My buddy Ken and I took a three day bikepacking and bikefishing trip into a conservation area called the Second College Grant in Northern New Hampshire, about 65 miles north of the White Mountain National Forest. It has two excellent trout rivers …
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Climbing the Madison Gulf and Buttress Trails
The Madison Gulf Trail is the hardest route up to Mt Madison in the White Mountain’s Northern Presidential Range. It ascends a narrow but very steep ravine ending at an alpine tarn known as Star Lake. It’s a magnificent trail, but seldom …
Read More »Hiking King Ravine and Castle Ravine
King Ravine and Castle Ravine are two glacial cirques on the north side of the White Mountain’s Presidential Range. Cirques are amphitheater-like valleys with steep side ridges and a headwall. Many of the high peaks in the White’s Presidential Range are surrounded …
Read More »Hiking Mt Washington: A Chandler Brook – Wamsutta Trail Loop
The Chandler Brook Trail is a lovely but strenuous trail that runs from the Great Gulf up the side of Mt Washington past many lovely cascades, water shutes, and slides. You can make it into an interesting loop hike by descending by …
Read More »Climbing to Mahoosuc Arm and Old Speck Pond
I never expected to revisit Speck Pond after hiking the section of the Appalachian Trail from Grafton Notch down to Gentian Pond in 2009. Speck Pond is on the south side of Old Speck Mountain, a huge 4000 footer with a fire tower …
Read More »Mt Resolution and the South Knob
Mt Resolution (3415′) is an open summit at the south end of the Montablan Range, just off the Davis Path, one of the main thoroughfares to Mt Isolation. There are several different ways to approach the peak: from the south on the …
Read More »Backpacking the Oakes Gulf Headwall
Oakes Gulf is the least known of Mt Washington’s great ravines and the most remote. You get to it by hiking up the Dry River Trail 9.6 miles from Rt 302, past the last remaining Dry River lean-to. It’s not an easy …
Read More »Mt Whiteface and the Tom Wiggin/McCrillis Loop
Mt Whiteface is a 4000-footer in the Sandwich Range that’s usually climbed using the Blueberry Ledge Trail, then over to Mt Passaconaway via the Rollins Trail, and down via Dicey’s Mill Trail. I took a much different route on my last hike …
Read More »Bushwhacking Cape Horn
Cape Horn is an unusual geologic feature in New Hampshire’s north country called a ring dike. Two thousand feet in height, it’s a ring-shaped remnant of volcanic activity, bordered to the east and west by steep (note angry red and purple slope shading …
Read More »Hiking to Mt Israel and Guinea Pond
Climbing Mt Israel is close to becoming a spring pilgrimage for me. Located in the White Mountains Sandwich Range, it’s a 52-with-a-view summit with great views of Sandwich Dome, Mt Whiteface, and the rocky summit of Mt Chocorua. I climbed Israel via the …
Read More »Acteon Ridge Traverse
The Acteon Ridge is a sequence of trail-less peaks in the Sandwich Range Wilderness of the White Mountains. I climbed one of the peaks on the ridge, named Sachem Peak a few years ago, but have always wanted to go back and hike …
Read More »Backpacking the Livermore Loop
My boots hadn’t frozen overnight, which meant that my Sawyer water filter was probably still good (they’re wrecked if frozen.) Freezing rain had fallen overnight and I knew I’d probably get soaked, brushing up against wet spruce on the side of the trail. …
Read More »Snowshoeing the McCrillis Path in Spring Snow
The McCrillis Path is a good trail to know about for planning backpacking trips near Mts Whiteface and Passaconaway in the White Mountain’s Sandwich Range. It’s seldom hiked and was closed for many years due to a landowner dispute. It links the Blueberry …
Read More »Winter Hike to Gentian Pond and Dream Lake in the Mahoosuc Range
Gentian Pond and Dream Lake are on the Appalachian Trail close to the border between New Hampshire and Maine. They’re fairly remote and off the beaten path, but become extra difficult to access in winter when the Mahoosuc Range, north of Shelburne NH, is …
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