How to Hike the White Mountain Guide
Full video description can be found here
Resources:
White Mountain Trails Objective Page
White Mountain Guide 31st edition with maps
Waterproof Maps for 31st edition
Prospect Mountain Northern NH Map
Pondicherry Wildlife Refuge Map
Facebook Groups:
White Mountain Red Lining Facebook Group
4000’ers of New Hampshire Facebook Group #2
Weather, Trail Conditions, Road Closures:
Tips:
Not every trail is included on the map set that comes with the guidebook. Some of the missing trails are included in the links above but you will need to be sure to read through the guidebook and locate maps or routes online for a few trails that I haven’t linked above (Garfield Falls, Diamond Peaks, Magalloway Trails, Appalachian Trail west of Moosilauke, Sunday Mountain). For those trails I either used Gaia or GPS routes I located online.
The most accurate version of the spreadsheets that we all use to track our progress are on the Facebook group linked above. I highly recommend using this spreadsheet. The last time I checked it, it was completely accurate based on the 31st edition of the guidebook for the major trails with mileage attached. Any side trails that are to views, camp/tentsites, water sources that are noted in the descriptions with a distance attached to them are meant to be hiked as part of red lining however they are not all listed in the spreadsheet. Hence why you are expected to use the guidebook as your primary resource, not the spreadsheets.
The maps have overlapping information on them so make sure you study the maps as you’re planning routes because the same trails appear on more than one map in some regions.
There are several trails that you will be hiking more than once as part of this journey. Embrace it because there is no avoiding it. Don’t focus on the percentage complete, focus on enjoying the journey.
The simplest way to complete this project, that I found at least, is to either photograph the map sections and highlight routes using different color markers or highlighters, or to use Gaia in conjunction with the guidebook to build routes. When I first planned this project I didn’t use Gaia at all. Now I use it in conjunction with the maps and guidebook. Take each section of the guidebook and work on just that section to create routes. It’s much easier if you do this in small chunks because it’s a lot to take in if you don’t do it this way. Photos of my routes and how I chunked together the trail names on the spreadsheets:
