy to follow. This is also the most direct route to Conway and N. Conway. Continue east on Rt. 112 past N. Woodstock and Lincoln. Rt. 112 at this point becomes the Kangamagus Highway, which ends 36 miles away to the east, just south of Conway at its junction with Rt. 16.
There is a hairpin turn on the Kangamagus Highway 5 miles east of Lincoln. Approach it cautiously, because the hairpin is inclined. Eastbound drivers have an advantage here, because they must accelerate going into the hairpin, giving them more control. The key is to make sure that you are going the posted speed limit as you approach it from either direction.
I-95 to Rt. 16, or I-95 to I-495 to Rt. 16 are the most direct routes to the Conways and Pinkham Notch from eastern MA and RI. I-93, or I-495 to I-93 are the main routes leading to the Franconia region from those locales. If you live in those states, try to leave as early as possible on Friday afternoons during the summer for your weekend in the Whites. I-495 from Lowell, MA to its junction with I-95 in Salisbury, MA, and I-93 from I-95 (locally called Rt. 128) in Woburn, MA north to Exit 4 in Derry, NH can be congested between 3 pm and 8 pm. Expect delays of over an hour on I-93 northbound during the afternoon rush hour.
Similarly, if you leave on a Saturday morning during the summer for a hike to Mt. Washington and go via I-495, you may find yourself quagmired in bumper to bumper beach traffic from Lawrence, MA to I-95 (about 20 miles), if you leave late. In that case, by the time you get through the traffic in N. Conway, too, it will probably be 2 pm as you arrive at the Visitor’s Center in Pinkham Notch.
Canadians have access to the Whites by I-91, which ends at the US/ Canada border. To reach I-91 from Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, or points west, Canadians may take Autoroutes 401 to 20 (720) to 10 to 55 to the border. From the Atlantic Provinces, Autoroute 2 connects with I-95 west of Fredericton, N.B. U.S. Rt. 2 connects Gorham NH to I-95, Exit 45 in Bangor, ME. A few minutes and miles may be saved by picking up Rt. 2 a little further south at Exit 39.
The White Mountain National Forest (WMNF)is divided into several regional lobes: the Kinsman region is west of I-93. The Sandwich region is east of I-93 and south of the Kangamagus Highway. The Franconia region is east of I-93 and north of the Kangamagus Highway. The Presidential region is north of Rt. 302 and west of Rt. 16. The Carter region is east of Rt. 16, and the Pilot region is north of Rt. 2. The Mahoosuc region east of the city of Berlin is considered to be part of the Whites, but it is not within the actual boundary of the National Forest.
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