As northern New Hampshire is mostly tree covered, this photograph shows a typical path.

By 1890 almost all of the northern part of the state had had its original tree cover clear felled, mostly to create farmland. This had dire consequences as the rain and winter snow just poured down the hillsides and into the rivers. The topsoil was washed away, leaving most of the farms no longer viable. The rivers silted up so the mills down stream in the southern half of the state struggled to operate, and that was where New Hampshire’s industry and wealth was.

The same was happening in other states, and in 1911 the Weeks Act was passed authorising the Federal Government to buy land in the catchment areas of rivers to control and protect the rivers. Hence many of the National Parks.

What it means is that the current trees are natural regrowth, but none are more than about 120 years old. They are mainly birch, beech and maple with conifers. The mix changes as you ascend, with conifers eventually predominating.

I stayed on the edge of the White Mountains, the highest of which is Mount Washington at 6288 feet. There is a cog railway to near the summit. There are 48 peaks over 4000 ft in New Hampshire, but as the general level of the land is at least 1000 ft, climbing them is equivalent to climbing Scottish Munros, as they are generally climbed from not much above sea level.

I decided I should climb one mountain in the US, and, as luck would have it the nearest (9 miles away) was the second easiest at 4001 ft. It also actually had some views. Apparently you can climb most of the 48 and see nothing but the trees immediately around you.

The summit of Mount Waumbek.

Even midweek with the schools back, there were quite a lot of people on the trail.

About 50 yards along there actually was a view. I think Mount Washington is in the clouds.

Not sure what he is, but he never moved, He was near the viewpoint. He was the only wildlife I saw on the whole walk, though lower down I could hear woodpeckers.

The route was at the same angle and the same terrain all the way up and down. Relatively easy walking but deathly boring. You would need to be dedicated to climb 48 mountains like this, when most don’t even give you any views.

I also walked up Mount Prospect, but that is just a little hillock really.

There is a road all the way up, but I chose to walk it (about 800 ft ascent) and walk back down through the woods.

Mount Prospect is also known as the Weeks State Park. John W Weeks was brought up on a farm at the bottom of the hill, then became a wealthy Massachusetts lawyer. By 1890 he realised what was going on and campaigned for the Act that bears his name. In the meantime he gradually bought up all of Mount Prospect and built himself a summer house on the summit, with a stone fire tower which is the best viewpoint of the White Mountains.

View towards Mount Washington and the Presidential Range

Mount Waumbek is at about one o’clock in this photo

Apart from mountains and smaller hills, there are trails to ponds (lakes) and longer distance routes in the flatter areas. Originally there were many railways, mostly now abandoned. Most can be walked or mountain biked. Near towns they are often tarmacked.

This is Cherry Pond in Pondicherry Wildlife Refuge. I walked about 4 miles and also visited its smaller brother Little Cherry Pond.

As ponds are in low lying places, the ground can be boggy, so boardwalks are necessary in a few places.

A small part of the route was alongside this disused railway. Actually the whole line was a long trail of over 20 miles, though walking or cycling it would have been hard work.

Another option is walking along a river. These walks are not often very long as I think the rivers would have been the original easier routes rather than walking. They tend to be by resorts or to waterfalls.

This was typical near a ski resort in the White Mountains. Almost all the actual walking was slightly away from the river bank on forest paths, though these had many tree roots, they were less rocky than in the hills. When I arrived the rivers were quite low. I imagine this one is a raging torrent when the snow melts in Spring.

I also ventured to the extreme north, close to the Canadian border. We had had a couple of very wet days, so I was hopeful that waterfalls would be in reasonable flow.

I took a trail from the dam of the unimaginatively named Second Connecticut Lake (a reservoir) to a waterfall. This is near the start of the Connecticut river, which lower down forms much of the boundary between New Hampshire and Vermont.

I was well away from any tourist area, and this trail was much narrower and less tended. I still met 5 people whilst walking the 3 miles out and back walk.

The Cohos Trail runs for 150 miles from the White Mountains to the Canadian border. I doubt many people walk the entire length.

These signs were at regular intervals along the path, which mostly followed very close to the river, and the banks were steep.

For a small part the river widened out and I saw 5 fishermen in total. They were hoping to catch salmon or trout, but the day after heavy rain is not a good time to fish. The space for cars at the dam was only large enough for 6, and mostly they will be used by fishermen. One could hunt there as well, but I was walking through a fairly narrow stretch of forest between the river and the (little used) road, so I doubt anyone ever actually hunts on this part.

This was the waterfall, though to me it seemed more like rapids. I gather that in dry conditions there is actually a vertical fall of water.

All the length of this walk was the sound of rushing water.

This was the normal view of the river.

This very small squirrel scampered up the tree and sat eating a nut. The only wildlife I saw were a few squirrels.

The next day I travelled south down the Connecticut River to look at covered bridges (which will be dealt with in a later post). The river was about 200 yards or more wide, only 70 or 80 miles south of the waterfall.

I was in need of some exercise, and noticed that I was near the Appalachian Trail and found a 3 mile up and back walk nearby.

This was a lovely walk up about 500 ft through somewhat more open woodland. It ended suddenly at the top of a cliff.

The trees are just starting to change colour

Looking left from the previous photo

And looking right

I met 2 couples and a man on his own with big packs, doing multi day walks on this part of the 2000+ mile trail. One couple was French and were doing a 10 day walk. There is little accommodation and very few places to buy food, so packs are large and heavy. I think the walking is mostly quite easy, but the need to carry a large pack rules it out for many people.

At the viewpoint, the route turned right and followed the cliff edge.

I move to Maine next. I am expecting the walking to be similar, but the hunting season is about to start, so I have purchased a ‘flame orange’ gilet and beanie to make sure they can see me both in Maine and Vermont.