4000 Footers

“South Twin must be the most climbed mountain on the 4000 footer list”, said my friend Lisa, “It’s on the way to so many other peaks”. South Twin Mountain is at a cross roads for anyone hiking from the Pemigewasset Wilderness to …

When people visit the White Mountains, the two geographic features they remember the most are the mountains and the notches, which are giant mountains passes that link different regions of the area together. When you drive down the narrow two-lane roads that …

Owl’s Head Mountain is one of the most remote 4000 footers in the White Mountains, deep in the heart of the Pemigewasset Wilderness. Feeling in need of a long hike, I decided to climb it but to take a roundabout route to …

The Passaconaway Slide Trail is an old “lost” trail that climbs an avalanche path to Mt Passaconaway, a 4000 footer in the Sandwich Range. While it’s no longer signed or listed in the White Mountain Guide, it is possible to find the …

Beth and I met at the Caps Ridge Trailhead at 6:00 am. We wanted an early start to hike our 13+ mile route (with 6300′ of elevation gain), up Mt Jefferson via the Caps Ridge Trail, down Sphinx Col, and back up …

Mt Whiteface is a 4000-footer in the Sandwich Range that’s usually climbed using the Blueberry Ledge Trail, then over to Mt Passaconaway via the Rollins Trail, and down via Dicey’s Mill Trail. I took a much different route on my last hike …

Climbing Mt Whiteface and its neighbor East Sleeper via the Downes Brook Trail is not your typical winter route. Running 5.2 miles and requiring 10 stream crossings to the Sleeper Trail junction linking Whiteface to East Sleeper, it would have been a …

Mt Pierce is the second four thousand footer you encounter when hiking north in the Presidential Range of the White Mountains. My buddy Ken and I climbed to the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Mizpah Hut located just below the summit, hiking up the …

There’s a phrase used by White Mountain hikers, “a Presi Day”, to describe the clear sunny days that are ideal for hiking a Presidential Traverse or climbing one of the Northern Presidential Peaks: Mounts Madison, Adams, or Jefferson. It’s hard to describe the …

I got another very fine above-treeline hike in on Monday, climbing Mount Lafayette (5240′), Mount Lincoln (5089′) and Little Haystack (4780′) on Franconia Ridge.This is one of the top three or four most beautiful hikes in the White Mountains and is a …

Mount Moosilauke is the westernmost 4000 footer in New Hampshire with a bald summit that is greatly exposed to the weather and the wind. My friend Bob and I led a winter hike up to Moosilauke and its southern sub-peak recently, climbing …

The hawk soared effortlessly above Eagle Crag as we labored over the open ridge toward North and South Baldface, the pair of open summits that book end Evans Notch. Although it was just the middle of the afternoon, the autumn daylight was already waning. …

The White Mountain landscape is defined by its mountain passes (called Notches), perhaps even more than its peaks. Crawford Notch, Pinkham Notch, and Franconia Notch are just a few of the great valleys that channel visitors from one region of the White …

There are three Garfield Mountains along the Garfield Ridge Trail in the Pemigewasset Wilderness (of New Hampshire’s White Mountains), although you’re probably only familiar with the tallest one on the four thousand footer list. The other two peaks, West (3667′) and East …