This is why, when friends are packing to hike hills or trails, I decide that I am going to explore a coast. Poring over my maps, I pick New Hampshire. With just 18 miles of Atlantic beachfront, it has the shortest shoreline of any state. By tackling it all, I'll see the overall shape where its land meets water. And from previous piecemeal explorations, I know I'll pass through an intriguing mix of clifftop landscapes, historic clapboard villages, and classic boardwalks dotted with arcades and wafting the scent of hot dogs and saltwater taffy.
My plan is to trace the coast of New Hampshire end to end - from the Massachusetts border north to Maine - sticking as close to the high-tide line as I can. I'll have to trudge along the shoulder of Route 1-A for part of the trip, but with my U.S. Geological Survey maps in hand, I'll scope out beachfront lanes and angle back to the water as often as possible.
Although I stuff a knapsack full of T-shirts and shorts, I make two rules: no camping out, and no freeze-dried, carry-along meals. I'm going to check into local inns along the way and eat in restaurants and snack bars. This will be my trekker's reward.
I don't know whether the hike as a whole has ever been done and what crab shells or washed-up buoys I will trip over along the way. But in a stubborn New England way, I do not care.
Day 1
Seabrook to Hampton
On this early summer morning, it is still and hot. Edges of the sky fit snugly along the top of a flat, green sea. I park near the border between Salisbury, Mass., and Seabrook, N.H., and toast the start of my trip by downing an orange-banana smoothie and a package of spicy peanuts. Then I'm up over dunes and a rickety boardwalk and taking my first hot footsteps onto the beach.
