By Marty Basch

From the peak that bears his name, hikers can look to the mountain that made him famous.

The peak is on New Hampshire's 4,000 foot list and is located in Crawford Notch.

Who is he?

Standing some 4,340 feet high, the summit is actually quite wooded with not much for trekkers to see. But at the top, from a small outlook that probably had some help in its creation, it's possible to peer across to the mighty Presidentials. Mounts Jefferson, Adam, Clay, Washington, Monroe and more share that well-defined ridge where at a certain moment in time the other day, the highest of those majestic mountains was once again shrouded in cloud, muted from view.

He was an Irishman, and at the time of his noted first recorded ascent of the mountain lived in Exeter. Why he wanted to climb that mountain is a matter of speculation. Maybe he wanted to hike up and see if he could look back to his town. Was he looking for treasure? There are those who surmise he was searching for a new way to get to Canada. But what is known is this: his two companions called the mountain Agiocochook.

You know him

Darby Field is the man credited with making that first Mount Washington ascent in 1642 with two Indians.

More than 230 years later a New Hampshire state geologist named Charles Hitchcock named the mountain Darby Field in 1874. It had previously been named Mount Lincoln, after slain president Abraham Lincoln.

Today, Mount Field is in the middle of the pack of the Granite State's 48 four thousand footers. Coming in as the 23rd highest, it is tied with Mount Osceola, but the views are nowhere near as good.

The highest of the Willey Range peaks, Mount Field shares the neighborhood with his 4K brothers Mounts Tom and Willey (another famous peak named after the family killed in a nearby rockslide in 1826. Though those three mountains might have some hight, they certainly aren't the most popular in the extended family. On the way to Mount Field, Mount Avalon sees its share of foot traffic to its fine vantage point. In a family, it's always the little one that gets the attention and Mount Willard, close to Field, is arguably one of the most climbed peaks in the White Mountains.

It's on the list

Why climb Mount Field? Because it's on the list, that's why. Or, perhaps hikers will share what may have been Darby Field's mindset during his 18-day trip from southern New Hampshire to the top of Mount Washington: Are we there yet?

The most direct route to bag Mount Field is along the Avalon Trail to the Willey Range Trail for about a six mile up-and-down journey. The trail leaves the popular-in-summer-and-soon-to-be-fall trailhead at the very yellow Crawford Depot next to the Appalachian Mountain Club's Highland Center.

Hikers cross the active tracks and head into the woods.

White Hills

The Avalon Trail starts off easily and has a couple of brook crossings. Given the amount of rain that has fallen this season, the crossings were simple. The beauty of the trail is that it is an easy to moderate grade at the onset, and provides access to a side path that goes to Beecher and Pearl Cascades. Given the rain, a side trip is a rewarding excursion.

The Avalon Trail, at its junction with the A-Z Trail about 1.3 miles into the hike, undergoes a personality change for about a half mile and is just plain steep. Some of the rocks are slippery, other sections muddied. But there is relief about 100 yards from the Avalon summit, also a place worth a visit to see the notch and Presidentials.

It is still about a mile to the Mount Field summit on a trail that meanders a bit. Not too steep, it seems like the top should always be around the next corner. Eventually the summit-cairn is reached after a final scramble.

Turn around. It easy to see North Twin with its scarred slope. Then there is South Twin and the Bonds. A path leads to the vistas out to Bretton Woods and the valley. The Pilot Range is out there, but the most easily identifiable are the Presidentials with Mount Washington getting the spotlight thanks in part to an adventurous father of five who took the time to see what was over the next white hill.

One Tank Away

Twin Mountain, N.H. is 159 miles from Lincoln, Mass.

Hart's Location, N.H. is 219 miles from Mount Tom State Reservation, Holyoke, Mass.

Bartlett, N.H. is 351 miles from Monroe, N.Y.