Presidential Range and Mount Washington Approach

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. North Conway

   North Conway is the busy heart of the Mount Washington Valley, a small town of about two thousand people that fills at weekends with skiers, hikers, leaf-peepers and shoppers. The reason is the setting: the valley is a broad, flat basin ringed by the high, rocky peaks of the White Mountains, with the Saco River winding slowly through meadows, and the great granite cliffs of Cathedral Ledge and White Horse Ledge rising straight above the town. Mount Washington, the highest summit in the northeastern United States at 1,917 metres, lies to the northwest, and is famous for having some of the worst weather on earth.

   Read the complete North Conway write-up.

2. 2. Gorham

   Gorham sits where the Androscoggin River bends out of the Great North Woods and meets the northern end of the White Mountains, in a small, plain-spoken railroad town that has never tried very hard to be pretty. It does not need to. Look south on a clear day and the Presidential Range stands over the rooftops, with Mount Washington, at 6,288 feet the high point of the Northeast, wearing its own weather like a hat.

   Read the complete Gorham write-up.

3. 3. Crawford Notch

   Crawford Notch is a deep gash in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, a glacier-carved, U-shaped valley that squeezes between steep granite walls, with the road, a railway line and the headwaters of the Saco River all running through the gap at about 580 metres. The cliffs on either side rise hundreds of metres, streaked with waterfalls, and the whole setting has a drama unusual for the eastern United States. US 302 runs through the notch, a well-surfaced road with gentle gradients and moderate curves, and it is among the most scenic in New England.

   Read the complete Crawford Notch write-up.

4. 4. Back to North Conway

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete North Conway write-up.