These are my favorite New England hiking books: 1. AMC's White Mountain Guide 2. 100 Classic Hikes of the Northeast by Jared Gange - Jared has also written separate guides to NH & VT. 3. Wandering Through the White Mountains by Steven Smith - Steve has a nice little bookstore in Lincoln, NH (the gateway to the Kancamagus). His book has great lists of the best views, etc. 4. 50 Hikes in the White Mountains by Daniel Doan. Dan was from the old school.
Here are a few more of my favorite hikes: 1. Mt. Kineo in ME for a great view of Moosehead Lake - you have to paddle a mile across Moosehead to get there or you could pay someone to taxi you over. 2. Eagle Cliff, Red Hill or Gunstock Mt. for excellent views of Lake Winnipesauke. 3. Mt. Morgan & Percival for views of Squam Lake 4. Mt. Pisgah for the unforgettable views of Lake Willoughby in VT. My favorite backpacks: 1. The hundred mile wilderness along the AT from Monson to Abol Bridge. I got a shuttle ride from the legendary Mr. Shaw who owns Shaw's boarding house in Monson that provides refuge for all the thru-hikers. I did it in August of 2000 and met some really cool thru-hikers with their crazy trail names when most are finishing up their 2,000 mile hike (I was "Mike the Argonaut"). The pristine lakes like Nahmakanta and Rainbow are incredible. 2. About a 30 mile hike from Nesowadnehunk to Roaring Brook in Baxter State Park, ME. Lake Wassataquoik is great! We set up camp at Russell Pond where you can canoe and do a lot of side hikes then on to the mysterious and extremely remote to Davis Pond through the Northwest Basin. Check out the weird "sheepbacks". 3. A 35 miler through the Presidential Dry River Wilderness in WMNF. Take the Dry River Trail to Lake of the Clouds and then on to Mt. Washington via the Crawford Path where you can pig out at the restaurant and gross out the tourists. Return via the fabulous Davis Path across Mt. Isolation, Mt. Davis, Stairs Mt., and Mt. Resolution. On my list is the Monroe Skyline in VT which I'll do one of these years. As far as the hundred highest list, in retrospect if I had known what it was going to be like in advance I probably would have only done the 65 4000 footers. The other 35 peaks in the hundred highest list is mostly an exercise in map and compass work. The list mania has gone to the absurd extreme. I met a couple who were doing all the 3000 footers! Now I heard there's even a list for all the 2000 footers! Hey how low can you go? I like to design my own hikes now and return to some of my favorites. Mike -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Marcboston Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2009 12:02 PM To: ENTSTrees Subject: [ENTS] Re: Eastern and western summits Love this discussion and I have to thank you Mike! You just refined my hiking list! I heard that Mt. Carrigain is a great hike, I cannot find much information about it. On Jul 30, 10:52 am, [email protected] wrote: > Mike, > > Thanks. Excellent descriptions. I had to nod both forward and back in approval and then shake it to disapproval on the comparison of northern vs southern Appalachians. I too like the open, above timberline vistas of the higher peaks of the northland. I also am drawn to the big forest look that we enjoy in the southern Appalachians. When I'm in one environment, I sometimes think of the other. As a native Tennessee ridge runner, the southern Appalachians will always occupy a special place in my heart. But as a New England transplant, I never tire of Thoreau's compelling descriptions. I'm thankful that we have both mountain environments as I suspect are you and others. > > I once read a book about Mount Washington by a professor who touted the "superiority" of that worthy mountain over the slightly higher "tops" of the Smokies. I saw red, mumbled a few oaths, and then thought better of it. The good professor must not have had an eye for champion trees or luxuriant forest vegetation. He was interested in the glacial cirques, the alpine tundra, and other features of Washington, which it has in spades. We don't see those kinds of features in the southern Apps. What we get in spades in the southern Apps are its unexcelled, temperate deciduous forests and unbelievable eastern hemlocks and red spruces. In terms of mass, the largest of the southern Appalachian hemlocks are double the biggest of what we have. There are also small regions with outstanding white pines in the southern Apps, although the volume difference between the biggest down there and up here is small. Frasier fir, the southern counterpart of the balsam fir, is not a big tree. > > In terms of peak bagging, the South has a club devoted to climbing the 6,000-footers. There are 40 of them in the southern Apps that are named and qualify as distinct peaks on peak bagger criteria. I've climbed most at one time or another. > > Bob > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Mike Leonard" <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2009 7:31:47 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: [ENTS] Re: Eastern and western summits > > Bob, > > As a veteran of the New England Hundred Highest List, these are my favorite hikes in New England : > > 1. Katahdin via the Knife Edge > > 2. Presidential Range - the 22 mile " death march " includes all 8 peaks but only the hardy can survive that. I split it up into two hikes: Up to Madison, then Adams, Jefferson, and Washington and down the famous Tuckerman Ravine. Then the Southern Presidentials can be done from Amm onoosuc Ravine to Monroe , Franklin, Eisenhower, and Jackson. Sun and I climbed the steep Great Gulf headwall to Washington. > > 3. Franconia Ridge, WMNF - the best day hike is up the Falling Water Trail to Lincoln and Lafayette. > > 4. Traverse of the Bonds in the Pemi gewasset Wilderness - Bondcliff is not for those with vertigo! > > 5. The wild Mahoosuc Range including Mahoosuc Notch and Carlo-Goose Eye. > > 6. Up the Precipice Ladder Trail and down the Beehive Ladder Trail in Acadia National Park. Beech Cliff ladder trail is also awesome. The t rails from Dorr Mt. to Cadillac Mt. also deserve mention. Acadia is a hiker ' s paradise. > > 7. North Brother, South Brother, Mt. Coe, and the bushwhack to Fort Mt. in Baxter State Park. > > 8. Traverse of the Bigelow Range in Maine. > > 9. Mt. Mansfield in Vermont is a very interesting mountain to explore with all the different rock formations. Honorable mention to Camel ' s Hump. > > 10. Mt. Carrigain - this remote mountain in WMNF is spectacular. > > Other great hikes are: Welch & Dickey; Chocura; Middle Sugarloa f , Mt. Willard; Baldface Traverse; and Cari bou in WMNF. OK in MA you have the Mt. Tom Range, Holyoke Range, Mt. Sugarloaf and my favorite from Sages Ravine to Mt. Race - Mt. Everett. > > I ' ve only been to the High Peaks in the Adirondacks once. I climbed Giant Mt. and did the famous Al gonquin loop and bagged Iriquois, Wright, and Algonquin. Backpacker mag said those were the two best in the High Peaks area so I did them. I don ' t think I ' ll ever have the time to bag all the Dak ' s 46ers but next month Sun and I are going to the St. Regis Canoe Area to do the famous " Route of the 7 carries " and I think I ' ll try and bag Mt. Marcy. I ' d like to the Gothics some day too. > > Last year we spent a week down the southern Apps. In the Smokies we did the Charlie Bunion Trail which was pretty good and then I hiked the cool Alum Trail to Mt. Le Conte and also hiked the Chimneys which is also not good for those with vertigo! I heard Gregory was cool when the azaleas are blooming too but it was too early. In Shenandoah we bagged the fabulous White Oak Canyon with its cool waterfalls and then I hiked the real interesting Old Rag. We hiked up as far as we could on Seneca but I didn ' t have time to do the North Fork or Mt. Rogers which I read were two other premier mountains. > > I couldn ' t believe the size of some of the trees I saw in the Smokies - huge red spruce, tuliptrees, oak, and unfortunately big hemlock skeletons. > > But with all due respect to the southern Apps , I ' ll take the mountains of northern New England any day of the week! I like being above timber line! > > I could also compile a list of the lousiest hikes - like some of the bushwhacks on the hundred highest list - Vose Spur and Scar Ridge were especially brutal as was the final one on the Quebec border - the " Unknown Peak " . All I used was a shitty map and compass - on the way back I cut across a bit of Canada! I laugh when I hear of yuppie hikers getting lost. I call them " IOWA ' s - Idiots Out Walking Around! > > Mike > > -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [ mailto:[email protected] ] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2009 8:41 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [ENTS] Re: Eastern and western summits > > Mike, > > Soooper shots of Katahdin. What other mountain hikes do you especially like? > > Later this month Monica and I will return to the Catskills to climb Slide, Hunter, Blackhead, and Panther Mtns. The camera will be working overtime. Beyond the superb scenery, I want to begin real photographic documentation of the Catskill old growth. Ac c ording to Dr. Michael Kudish, the foremost expert on OG in the Catskills, there is around 64,000 acres of first forest. Most of it is higher elevation spruce, fir, maple, birch, and cherry. Most hikers don't realize their walking in a first forest environ m ent. > > In the 1800s. the Catskills were hammered unmercifully by the lumber barons. Virtually all of the big, virgin hemlocks were cut for the tanneries. Unfortunately, these great mountains must continue enduring the insults by being named for the rapacious barons. Hunter, N Y is an example. Fortunately, some of the best peaks have more benign names like Slide, Cornell, Kaaterskill High Peak, Indian Head, Plateau, Black Dome, Blackhead, Thomas Cole, etc. that speak to a more refined imagination and appreciation of the features of the surrounding terrain. > > Bob > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Leonard" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2009 6:10:07 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [ENTS] Re: Eastern and western sum mits > > I agree James. Katahdin and the Knife Edge is the best hike East of the Mississippi! > > I did it again last year with my wife Sun. > > First Pic is the view of the peak kayaking from Togue Pond. > > Second is the Knife Edge. Sun is the little figure in the l ower right. > > Mike > > -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [ mailto:[email protected] ] On Behalf Of JamesRobertSmith Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 7:11 PM To: ENTSTrees Subject: [ENTS] Re: Eastern and western summits > > Ka tahdin is my all-time favorite eastern peak. And I've hiked a bunch > > of them. The only major eastern mountain ranges I've never set foot in > > are the Catskills and Adirondacks. And the Daks are very high on my > > list to someday hike. If I can just get around to doing it before I > > get too old. > > I hiked Katahdin a few years ago. I've hiked pretty much all of the > > major southern peaks (with a few exceptions) and several of the big > > peaks in New Hampshire (including Mount Washington). But Katahdin is > > king, in my estimation. Yes, there are higher peaks, but it holds its > > own in pure relief against many other major eastern mountains, plus it > > is so isolated. We did a killer hike: > > Entrance to Chimney Pond. Cathedral Trail to Baxter Peak. Knife's Edge > > to H elon Taylor. Helon Taylor back to the Chimney Pond Trial and out > > to our car. > > My thigh muscles screamed for two days. > > On Jul 28, 4:08 pm, Marcboston <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Bob, I really enjoy your mountain submissions! I just got ba ck ( 2 > > > weeks ago) from Baxter State Park. Katahdin is one truly great east > > > coast mountain, not sure if you have been up there but it worth the > > > trip. Though smaller than Washington it is a world apart. I found it > > > to be a tougher climb and much more "frontier" like. A very steep > > > mountain with a superb alpine zone. The knife edge is unlike > > > anything I have seen here in New England. > > > On Jul 28, 12:09 pm, [email protected] wrote: > > > > ENTS, > > > > Oops! My s tatement, " The second and fourth images show eastern mountain scenes." obviously was meant to be western mountain scenes. Alas, as dementia sets in, I make more and more of these goofs. > > > > Bob > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > > > From: [email protected] > > > > To: [email protected], [email protected], "Sarah Belchetz-Swenson" <[email protected]> > > ... > > read more >- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
