Pemigewasset Wilderness Area
| Pemigewasset Wilderness Area | |
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IUCN category Ib (wilderness area)
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 Map of the United States
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| Location | Grafton County, New Hampshire, USA |
| Nearest city | Lincoln, New Hampshire |
| Coordinates | 44°06′45″N 71°31′36″W / 44.11250°N 71.52667°WCoordinates: 44°06′45″N 71°31′36″W / 44.11250°N 71.52667°W |
| Area | 45,000 acres (182 km2) |
| Established | 1984 |
| Governing body | United States Forest Service |
The Pemigewasset Wilderness is a 45,000-acre (182 km2) federally designated Wilderness Area in the heart of New Hampshire's White Mountains. It is a part of the White Mountain National Forest.
The Wilderness Area consists of the upper watershed of the East Branch of the Pemigewasset River, and includes the Franconia, Twin, Zealand, and Hancock mountain ranges, but excludes the summits of the ranges and the trail along them. As a result of the region's rugged character, the Pemigewasset Wilderness is a popular recreation area; its large trail network receives heavy use, in the form of hiking, cross-country skiing, and others, throughout the year.
The area is also noted for its ecological recovery from the logging era of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. After years of unchecked clear-cutting, the area's inclusion in the White Mountain National Forest and later designation as a Wilderness Area has led to a substantial rebound in the forest ecosystem.
The Pemigewasset Wilderness consists of two horseshoe-shaped "lobes" characterized by relatively low, wet river valleys surrounded by high mountain ridges.
The western lobe is enclosed by the Franconia, Twin, and Bond ranges, though the top of the ridge defining the ranges is outside the Wilderness boundary. Moving clockwise from the south near the Lincoln Woods trailhead, the ridge ascends Potash Knob (2684 ft/818 m), an unnamed peak (3060 ft/933 m), and Whaleback Mountain (2586 ft/1093 m) before reaching Franconia Ridge itself at the ledgy summit of Mount Flume (4328 ft/1319 m). From Mount Flume, the ridge dips and rises between peaks in a parabolic manner, flirting with treeline in the cols and running open and exposed at the summits. Peaks crossed at this point of the ridge after Flume include Mount Liberty (4459 ft/1359 m), and Little Haystack Mountain (4780 ft/1457 m), where the ridge rises out of the scrub for good. As it heads north, the ridge assumes a "knife-edge" character, dropping off dramatically on both sides as it crosses Mount Lincoln (5089 ft/1551 m) before reaching its high point at the summit of Mount Lafayette (5249 ft/1600 m).
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