Several years ago, I began a project to hike all 48 of the mountains over 4,000 feet in New Hampshire. These peaks are all in the northern part of the Appalachian Mountain Range, called the White Mountains, a beautiful and often remote part of New England with technical terrain and very dangerous and changeable weather patterns. I don’t hold much with “peak bagging” (hiking to a ridge and then ridge hiking to rack up a lot of peaks at once), so what with work and summer conferences I get a chance to do usually at at least 5-6 peaks a year. I favor solo 2-3 day backpacking loops—I’ve come to enjoy the solitude—but have had some pretty great adventures on these trails with friends as well!