NH 4000-Footer Superlatives

[roadtripper]

Feedback requested on various list of 4000-footer "superlatives"!

4000-Footer Superlatives

Did I miss anything?
Any errors/corrections needed?
Can you think of any other superlative categories I could add?

Thanks!

- roadtripper

 

[RoySwkr]

I don't think the difficulties relate to the real world, i.e. beginners routinely climb Mt Washington because [trailhead easy to find on main road - category?] and [staffed facility near summit in summer - another category?] and [well known to public - ""]

If you actually posted distance/elevation metrics you might find some peculiarities, i.e. why is Garfield easier than Field?

 

[surf88]

I'm surprised you have Monroe as being too difficult. And not "fun and relatively safe for beginners." Ive always considered that a great introduction to Washington for new hikers.
PS I love your web site.

 

[TJsName]

The 'difficulty' scale is a bit odd. By my count you have:

Easy/Moderate
Moderate
Moderate/Difficult
Difficult
Difficult/Very Difficult
Very Difficult
Extremely Difficult

Maybe consider a relative scale, with 1 being 'easier' and 7 being 'harder'? This might make comparisons a bit easier, given that people looking at it will likely have already hiked at least one peak already.

As for suggestions, I would change the following ratings:
Galehead: Easy/Moderate (1/7). Gentle hike up, not a ton of elevation. Nothing technical
Garfield: Difficult (4/7) (. 10 miles, and a good chunk of vertical. Similar to Moriah.
Hancocks: Difficult (4/7). It's a big day in additional to the lack of views.
Lafayette: Difficult/Very Difficult (5/7). Big vertical and lots of exposure.
Liberty: Difficult (4/7). Lots of vertical.
Moosilauke: Moderate/Difficult (3/7). via Gorge Brook, good grades, moderate vertical
Osceola: Easy/Moderate (1/7). from Tripoli Rd. Easy grades and moderate vertical, similar to Tecumseh.
Pierce: Easy/Moderate (1/7). via Crawford path. Easy grades and moderate vertical, similar to Eisenhower, but slightly easier/less exposed.
North Twin: Difficult (4/7). Long day (dist/vert), potentially difficult crossings.
Waumbek: Easy/Moderate (1/7). Gentle terrain, moderate vertical, well protected.
Whiteface: Very difficult (5/7). Rough terrain up blueberry ledges (but fun!). Or lots of crossings on Downes Brook. Lots of vertical either way. I do like this one of newbies though, as the views are word it, and the scrambling is fun, but it's still a very difficult hike.

Your scenic ratings seem spot on, but again I might suggest the 1-7 scale to help make comparisons easier.

As for 'commonly hiked with':

Eisenhower is commonly done with Pierce.
Galehead is commonly done with both the Twins, and Garfield (but as separate loops)
Jefferson is commonly done with Washington.
North Twin commonly done with Galehead
Zealand is commonly done with the Bonds (as you noted above)

I'm not sure how common it is to combine the Wildcats with Carter Dome, it's a huge day, but it seems popular.

AS for beginner hikes:

Carrigan: Yes - the fire tower is worth it. Lots of vertical and distance, but terrain is easy and decently sheltered. Canon, Eisenhower, Pierce, and the Osceolas are my go-to hikes for beginners, so nice work.

Hope that helps.




Washington commonly done with Jefferson as well.

 

[Raymond]

I noticed one typo: Under Waterfalls, you left out the D in Bondcliff.

 

[TJsName]

I've only done the Ammo trail once, down, in the rain. It was definitely not a good beginner trail, from my perspective. To me, a good beginner trail shouldn't have to be dry to have the ranking. The ledges on Whiteface are still pretty safe even when wet.

I'm surprised you have Monroe as being too difficult. And not "fun and relatively safe for beginners." Ive always considered that a great introduction to Washington for new hikers.
PS I love your web site.

 

[roadtripper]

great suggestions so far

I've already incorporated most of them into the page

anybody else have any?

 

[TJsName]

Nice - I like it. I think that'll help. It did feel strange calling a 4000'er 'easy'. A '1' would be something like the Around-the-lake trail, or Flume gorge.

 

[Lefty E]

Excellent effort!! Being a view junky, I feel that Cabot (from cabin and firetower site), Middle Carter (ledge right near summit), Hale (in winter with nice snowpack), Passaconaway ( west,north and east viewpoints), and Middle Tripyramid got a bum deal in the view category. Willey's view rating could go up too. Their views are much more interesting than Owl's Head, Galehead, and N Tripyramid (though the slide has nice views). Liked the way you added nearby mts. with great views so people looking at your list could plan a trip to take in the great view, for example Carter Dome and Mt. Hight. Two other mountains you could add to the non4k list would be Success and Sugarloaf in Nash Stream. Thanks for good reading material this afternoon!!!

 

[Mike P.]

Really nice.

As others I have a few questions, suggestions:

As far as the questions, are any 4,000 er's easy, that would depend on your readership. Peakbaggers used to hiking some distance uphill would say yes. Casual hikers who consider Glen Ellis Falls or Bald Cap from the top of Hurricane Road as a worthy day hike, then, no 4,000 ft peak would be easy. (Views from Bald Cap are worthy for a short hke with young children...)

As far as the Garfield / Field question: Some people find a fairly easy climb over 5 miles to Garfield easier than the shorter, steeper climb to Field. Some would find 10 miles harder than 5.8 miles. Similar I guess to sprinting vs. long distance running, some people are better at one then the other.

On views, probably subjective but two things I'd disagree with. 1st - IMO South Kinsman view better than North. (I'm assuming fair / good is not as good as good.)
The other is Middle Carter vs. Owl's Head. While the view from the actual summit of Middle Carter is virtually nonexistant, the views from ledges north and south of the summit are very good. If you count the Owl's Head Slide as being close enough to the Owl's Head summit (actually some distance away but seems close after walking 8 miles to get there but probably 1/4 to 1/2 mile away or more) then, IMO, you should count the Middle Carter ledges.

Evidence on Middle Carter Ledges:


IMO, this is about the best from Owl's Head, a view of Franconia Ridge, not as often seen compared to the view from Lonsome Lake of the 4k's on the other side of the notch but IMO not as dramatic either.

 

[Mike P.]

Maybe not a superlative as it has different meanings to different people, "Sublime" For views, would Dramatic count? Coming out of the trees on the Airline & seeing the view across King Ravine, or the view from Guyot as you come out of the trees or maybe Bondcliff might qualify. Did I see magnificent. (maybe too big, what would qualify? a few BSP spots? Haystack view in the ADK's Algonquin's view or ???)

 

[peakbagger]

A minor comment. One thing I generally try to do when giving rankings is average them so that the mean of the ratings is at the center of the rank. Thus if you add up all the ratings and divide by the number of ratings it should equal the center. On a 1 to 10 basis the average should be around 5. When I look at your ratings I don't see this and I would expect the average is closer to 7.5. I understand the concept of none of the 4 ks being easy but if you don't use the 1 to 5 in the rankings than the real ranking range is 5 to 10. I see at as a variety of grade inflation. Of course then we would need to discuss ranking on a curve.

 

[roadtripper]

A minor comment. One thing I generally try to do when giving rankings is average them so that the mean of the ratings is at the center of the rank. Thus if you add up all the ratings and divide by the number of ratings it should equal the center. On a 1 to 10 basis the average should be around 5. When I look at your ratings I don't see this and I would expect the average is closer to 7.5. I understand the concept of none of the 4 ks being easy but if you don't use the 1 to 5 in the rankings than the real ranking range is 5 to 10. I see at as a variety of grade inflation. Of course then we would need to discuss ranking on a curve.

On a personal level, I would 100% agree with you. However, the fact of the matter is that people with little or no hiking experience are likely to stumble across my page at some point, so they need to realize that NONE of the 4000-footers are "easy" (even if we all agree on here that some are in fact easy ,especially when compared to some of the others).

 

[DayTrip]

A bit off topic but why does everyone love Carrigain so much? That is one of my least favorite 4k's yet I always see it high on everyone's list and I believe it is the peak most people like to finish their 48 on. It's a long walk (especially when the road is closed like it has been in the past) with fairly uninteresting terrain until the Signal Ridge area and I'm not a big fan of artificial objects on summits. Can someone defend this peak? Would be in my bottom 10, not my top 10. I don't get it.

 

[roadtripper]

A bit off topic but why does everyone love Carrigain so much? That is one of my least favorite 4k's yet I always see it high on everyone's list and I believe it is the peak most people like to finish their 48 on. It's a long walk (especially when the road is closed like it has been in the past) with fairly uninteresting terrain until the Signal Ridge area and I'm not a big fan of artificial objects on summits. Can someone defend this peak? Would be in my bottom 10, not my top 10. I don't get it.

Have you been on an exceptionally clear day? You can see forever. I visited on a very cold (-10) but bluebird day in winter and to this day it's still the most beautiful day I've had in the Whites.

I also love the approach trail, even though it doesn't have any outstanding characteristics about it. It's a fantastic snowshoe in good conditions too.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

The common defense is that you can see 43 of the other 48 from here. Yes Washington as well but good luck picking out West Bond.

I agree with you on the tower. It I think signal ridge makes up for it to a large degree. Without either the it would be kind of a dud.

Tim

 

[jrbren]

IMHO saying a mountain is easy or difficult is not very interesting or useful. Most NH 4000ers are of similar difficulty in my book. Where very different levels difficulty and hazard comes into play is more dependent on what route taken and what the conditions are. For example I do not think there is anything especially difficult about climbing Mt Madison via Valley way on a cool, clear, windless September day. Now lets try the same mt via the Madison headwall (just getting to the headwall) on a polar vortex day in January with hurricane force winds and zero visibility above tree line. Or better yet, a bush wack route up any mountain on an unbroken trail in winter. My guess is a bushwack route up Monadnock would be more difficult then a climb on LaFayette via the old bridal path on a nice day. Mt Washington via Huntington Ravine vs. Ammanusuc Ravine could be another example. Usually when people try to compare Mt A vs Mt B for difficulty, they mean climbed via the easiest route. Are we making that assumption here ? To compare difficulties I think you have to mention the route taken.

 

[DayTrip]

Have you been on an exceptionally clear day?

I climbed Carrigain on a late September day and it was very clear. The Signal Ridge was far and away the highlight for me. I think Carrigain looks much more impressive viewed from other mountains. It is a striking peak seen from afar, not so much while you're on it.

In your defense I am finding that a lot of the 4k's I find boring in summer have more appeal to me in winter. I started the winter 4k's and have been pleasantly surprised by the new perspective the trails have buried in snow. Being able to get restricted views at the lower elevations that would normally be blocked by leaves is a nice bonus. (Mt Hale immediately comes to mind. That may be one of the most boring 4k's of all but there are tremendous views of Washington through the trees as you climb out of the river valley the trail follows). Maybe I'll take a different view on Carrigain once I climb in winter.

 

[peakbagger]

Carrigan is also nice in that there are reasonable camping options very near the top (just dont drink the water from the wardens spring). The spots are under the cover of trees but a very short walk gets you to great view at night. Most of the other 4 Ks have fairly dense spruce fir near the top and since camping above treeline is against the law, its nice to be able to camp under the trees for shelter and still have 360 views nearby.

By the way, Signal Ridge is nice but the views back at Carrigan from Lowell and Anderson are better! although decidedly more difficult to obtain.

 

[Raven]

One thought on Lincoln and Lafayette. I would rank Lincoln at least as hard as Lafayette due to the approach. I think you have them 8 and 9. Minor point.

Also, regarding the Carrigain conversation, the Signal Ridge on Carrigain is spectacular IMO and unique in the Whites. I like the summit as well although the view is due to the tower, but it is incredible.