Set 1 of My Favorite Hiking Trails in the White Mountains
Cannon Mountain Rim Trail, Flume Gorge, Bridal Falls, Lost River Gorge and Caves, and the Livermore, NH Ghost Town
Bob Jensen at Trinity University 

The most famous lengthy hiking trails in Northern New England:

Northern Part of the Appalachian Trail ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_Trail
Portion of the Appalachian Trail in New Hampshire --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_Trail_by_state#New_Hampshire

New Hampshire has 161 miles (259 km) of the trail. The New Hampshire AT is nearly all within the White Mountain National Forest. The easier southern portion of the trail, from Hanover to Glencliff, passes over Velvet Rocks, Moose Mountain, Smarts Mountain, and Mount Cube. It then ascends Mount Moosilauke and enters the high peaks region of the Whites. For northbound thru-hikers, it is the beginning of the main challenges that go beyond enduring distance and time: in New Hampshire and Maine, rough or steep ground are more frequent, and alpine conditions are found near summits and along ridges.

The trail runs completely above treeline from the summit of Mount Pierce to the north side of the cone of Mt. Madison, a distance of about 12 miles (19 km). The AT passes over the summits of 16 of the 48 four-thousand footers of New Hampshire: Moosilauke, South and North Kinsman, Lincoln, Lafayette, Garfield, South Twin, Jackson, Pierce, Washington (the highest point of the AT north of Tennessee), Madison, Wildcats D and A, Carter Dome, South and Middle Carter. It comes close to the summits of 8 other of the 48 four-thousand footers: Liberty, Galehead, Zealand, Eisenhower, Monroe, Jefferson, Adams, and Moriah. A series of comfortable huts is maintained along parts of the NH trail by the Appalachian Mountain Club. In New Hampshire, the Dartmouth Outing Club maintains the AT from the Vermont border to Mount Moosilauke, with the AMC maintaining the remaining miles through the state. The trail passes through the towns of Hanover and Gorham, which have grocery stores and are accessible by public transportation (Dartmouth Coach and Concord Trailways) from Boston. Concord Trailways also has bus service to Lincoln (several miles off the AT) and AMC Pinkham Notch. During the summer season, AMC runs a shuttle service to Crawford Notch and Franconia Notch.

A tradition of thru-hikers Mooning the Cog has developed on Mount Washington.[

 

Portion of the Appalachian Trail in Maine --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_Trail_by_state#Maine

The Long Trail that traverses Vermont from north to south ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Trail

There are thousands of other trails in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The easiest trail is the Rim Trail on the top of Cannon Mountain. This is easy because a skiing tram takes you to the top of the mountain in the summer as well as in the winter. This is easy because it is also a short trail that begins at the restaurant on the top of Cannon Mountain.

 

This is part of the White Mountain's Kinsman range as viewed from my desk (along with some wild turkeys)
Franconia Notch is a mountain pass between Mt. Lafayette and Canno9ng Mountain (about 10 miles from our cottage)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franconia_Notch
Franconia Notch State Park --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franconia_Notch_State_Park

This is the view above the clouds from our driveway

This is the tram in ski season (about 10 miles from my house)
There are also a number of chair lifts
Cannon is known for its steep trails that intimidate novice skiers
Hometown boy Bode Miller says if you can ski Cannon you can ski anywhere

This is a tram photo that I took in August when daughter Maria and I went up to hike the Rim Trail

Views from the Rim Trail

I'm glad that these other hikers hung on to their little boys since there are no guard rails on the trail

Here's part of the Omega Trail (straight up and down) that we did not climb on Cannon Mountain

Another hike that is beautiful in Franconia Notch State Park is the Flume Gorge about 15 miles from our cottage
This is longer thaN the Rim Trail but is made easy with lots and lots of wooden steps
And there is fast-flowing water crashing on rocks along with water falls
http://nhstateparks.org/explore/state-parks/flume-gorge.aspx

A longer and well known trail further from the main road is the Trail to Bridal Falls
On the west side of Cannon Mountain (about 2.5 miles)
http://nhmountainhiking.com/bridal.html

The most famous resident of our Sugar Hill-Franconia community for over two decades was film star (with two Academy Awards) Bette Davis (1908-1989). She bought the Butternut Farm near the Peckett's-On-Sugar Hill Resort. Her mother Ruthie moved into the farm house. Soon afterward Bette bought a dairy barn in Vermont and had it carted in pieces across the mountains to her farm. She then reconstructed the barn into a magnificent home called Butternut Lodge. The second picture above shows Bette Davis as a young woman in 1940 when she lived on Butternut Farm. This is when she married her Sugar Hill neighbor Arthur Farnsworth in 1940. In 1943 she was investigated and suspected but never charged with his mysterious death.
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2007/tidbits070801.htm

After he died, she purportedly placed a bronze memorial plaque on the rock at the bottom of a mountain brook where Farnsworth rescued her in 1939 before they were married. This plaque still exists and is shown in the photograph below. In order to meet Arthur Farnsworth there's some suspicion that she staged getting lost (she was an actress). In any case she was "rescued" by Farnsworth in 1939, and that is the reason for the commenorative plaque in a stream on the way to Bridal Falls. Frarnsworth at the time was the Manager of the Pecketts Resort quite near Bette's Butternut Farm.

This plaque is under the clear water of the stream.

Below are some pictures of nearby Bridal Falls along the trail

 

Not Far from Franconia Notch State Park
is the Lost River Gorge and Boulder Caves about 20 miles from our cottage
http://www.findlostriver.com/

 

When the topic of ghost towns comes up, most Americans think of abandoned mining towns in the western U.S.
But New England also has ghost towns, most of which are abandoned timbering towns
One such ghost town on the Sawyer Pond Hiking Trail is Livermore, NH
It is now part of the White Mountains National Forest
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livermore,_New_Hampshire

Dr. Peter Crane wrote his doctoral dissertation on Livermore.
It's the most comprehensive work on the subject. It may be hard to find but well worth the effort.
 http://whitemountainhistory.org/Livermore.html

Forrest Seavey's Audio Slide Show of Livermore
http://vimeo.com/7132826
This is well done by Forrest!

Photos of the nearby Sawyer River Railroad
http://photos.whitemountainhistory.org/GalleryThumbnails.aspx?gallery=267707

More of Bob Jensen's Pictures and Stories
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm

WhiteMountainHistory.org --- http://whitemountainhistory.org/
Over 70 Historical Photographs --- http://photos.whitemountainhistory.org/AlbumHomeView.aspx

Blogs of White Mountain Hikers (many great photographs) ---
http://www.blogger.com/profile/02242409292439585691

Especially note the archive of John Compton's blogs at the bottom of the page at
http://1happyhiker.blogspot.com/

Question
Are their trails in our White Mountains of New Hampshire that have ice in summer as well as winter?
See "The Ice Gulch, Would I do it Again" by John Compton, August 5, 2011 ---
http://1happyhiker.blogspot.com/2011_08_05_archive.html

Okay, you might ask, is there really ice in the Ice Gulch, even in August? Yes, there is! The next photo shows one small patch of ice. There were many larger patches, but they were at the bottom of some of those deep gaps that I mentioned above. I took some photos, but none of them really turned out, even with using a flash to illuminate these dark, dank, deep spots.

 White Mountain News --- http://www.whitemtnews.com/

 

On May 14, 2006 I retired from Trinity University after a long and wonderful career as an accounting professor in four universities. I was generously granted "Emeritus" status by the Trustees of Trinity University. My wife and I now live in a cottage in the White Mountains of New Hampshire ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm

Bob Jensen's Blogs --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/JensenBlogs.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called New Bookmarks --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Tidbits --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Fraud Updates --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
Bob Jensen's past presentations and lectures --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/resume.htm#Presentations   

Our address is 190 Sunset Hill Road, Sugar Hill, New Hampshire
Our cottage was known as the Brayton Cottage in the early 1900s
Sunset Hill is a ridge overlooking with New Hampshire's White Mountains to the East
and Vermont's Green Mountains to the West

 

 

Bob Jensen's Threads --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm

Bob Jensen's Home Page --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/