Wild River Wilderness is a protected backcountry area in New Hampshire’s White Mountain National Forest near the Maine border, covering 24,032 acres with Carter Dome as its highest point and nearly 30 miles of trails. Once largely old-growth forest, the valley was heavily logged in the 19th century after a rail line opened access along the Wild River. By around 1900 most accessible timber was gone, and a severe drought year in 1903 brought a major wildfire that, together with flooding, ended the local timber business. Land bought for the national forest in 1914 later helped form the wilderness area established in 2006, now valued for its ecological recovery and recreation.

Shelburne, New Hampshire · USA