Appalachian Mountain Club White Mountain Guide - The Only Hiking Guide You Need, Plus Maps!
Written: Jan 07 '08 (Updated Nov 05 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: extremely detailed trail information, maps, hiking advice, convenient size
Cons: maps printed on thin paper, might be heavy for backpackers
The Bottom Line: If I had to choose one hiking guide to the White Mountains, this would be it.
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| AliventiAsylum's Full Review: Gene Daniell - Appalachian Mountain Club White Mou... |
Living near the White Mountain National Forest gives me the opportunity for many outdoor activities. Last spring, once mud season had ended (seriously, that is a season up here), I decided that Sunday afternoons would be a time when we would all go hiking together. There are many trails and many places online where I can get information. However, when I came across the Appalachian Mountain Club White Mountain Guide, I knew I had found something that we could carry with us.
The book is small and can fit easily in a backpack. It comes in at seven inches by five inches and is less than two inches thick. It weighs about a pound, so it doesn’t add much to a day-pack. People who are watching the weight of larger packs take note.
The content of Appalachian Mountain Club White Mountain Guide is excellent. The White Mountains are divided up into sections, and each section has a chapter devoted to it. The information given about the area is in incredible detail, more detail than I could ever imagine. In addition to the hiking trails, there is often a brief summary of what’s in each particular area. For example, in the section on Mount Washington, there is a little bit of information on the Mount Washington Cog Railway and Mount Washington Auto Road.
The details on the trails is extensive. Not only does it give length and height, but there’s an extensive description of what the trail is like that makes it easy to follow. Approximate times to complete the trails is also given, although this might vary by the individual hiker. Many hikes have various segments, and in those cases the trail statistics is divided up for each section.
At the end of each chapter is a listing of suggested hikes under Easy, Moderate, and Strenuous. This is just a few of the trails for each area. If you are unfamiliar with the region and looking for an idea what to do, this is a wonderful way to start out depending on your level of hiking experience.
What really makes the Appalachian Mountain Club White Mountain Guide worth it to me are the maps. There are four double-sided maps that show the trails among the mountains. They show the path to the mountain summits, and it makes it easy to find trails that look interesting, then refer back to them in the book. The maps also show the location of campgrounds, ranger stations, huts, and shelters. The paper is printed on pretty thin paper and get worn out fairly quickly. The same maps are available elsewhere printed on Tyvek and these are worth it. Even if I didn’t want to take the book with me hiking, having the maps along would be good and with them being Tyvek there’s no worry about them getting wet. I’d rather pay a bit more for the book initially and get the Tyvek maps with the book.
Before the Introduction, there’s a section called To The Owner Of This Book. It’s a general guide to hiking that is very useful for inexperienced hikers, as well as guides as to how to use the book and the maps. The first appendix contains a list of the Four Thousand Footers. These are the mountains whose peaks are higher than four thousand feet. Some people like to make it a goal to climb all of them in New Hampshire and there’s a place to record when you’ve climbed each one. In addition, there are listings for those peaks in Vermont and Maine so you can climb all of the Four Thousand Footers in New England.
I would highly recommend the Appalachian Mountain Club White Mountain Guide to anyone who wants to hike in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Even if you are experienced, there is plenty of information that is useful. I love the maps although I wish the Tyvek was standard rather than paper. We love to look at It and try to plan what trails we want to hike. It gave us invaluable information when we used it last year and helped immensely with deciding where we wanted to go.
Another book about the area:
50 Hikes in the White Mountains
Sites to see in the area:
Attitash Bear Peak Ski Resort ~ Bretton Woods Ski Resort ~ Canobie Lake Park ~ Cranmore Mountain Ski Resort ~ Franconia Notch State Park ~ Kancamagus Highway ~ King Pine Ski Resort ~ Loon Mountain ~ Madison Boulder Natural Area ~ Mount Washington Cog Railway ~ North Conway, NH ~ Polar Express Event ~ Shawnee Peak, Bridgton, ME ~ Six Gun City ~ Story Land ~ Whale's Tale Waterpark ~ White Lake State Park ~ White Mountain National Forest ~ Wildcat Mountain ~ Wildcat Mountain
Some places to stay nearby:
Attitash Mountain Village - Bartlett NH ~ Comfort Inn & Suites - North Conway NH ~ Hampton Inn - Concord/Bow NH ~ Yankee Clipper Motel
Places to eat in nearby:
Bea's Cafe, Conway NH ~ Cafe Noche, Conway NH ~ Decades Steakhouse, North Conway NH ~ Delaney‘s Hole in the Wall, North Conway NH ~ Harts Turkey Farm, Meredith NH ~ May Kelly's Cottage, North Conway NH ~ Merlino's Steakhouse, North Conway NH ~ Moat Mountain Smokehouse, North Conway NH ~ Muddy Moose, North Conway NH ~ Peach's Restauran, North Conway NH ~ Red Parka Steakhouse & Pub, Glen NH ~ Yankee Smokehouse, West Ossipee NH
© 2008 Patti Aliventi
Recommended:
Yes
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Member: Patti Aliventi
Location: Mount Washington Valley, New Hampshire
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Now writing reviews to pay for the "out of network" costs of our health insurance...
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