3 day hike in Presidential Range (White Mountains)

#1

Hey guys, planning a 3 day hike in mid August in the Presidential Range area of the White Mountains off a recommendation from another hiker on the AT. I definitely want to make a stop at the highest peak I believe it’s 6822 feet or so. That being said, can anyone give me a suggestion of where to start/stop? I will be dropping my car at the end location and taking a shuttle/uber to the start. We are pretty experienced hikers and have done several day hikes and plan on doing 15 miles per day and camping each night.

#2

Hi! Allen, What you could do is start at Crawford Notch, U.S. 302, hike North going up and over “6,288’” Mt. Washington, and end or your hike at Pinkham Notch, N.H. 16., this being a better place to leave a car, or hike on to U.S. 2, with your car parked in Gorham, N.H. (3.6 miles W).

#3

One big issue will be where to stay. There isn’t much that is safe and legal along the ridge, unless you stay at the very expensive AMC Huts. I usually do it as a one day 20 - 24 miler. To the north, you can stay at Valley Way campsite, or at the huts run by the Randolph mountain club (link below). Towards the southern end of the traverse you can stay at the Nauman tent sites near Mizpah Hut. As Gorpbobbler says, the southern entrance or exit would be at Crawford Notch - you can follow the AT and Webster Cliff trail to/from that terminus, or you could start at one of the trail heads near the Highland Center. If you want to follow the AT, you might as well do it all the way and come out at Pinkham Notch. The Appalachia parking lot on route 2 is the most common northern terminus for a traverse. When i did the traverse as part of a longer AT section hike, I hiked into Valley Way from the Carter Ridge and went past Crawford Notch the next. An ambitious 3 day might be southbound, finishing at Franconia Ridge.

The first 3 shelters listed here are near the north end of the Presidential Ridge:
http://www.randolphmountainclub.org/sheltersinfo/aboutourshelters.html

#4

Great thank you for the feedback! I will do that for sure.

#5

Thank you for the info, any chance you have a link to info on the AMC huts? I rather stay in my tent but it wouldn’t hurt to inform myself of these huts just in case.

#6

Here;s the page for the huts (the ones on the ridge are Madison, Lake of the Clouds and Mizpah. The huts, and the Mt. Washington Visitor’s Center are good sources of potable water and food (mostly cake, cookies and usually soup at the huts, but all kinds of stuff at the Visitor’s Center).