500 Adrenaline Adventures (Frommer's) - Lois Friedland [87]
The White Mountains of New Hampshire.
Summer in New Hampshire opens up opportunities to explore the region by raft and kayak, too. The Pemigewasset River in the Lincoln area has some heart-stopping stretches, but the sections around Woodstock are much easier to navigate. Stretches on the Ammonoosuc River near Berlin fall somewhere in the middle. Kayak rentals are available from Outback Kayaks in Lincoln ( 603/745-2002;www.outbackkayak.org).
In the winter, heading out on snowshoes and cross-country skis is a wonderful way to explore the region. Franconia Notch State Park (www.nhstateparks.org) is particularly beautiful; one of the nicest snowshoeing trips is a bit more than three miles around Lonesome Lake. The Falling Water Trail at Mittersill, at 51⁄2 miles (nearly 9km) round-trip, takes you to a picture postcard view of a frozen cascade approximately 75 feet (23m) high. Excellent snowshoeing and cross country skiing can be done in an around Bartlett, Lincoln, North Conway, among other White Mountain towns.
There is so much to do in the White Mountains that you can’t do it all in a lifetime. There are eight ski areas, including Loon Mountain, Cannon Mountain, and Waterville Valley. (Learn to ski these when the slopes are “hard” and you can ski at any ski area in the world.) There are now several great ziplines, including the one at Wildcat Ski Area. You can go rock climbing in the Mt. Washington Valley, mountain bike throughout the White Mountain National Forest, and for the less outdoorsy adventure-inclined, shopping and antiquing are popular pastimes throughout the region. And, if you’ve never seen the fall foliage in the White Mountains, put it on your bucket list. Just remember not to go without hotel reservations if you plan to be there several days and don’t want to sleep in a tent or your car. —LF
New Hampshire Tourism ( 800/FUN-IN-NH [386-4664]; www.visitnh.gov). New Hampshire.com (www.newhampshire.com/explore-nh/white-mountain.aspx).
When to Go: Anytime.
Manchester.
$$ Mount Washington Resort Hotel, Rte. 302, Bretton Woods ( 800/314-1752 or 603/278-1000; www.mountwashingtonresort.com).
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Auyuittuq National Park
Endless Winter
Baffin Island, Canada
That sniffing sound outside your tent—could that be a hungry polar bear? Way up here above the Arctic Circle, it could very well be. Auyuittuq National Park, one of North America’s most isolated and pristine reserves, is home to polar bears, caribou, rabbits, arctic fox, lemmings—and not much else. The name “Auyuittuq” means “the land that never melts,” and the dearth of vegetation here makes life rough for animals, including humans. Nobody comes here looking for lush forests or a fantastic menagerie of exotic animals. It’s all about the splendid isolation of this land, and the spectacular beauty of the immense fjords, ragged, icy peaks, and massive glaciers that define this lonely peninsula of Baffin Island.
Auyuittuq National Park.
And yet they come, hundreds of them each year, to trek across this brutal landscape. Getting here is a bit of an ordeal itself, as air service to the settlement of Pangnirtung is infrequent. Visitors who enter the park at Pangnirtung or Qikiqtarjuaq must register at the park offices there, pay a fee, and attend a rather intense orientation that’s designed to ensure they don’t risk their lives in the wilderness.
For lives have been lost in this park, most notably by those who dare to challenge Mount Thor. This awe-inspiring pinnacle is famous among rock-climbers and nature photographers alike for its fantastic 105-degree overhanging mountain face, considered the biggest unobstructed vertical drop in the world—over 1,230m (4,100 ft.) of sheer granite. More climbing routes are established each year, including