Hiking Guide to Mount Washington & the Presidential Range, 6th Books Review

That's because you might be doing a lot of hiking along the Presidential Range and why would you need to bring along the larger, heavier guidebook to the entire region when all you need is something that covers Mount Washington and the Presidentials in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

The AMC Guide to Mount Washington and the Presidential Range provides comprehensive descriptions of all the trails throughout the Presidential Range.  It begins with an introduction to Mount Washington and the Presidential Range.  The introduction reviews Mount Washington's reputation and conditions and offers advice for novice hikers and climbers new to the area and also reviews regulations in the White Mountain National Forest.

Following the Introduction, the trail descriptions are broken down into two main sections, first are the trails on Mount Washington and the southern peaks of the Presidentials, and then the trails on the northern peaks of the Presidentials and in the Great Gulf.

Just like with the White Mountain Guide, the trail descriptions go into almost minute detail about each of the hikes.  The major features along the trail are there including steep pitches, trail junctions, side trails and more.  You'll also get information on the trail's vertical elevation gains and losses, the mileage and estimated trip times.  In the back of the book is the AMC's map for the Presidential Range. This map shows all of the trails described in the guidebook.

My Take

If you plan on hiking in the Presidential Range of the White Mountains, then you should have a copy of this book, or its larger sibling, the AMC White Mountain Guide because there are no equals to the detail, quality and thoroughness of the AMC Guides.  Either book or both of them will serve you well.  I have both because I like to bring the smaller, Presidential Guide with me when I know I'll just be hiking in that area.  That way I'm not lugging around extra pages that I don't need.