Whites and Maine

imported
#1

My parents will be visiting me in the states fairly soon. My dad is an avid day hiker, regularly bagging peaks in the English lake district. We’re both used to difficult terrain and moderate to strenuous hiking/scrambling routes. Can anyone recomend some good day hikes around the whites, some good 8 to 14 mile loop hikes would be great (the kind where we can leave the car at a trailhead and hike back to it, along a different route). My little brother (13) will also be hiking with us, he’s strong and has been hiking tough trails since he was 8 or 9. Anywhere around, or north of the whites would be great. Thanks for your help.

Cheers

P.S We’ll also be doing a 3 dayer through the hundred mile wilderness to gulf hagas and hope to bump into a few NOBO’s en route. Good luck to all who are still hiking!

Cheers

#2

You can do tons of loops in the Presidentials. Go up Madison Gulf Trail, Summit Madison then take the Osgood Trail (AT) back down. The classic loop in the Franconia Range is up the Falling Waters Trail, north on the AT to the summit of Lafayette and down the Bridle Path or in the same area up Flume Slide Trail, North on the Franconia Ridge Trail and down the Liberty Springs trail. To avoid the crowds climb Mount Carrigan up the Signal Ridge Trail down the other side and come back through Carrigan Notch ( I’m not sure of the trail names here as I do not have my book in front of me). Get the AMC White Mountain Guide for more ideas and have a great time.

Big B

#3

The book by that name by Victoria and Frank Logue has good “Loop Hikes” of the AT in all fourteen states that the AT goes through. In New Hampshire there are 14 hikes mentioned and described. There is a good mix of “moderate” to “strenuous” (non are labled easy).

The Mount Moosilauke loop is “strenuous,” 6.4 roundtrip and an estimate of 7 hours for the hike. It begins and loops back to Kinsman Notch and passes several waterfalls and goes alongside Beaver Brook. The description of the hike states that “this is a challenging hike, and should not be taken lightly.”

Another hike described is titled Rattle River and it states that this is a “moderate” hike consisting of 6.0 miles round trip with a suggested time of 4.0 hours. The time depends upon pace and lingering time at the swimming holes

This hike is reached from 3.8 miles east of Gorham, NH on US #2.

There are others and I recommend the book.

Skylander

#4

Well, Katahdin would be a good choice – “Strenuous” 10.4 miles roundtrip with an estimated time of 9.5 hours. There are other strenuous hikes with estimated times from 7-10 hours and there are several “easy” hikes with very short mileage and times suggested/

Skylander

#5

Thanks Big B and Skylander, I’ll take a look at those books. Can’t wait to get out there.

Cheers

Cheers

#6

Cheers,

If you spend a night in Gorham NH, you can use it as your home base. There are loops you can do both north and south of US 2, the AT crossing 5 miles from Gorham. The Trail on the south side is the Carter-Moriah trail (I think) which goes back into Gorham, so its easy to work out logistically. You’d spend half the day on AT, half on a blue blaze. Same goes for the northern loop, but I forget the name of the trail. Also using the Success Pond Trail and Carlo Col Trail and AT you can hike some of the most rugged and beautiful miles right on the maine border and do it as a day hike. Both these trails are on the same road and a short distance from Gorham. Basically if you stayed a couple nights in Gorham (2 hostles, tons of motels or you could camp) you could get a ton of hiking done with little driving to trailheads. You’d see lots of thrus and avoids the Whites and the tremendous crowds there in August

A-Train