Attractions and Places To See in the White Mountains - Top 17

This dirt double-track can get muddy in spring, but usually makes for good running. It's also popular with mountain bikers. The nearby Ski Loop Trail is an opportunity to cut across and join the Summit Trail if you like. But like most trails that are labeled for skiers, the Ski Loop Trail is only pleasant when the ground is frozen and covered by snow. During summer it's a boggy, muddy, and mosquito-heavy mess. So, you might prefer turning around here and running back the way you came to creating a loop. If you want more distance, you can keep running on the Wickersham Creek Trail: It continues for so long that you could run an entire marathon distance on it without reaching the end.

Although this trail is primarily for hiking, biking is allowed. It's relatively easy riding between the trailhead and the summit area of Wickersham Dome, but the part between Wickersham Dome and the trail's intersection with the Wickersham Creek Trail is narrow and overgrown enough that you may have to "hike a bike": Classic type 2 Alaska fun. Going earlier in the season (or later, after the brush dies off) increases the odds of this section being easily rideable.

Ester Dome is one of the most prominent land features in this green, rolling landscape. If you're lucky, on a clear day you can see Denali some 200 miles to the south.

This trail brings you into the heart of the granite tors — dramatic towers of granite that are slowly being revealed as the earth around them erodes away. If you like, you can continue running an oval-shaped loop that passes through the most impressive tors before rejoining the original trail near the start point. However, pay close attention to where you're at: The quality of trail markings can vary, and this isn't the sort of place you'd want to get lost.

Discover the iconic Alaska Pipeline exhibit, showcasing an above-ground display of this monumental pipeline. Established in 1970, the Alyeska Pipeline Company undertook the task of designing, constructing, operating, and upkeeping a pipeline that would transport oil from the North Slope fields to Valdez, Alaska.

There are numerous hot springs in Alaska, but they're often remote, hard to reach, and hardly developed (if at all). By contrast, Chena Hot Springs Resort is fully built out, with a variety of lodge/hotel rooms, a good restaurant, a year-round ice museum (as in a museum built out of carved ice and decorated with ice sculptures), multiple tour options, and a rock pool around the hot springs. A day-use fee does apply for the hot springs. This destination is even more popular in the winter, when it becomes a prime destination for aurora-viewing tours.

It's the mission of the R.G. White Large Animal Rsearch Station to support research, learning and outreach when it comes to Alaskan animals. The 130-acre (52 ha) site is home to reindeer and muskoxen, the first of which arrived here in 1964 after the former homestead was handed over to the university the year before.

With glorious volcanic rock formations that have been thrust upwards, the Angel Rocks Trail is a scenic delight. The path is characterised by these impressive granite pillars, which have withstood the weathering of the ages to still stand proud today. Expect lovely valley views from the 530-metre (1,750 ft) high point of the trail.