Turn Left at the VFW
If you spent four years in Hanover and never hiked up Mt. Washington but want to now, Daniel Doan's other book, Fifty Hikes in the White Mountains, is the guidebook to buy. But if you already know the popular routes and if you want to avoid the packs of Cub Scouts on patrol from summer camp or classmates huffing their way up the standard trails after reunion, Doan's latest book. Fifty More Hikes inNew Hampshire, is the Baedeker to have.
Doan offers a selection of ten hikes in southern New Hampshire, ten more in the central part of the state, 25 in the White Mountains, and five overnight backpacks - all routes less traveled by. He points you toward places with names like The Uncanoonucs (translated as "The Woman's Breasts"), Lovewell Mountain, Arethusa Falls/Franken-stein Cliff, and Nancy and Norcross Ponds. The trips vary from a beach walk out to Odiorne Point (distance, two miles; walking time, one and a half hours; vertical rise, 60 feet) to a five-day excursion into the Wild River Valley (distance, 21 miles; walking time, 17.5 hours; vertical rise, 5,310 feet).
Doan knows his territory - he grew up in Orford - and he gives the same homey kinds of directions for finding the trail that you might obtain from a native of North Dorchester or Goffstown. Directing you to the North Peak of the Uncanoonucs, for example, he says, "About .2 mile from NH 114 you pass the VFW hall on your right. Turn left at the next fork. It soon takes you past a farmhouse and large barn on the right. Just beyond, begin to watch for a stone, also on the right, displaying a painted white circle."
Written in an easy, readable style, in contrast to the terser Appalachian Mountain Club guides, Doan's description of each trip includes a photograph of what you might see when you get there, a map, an account of what the trail is like, and, best of all, notes on human and natural history. The introduction tells where to get maps, what sort of cothing and equipment to bring, and what to do if you get caught in a storm. If you plan on visiting New Hampshire, it's a book worth having - even if you live in New Jersey.
FIFTY MORE HIKESIN NEW HAMPSHIREBy Daniel Doan '36New Hampshire Publishing, 1978168 pp. Hardcover, $12.50; soft, $6.95.
When he isn't mountaineering in the Cascades,Daniel Nelson is an assistant editor of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE.
