White Mountain Guide: AMC's Comprehensive Guide To Hiking Trails In The White Mountain National Forest

This is a must-own guide for anybody who hikes in the White Mountains. It has detailed descriptions of all trails in the White Mountains National Forest and lists information such as book time, distance, and elevation gain. I have found the information to be up-to-date and accurate. Along with the included maps, this book has become an essential part of my process of planning hikes. I recently used it to plan an amazing 23 mile dayhike to Bondcliff, Mt. Bond, and West Bond! This book has been invaluable in my quest to summit all of NH's 4000 footers. One important thing to note is that the included maps, while a great planning tool, are paper. Thus, make sure you also have a set of waterproof, tear-proof maps to pack on your bag when you hike.

I admit - anything about the White Mountains is already a winner in my book, and as far as I'm concerned, the AMC can do no wrong. I guess in this instance I'm not the most objective reviewer. But this book is truly perfect! Really! I swear! This most recent guide is fabulous, as always. The trail descriptions are accurate, very detailed, and the three included maps (front and back) are easy to read and follow. I used them just a few weeks ago during a 5-day trip in the Whites, and I was very pleased. There is a lot of general info, as well, aside from the trail descriptions - history (natural and local), weather, hiking safety info, etc... The book is large, so I ended up copying only the pages I wanted to carry along in my pack. Perhaps they might want to think about converting to a ring binder book, as the CT Blue Trails books do: Connecticut Walk Book West: The Guide to the Blue-Blazed Hiking Trails of Western Connecticut, Including the Metacomet and Mattabesett Trails . I still copy those pages anyway (and enlarge them), but the binder makes it easier to accomplish that. Plus you can insert and keep notes, clippings, other info securely within the book. My only recommendation is that they just do away with the paper maps and start including the waterproof ones with the guide instead. One waterproof map on its own is 10 bucks at the AMC @ Pinkham Notch. So basically you might end up re-buying the maps. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy just includes the waterproof ones with their guides, which is smart. I'd prefer not to have duplicate maps. Anyway, this is THE definitive White Mountain guide. Accept no imitations!

The White Mountain Guide remains as detailed and specific as ever. I recently updated from the 24th edition (1987) to the 29th (2011) and was not disappointed with the White Mountains content, which is specific and helpful. However, two provisos given the above-stated excellence: 1. AMC has apparently given up on portability. My 1987 edition was pocket size with thin paper: clearly designed for the trail if need be. Not so the 2011 edition. It is frankly bulky, even heavy, and unnecessarily (to my mind) large. I will not be taking this book on the trail with me! 2. The coverage of the book has decreased since 1987. All trails south of Squam Lake (and some to the north) require purchase of a separate book. Crowd pleasing mountains Cardigan and Monadnock no longer feature in the guide. Yet the new edition is much larger and heavier than in 1987! I would urge AMC to reconsider the guide's portability- every ounce counts on the trail- and reconsider excluding the most popular hikes south of Squam Lake. Otherwise, I may stick to my handy 24th edition!

Could not wait for this to come out. The trail info, the maps and the book are just what one needs to plan that adventure to the whites. The book now has new info that captures all the changes since the major washout from Irene in 2011. Lots of trails were impacted and the book has the new info. The write ups are well written and key to planning out a day hike, overnighter, a presidential traverse, a pemi traverse, or the dreaded Owl's Head death march. If you hike the whites and have just one book to pick from, this is the one. Steve Smith can sign it if you visit his book shop in Lincoln; great guy and an ambassador to the Whites.

This book is excellent for anyone hiking the white mountains, beginner or expert. We recently started doing the 48 4,000 footers and wanted something that we could always resort to for information. This package was the perfect solution, not only does it have information about every trail in the book, the maps that come with it are awesome and really helpful. The book has very descriptive instructions on how to find trailheads too which is very convenient. I recommend this book for anyone that is doing multiple hikes in the whites, great resource. Every time we hike we bring this book with us. It's easy to use as well.

I was torn as to whether or not to buy this guide as I was already purchasing AMC's Best Day Hikes in the White Mountains and Waterfalls of the White Mountains. Wouldn't these be enough? I went with a used copy and bought it anyway. Boy, am I happy I did! This book is amazing. The maps alone are worth the price. The book is small enough to carry in a pack (which was a concern) and the trail descriptions are great. I am heading to the White Mountains in 4 days and I have already marked the hikes I want to take and found them on the maps. I can't recommend this guide enough. I'm sure it will perform even better on the trail.

Held out updating my very well worn copy because I thought the 30th edition was due this year as this 29th edition was published in 2012. Yet I came across this regarding the the Dry River Trail: "...closed in 2011 and reopened in 2014." Apparently they do indeed have other 'printing updates' - though I could not find any references to them. If you love to hike the White Mountains, this is your BIBLE! Always full of pertinent info and great maps which are available updated separately. I'm waiting on the Crawford Notch pre-order due to be released in a week or two.

Awesome book, complete guide with detailed hikes, routes, etc. Also includes information for trails if you visit them during the winter months. The only thing that could make this better is if the 3 maps that came with it were weatherproofed.

Heading to the hills in September and the book with it's maps is just what I was looking for.

I can't imagine there being a better trail guide than this one for the White Mountains. Accurately research and easy to read. Four maps included.

A lot of information about the Whites. If your'e planning to do some hikes this region that's a must. The maps are also very nice.

A great guide to hiking or trail running in the White Mountains