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This article is about the White Mountains of New Hampshire. For other White Mountains, please see White Mountains
(disambiguation).
The White Mountains are a mountain range that
covers about a quarter of the state of New Hampshire in the United States, and are the most rugged mountains in New England. The range is heavily visited due to its proximity to Boston and New York City.
Most of the area is public land, including the White Mountain National Forest as well as a number of state parks. Its
most famous peak is Mount
Washington, which at 6,288 feet is the highest mountain in the Northeastern U.S. and home to the fastest winds (231 mph)
measured on the surface of the earth. Mount Washington is one of a group called the Presidential Range, all named after U.S. presidents and other prominent Americans.
Looking south on the Franconia Ridge Trail
The range included the Old Man of the Mountain, a
rock formation on Cannon
Mountain that resembled the craggy profile of a man until it fell in May 2003. It remains the state symbol of New
Hampshire.
The range is known for the system of huts for hikers, operated by the Appalachian Mountain Club. The Appalachian Trail crosses the area from southwest to northeast.
The range is crossed by a couple of north-south highways and one east-west road, the Kancamagus Highway.
(New Hampshire's other famous mountain, Mount Monadnock, which is
called the second-most-climbed mountain in the world after Mount Fuji, is
further south, and is not part of the White Mountains.)
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