New Hampshire

Trail Miles: 161
Highest Point: Mount Washington, 6,288 feet

Bronayur at the English language Wikipedia [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

When the trail hits the Presidential Mountains in New Hampshire, it gets very real very quickly.  The elevations become higher, the terrain rockier, the footing less steady, and the climbs steeper.  ATC's website has a terrain guide that rates the difficulty of the trail by state from 1 to 10, with 10 being the most difficult.  New Hampshire gets a rating of 6-10.  They define a rating of 6 as "Extended climbs that may last hours or shorter climbs with difficult footing."  A rating of 10 has a foreboding definition of "Use of hands required for extended periods of climbing, footing precarious, and leaping may be required — not recommended for those with fear of heights and not in good physical condition. Shorter hikers may be at a disadvantage."  Sounds like a nice walk in the park, doesn't it? (http://www.appalachiantrail.org/about-the-trail/terrain-by-state/new-hampshire)

The AT crosses 17 peaks in New Hampshire that exceed 4,000 feet.  Hikers experience alpine conditions on a few of them, staying above the treeline for sustained stretches.  The biggest and baddest of them all is Mount Washington.  At 6,288 feet, it is the highest peak in New England and the highest on the AT north of Tennessee.  It is a place of incredibly brutal and unpredictable weather conditions.  In April of 1934, a wind gust here was measured at a record 231 miles per hour.  Temperatures at and near the peak rarely go higher than the low 50s.  Snow can fall during any month of the year, and fog and wind are normal conditions.  Mount Washington is a force to be reckoned with, and an unprepared hiker can quickly find the conditions dangerous and even deadly.