Customer Reviews

AMC's Best Day Hikes in the White Mountains: Four-Season Guide to 50 of the Best Trails in the White Mountain National Forest

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is an updated version of the previous "Nature Hikes In the White Mountains, 2nd: Great Family Hikes in the Heart of the White Mountain National Forest." The older version had a definite focus on kids & family. For example, each trip description had a "What's in it for kids" section that was very helpful. You have to dig deeper for that in this version.

This new version greatly improved the "at-a-glance" trip-planner chart toward the front. It was frustrating that the old chart excluded essential information such as trip numbers corresponding to the guide map, estimated hike time and elevation change. All of this you had to pencil in for yourself from the main descriptions. These are all now included, along with icons indicating if the trip has waterfalls, views, wildlife, wildflowers, steepness, is family oriented, suitability for skiing or snowshoeing, etc.

I ordered the old version (out of print) from a used shop and it was our bible on a recent multi-day vacation with our 7-year-old budding hiker. I highly recommend that version, but you can probably enjoy the same results by focusing on the new at-a-glance chart and picking the kid friendly trips. That being said, in this new version, Crystal Cascade, Glen Ellis Falls, the Flume at Franconia Notch and Diana's Baths (all VERY kid oriented trips that we thoroughly enjoyed) are relegated to a general section on natural attractions/walks and are NOT on the new guide map! As a new visitor, I probably would have missed these altogether since the trip descriptions were de-emphasized by being relegated to the back of the book in this way. I made the right decision to leave the new version at home, but purists probably would not have minded missing these as they were a bit over-touristed.

So, mixed results depending on your needs. A great set of guides overall.

This is an extremely helpful and easy to use guide for beginner/casual White Mountain hikers.

All of the 50 hikes are marked on a map, followed by a chart that gives the pertinent info for each route (distance, elevation gain, level of difficulty, and whether it has great views, waterfalls, is good for kids, good for wildlife or wild flowers, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, or trail running), all broken down by region on the map. So if you know where you want to be, roughly, you're about 1 minute away from being able to pick the hike that's best for you!

Each hike also has a 2-5 page description with a short summary, detailed directions to the trailhead, a description of the trail and the hike itself, and nature notes of various flora and fauna to look for and interpret.

Maybe most importantly, these are great hikes! At present I've done 5 of them, and 4 were truly excellent and beautiful. The one that was mediocre was to a waterfall but there hadn't been a lot of rain and it was too late in the season for snow run-off, so honestly that's my own fault for going at the wrong time, it's probably excellent when more water's flowing.

So for the casual hiker, here's why I say this is worth the money:

1) The ease of having so much information all in one place is awesome. Forget sifting through websites, hitting the back-button to compare this one to that one, or being in your car or otherwise away from internet access.

2) Mediocre or disappointing trails appear to have been neatly and effectively filtered out, so that you can confidently expect that the hikes in this book will be worth your time and energy.

*There IS a drawback to the book!* And that is that hikes beyond a certain level of difficulty are not included. The longest hike included is to Carter Notch Hut, at 7.6 miles round trip, and only 4 of the 50 are over 5 miles. Most are between 2-5, with a good number even shorter. The biggest elevation gain is 2100 feet, with only 8 total breaking 1500. That means that those looking for bigger hikes or more challenge will have to look elsewhere -- even popular hikes like Mt Chocorua aren't included, and Mt Washington is WAY out of the question.

So this *IS* an absolutely GREAT guide that I whole-heartedly recommend for it's intended purpose and audience, and therefore worthy of 5 stars in my opinion. It just isn't isn't right for everybody and every situation.