White Mountain National Forest

The White Mountain National Forest is a federally managed forest contained within the White Mountains in the northeastern United States. It was established in 1918 as a result of the Weeks Act of 1911; federal acquisition of land had already begun in 1914. It has a total area of 750,852 acres . Most of the WMNF is in New Hampshire; a small part is in the neighboring state of Maine. While often casually referred to as a park, this is a National Forest, used not only for hiking, camping, and skiing but for logging and other limited commercial purposes. The WMNF is the only National Forest located in either New Hampshire or Maine. Most of the major peaks over 4,000 feet high for peak-bagging in New Hampshire are located in the National Forest. Over 100 miles of the Appalachian Trail traverses the White Mountain National Forest. In descending order of land area the forest lies in parts of Grafton, Coos, and Carroll counties in New Hampshire, and Oxford County in Maine.

The Forest Supervisor's office is located in Campton and there are three ranger districts: the Pemigewasset District, with offices in Campton; the Androscoggin District, based in Gorham; and the Saco District, based in Conway. Furthermore, there are several visitor centers, including those located at Lincoln, Campton , and Lincoln Woods . The National Forest consists of three discontinuous areas. The area to the west of Franconia Notch consists of the regions surrounding Cannon Mountain, Kinsman Mountain and Mount Moosilauke . The main body of the National Forest includes the Presidential Range and many other ranges - most notably, the Franconia, Twin, Bond, Sandwich, Willey, and Carter-Moriah ranges. An exclave of the Forest lies to the north of U.S. Route 2 in Stark and Randolph, New Hampshire.

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