5 comments about Nature Hikes In the White Mountains, 2nd: Great Family Hikes in the Heart of the White Mountain National Forest.

1. Went to the White Mountains with another adult friend and picked this book because the walks looked about our speed. The directions are great, descriptions and nature discussions also very informative and entertaining. I particularly liked the "what the kids get out of it" feature for each walk. I particularly recommend the walk to Diana's Baths, a waterful near North Conway, NH.



2. Now in an updated and revised second edition, Robert Buchsbaum's Nature Hikes In The White Mountains continues to be the premier guide to New England's White Mountain waterfalls, mountain ponds, blueberry patches, and outdoor adventures for the hiker, backpacker, and nature enthusiast. Mixing trail descriptions with natural history, Buchsbaum provides a series of hiking opportunities including a map, distance, estimated hiking time, elevation change, and level of difficulty. Nature Hikes In The White Mountains offers natural sites and activities for children; sidebars on natural features along the trail; detailed driving instructions to reach each trail; and a quick reference chart for selecting the perfect hike. Whether for a day hike, a weekend excursion, or to plan an outdoor vacation, Nature Hikes In The White Mountains will prove a much appreciated, practical, and even inspirational guide!



3. This is a terrific book to use when you are going to hike in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It is rich with information presented in an easily accessible format. Useful introductory chapters tell you how to get the most out of the book, make suggestions for hiking with children, and discuss the natural history of the region, including line illustrations of plants and a few animals. A map shows the location of each of the 50 hikes, which are divided up between the Franconia Notch, Waterville Valley/Squam Lake, Kancamagus, Crawford Notch, Pinkham Notch, North Conway, Evans Notch and North Country regions. An easy-to-read chart lists all the hikes and their difficulty level, distance and whether or not there is a river, a waterfall, a lake or pond, a view, rock ledges, wooden bridge, blueberry bushes or special geological feature on that particular hike. A short introduction to each region details facilities available such as camping sites and visitor centers. Several pages are devoted to each hike, including length, elevation gain, time requirement and difficulty level, a description of the trail, highlights for kids, directions to get there, a map and a photograph. The book concludes with a bibliography and index.

   If you get one book to help you explore the White Mountains, it should be this one, particuarly if you are hiking with children.




4. Being an avid hiker and an avid reader of hiking guides (when it's too cold and white to hike), I purchased several hiking guides to help me plan my recent vacation to New England. This guide is by far the best of that lot.
   
   This guide describes 50 hikes in the White Mountains (45 in northern New Hampshire, 5 in extreme western Maine) divided into 8 regions by geography. Each hike contains detailed directions to the trailhead, a very good map that shows you almost everything along the trail except contour lines, and a description that usually lasts for several pages. The descriptions are divided into two sections: the first just gives directions for walking the trail along with the major highlights, while the second gives lots of information about the scenery (animate and inanimate) you are likely to see on the trail. In fact, this guide gives you more information on the forest and fauna than just about any guide I have ever read. Length of the hikes range from 0.5 miles to 5 miles with the average at 2 or 3 miles. Also, some of the trails can be combined to form longer hikes of up to 10 miles.
   
   This guide emphasizes hiking with kids, so one might think the appropriate audience is somewhat limited. However, as a single man with no kids, I can attest that this guide will be useful to anyone interested in White Mountain hiking. In fact, much of the information "intended for kids" I found to be just good information about the trail's natural setting (as described above). So don't think this guide is one of the specialized type; it can actually be used by a very broad audience.
   
   If there was one drawback to this guide, it would be the significant changes that have occurred on some of these trails since the book went to press. On my personal hiking journeys, I discovered:
   
   1) the trail to Arethusa Falls (highest in NH) has been rerouted and
   2) the Old Man profile in Franconia Notch has collapsed.
   
   So there will need to be an updated version published in a few years. However, the publication date is still fairly current, and trail changes are beyond the author's control.
   
   In summary, this is an excellent guide that anyone interested in White Mountain dayhiking should own. Very highly recommended.



5. This book is perfect for people wanting to do beginner (and even a couple moderate) hikes in the White Mountains. It is very easy to use and detailed. All hiking books should use the format of this book. I highly recommend it.
   
   If you are looking for more agressive hikes or multi-day trips, get the AMC White Mountain Guide with maps.

1 comments about American Map Western Massachusetts Street Atlas: Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire Counties (Western Massachusetts Street Atlas).

1. I've just recently moved up to the northeast and this map has been invaluable to getting around. the spiral bound spine makes it easy to use in the car.

1 comments about Compass American Guides: New Hampshire, 1st Edition (Compass American Guides).

1. I was totally unfamiliar with New Hampshire and what it had to offfer me as a visiter and I found this guide to be an engaging way to learn about the state. Each part of the state has different things to offer, and Mr. Binder's style of writing was both intelligent and witty and never condensended. It's concise yet comprehensive, lacking the excess verbage some guides include to "fill a place out." If you like to "get a sense of place" before you visit it, this book delivers the state of New Hampshire.

1 comments about Fodor's Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire 2006 (Fodor's Gold Guides).

1. This book was very useful. However, it doesn't cover each state in depth, so if you are just visiting one state, you might look for a more comprehensive guide for that state.

No comments about Road Biking Northern New England: A Guide to the Greatest Bike Rides in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine (Road Biking Series).

No comments about Mountain Biking Northern New England.

2 comments about Mountain Bike! New Hampshire (America By Mountain Bike Series).

1. My wife & I bought this book last year to find some new rides close to our home. We finaly made it out to New Hampshire this past weekend and chose a ride listed as "Beginner" in the book. What the book called a nice ride, turned out to be nearly impassible single track riddled with boulders & roots,not to mention swamp & knee deep mudd. We spent the majority of the 12 mile ride actually walking our bikes. By the end of the trail, we were covered in mudd & exhausted. I can't imagine that the authors actually rode this trail before writting this book.



2. Compared to other trail guides I've read, the author of this book is obviously not writing from too much first hand information or did not fully research each ride before writing about them. I would recommend this book only as an overview of SOME of the trails in NH, but would not recommend that anyone head out on a new trail relying only on this book to get you back.

No comments about New Hampshire Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff (Curiosities Series).

No comments about The Story of Elderhostel.

3 comments about White Mountain Wilderness: A Photographic Journey to New Hampshire's Most Rugged Places.

1. I liked young Monkman's historic descriptions of the White Mountains, and his use of old sepia-toned photographs to illustrate the changes over time in this mountainous landscape that is such a favorite of all of ours. I thought the photographic reproduction, done overseas, could have been of higher quality. But, I think his writing overshines these great photos of the wilder parts of this mountain range. I am a former AMC Hutboy (Mizpah '65) and a Ridge Runner for the Saco District, USFS, in 1969. Wish I had still the legs to get to these beautiful places at altitude. Now I am a nature writer for the wildlife of this region, featuring ecological profiles on birds, mammals, and trees on the local radio station and in the Mountain EAR. My two brothers have recorded much of the legend and lore of this area in their newspaper work of 30 years. We have grown back to wildness in NH.



2. This book is basically a photographic journal of the White Mountains. Many photos are old historical sepias and the author compares them alongside modern day photos of the same locations. The book is also a written history of the White Mountains.



3. The book was a Christmas present for my mom and she loved it. The copy that we first got had some pages that were wrinkled (despite the book being wrapped up) but amazon was great about taking it back and sending her another one. Its a perfect coffee table book.