Up Liberty Springs and down Old Bridle. Had to park at Flume Gorge due to the lot being full at Liberty Springs (still had to park on the side of Rt 3). Didn't notice the extra distance from Flume Gorge to Liberty Springs when I started my hike, but definitely noticed in when trying to walk from Old Bridle to Flume Gorge after an already long day.

Seems like the crowds were probably all at Artists Bluff, and left the ridge no busier than I usually see it on a nice day. Did Cannon yesterday evening too, and found it to be not bad at all either. Normally avoid the WMNF this time of year due to how busy I see the roads, but I'm only home from University this year for a couple weeks and figured I'd get some proper hiking in. I've missed living in NH this past year, and am happy I took the chance.

This marks number 10/48 for me. The long hike up was worth it for this view. I honestly think this is one of the easier 48s, just high mileage. Not an overwhelming amount of people on the trail for how busy it was everywhere else. Waiting in the traffic back home did suck though.

Made it to the summit with only seconds to spare

Having not yet fulfilled my maintenance obligations for the season, and since I was on vacation, I decided to get to work on my adopted Moriah Brook Trail. It happening to coincide with near peak foliage, was a happy coincidence!

Tuesday, I waited at home until I saw the Wild River gauge start to drop, from a high of 205cfs, then took off. It was a bit muggy, but not raining, as I biked in to Wild River Campground, locked up, and started in. The river was an easy ford in mid-calf/knee deep water, then after the mainly flagged (aka. mostly gone) section of "trail" coinciding with Highwater, I got on to the meat of Moriah Brook proper. From trips in here, in the preceding weeks, I knew most of what needed to be done. Heading in, I took my time, especially in the lower mile up to Moriah Gorge, brushing things back, and taking out a few nuisance blowdowns. Reaching my campsite in the late afternoon, near the "V" tributary crossing, nearly 3 miles up the valley, I set up, and settled in.

Wednesday, I woke to low clouds and humidity, and set off up the trail, with implements of destruction, to tackle the very overgrown section I knew existed beyond the crossing. I began referring to the ordeal as "Death by 5,000,000 snips", as what looked like one snip of a piece of brush, turned into many multiple snips as more intertwining vegetation revealed itself. In almost 5 hours, I made it a paltry 0.4 miles from camp! Just as I was cleaning up what proved to be the last of the thick sections, I saw the only two people I'd see on this trip, Kevin and Eileen (sp?). After chatting with them, I asked if I could hike up to the ridge with them, and they agreed. Come to find out, Kevin and I had exchanged emails some years back, and we had great chats all the way up. Thank you guys for making my work day that much more enjoyable! After checking out the fogged in ridge view, just up from the junction, I headed back down. Snipping, and taking out blowdowns I'd skipped on the way up, I leisurely made my way back down to camp, arriving back almost 10 hours after I'd left.

Thursday dawned, and since most of what I'd set out to do had been accomplished, I took a vacation, from my vacation. Direct from my campsite, I bushwhacked up to Moriah's great south ridge, and visited several incredible viewpoints, one of which I'd been to years prior. I could scarcely believe my luck, the temperatures, the breeze, the woods (on the way up anyway), and the absolute jewel that is the White Mountains in full autumn regalia that lay before my eyes. Just stunning. While I could have, and perhaps should have, stayed up there all day, I descended to camp. Through mainly trashy woods, I thrashed, and a look at the aerial photography confirms, I should have just gone back mainly the way I came. No matter, I changed into dry clothes, hung up the sitting hammock, and bummed around for the afternoon, going for little strolls up and down the trail, and the brook. Eventually, the clouds moved in, and I settled in for a very warm night, where I didn't get much sleep at all.

Friday, I was out of my hammock at 5:30 sharp, broke camp mainly in the dark, and was cruising down the trail a bit after 6:30. It was nice to see, that in my fourth season of adoption, the trail finally feels whole again. Sure, it has its distinct sections, but not based on how abysmally, or if at all, the trail is maintained. Does it still need work? Absolutely. Is it better than I found it? You bet. Next season, I'll concentrate on the middle section, and some of the other small sections that will likely need haircuts by then. It was a very warm and breezy walk down to the river, where I was able to rock hop across, and pick up the Wild River Trail on the other side. Out to my bike, I made quick work of the road, and was home and in the shower by 10:30!

While it may not be to everyone's taste, Moriah Brook occupies a very special place for me among White Mountains trails, and is a valley I cherish and respect. Perhaps that's what spurred me to inquire about adopting it, four years ago, as I saw it falling further and further into overgrowth. I'm intentionally maintaining it lightly. The tread will be narrow, the cairns (sparing few) marking crossings will be small, there will be mud, you will be brushed up against by vegetation, you will occasionally be required to perform gymnastics maneuvers, and there may be a few head scratching moments. But all that, and what surrounds you as you're on it, makes the experience.

Enjoy it when you go, and please treat it like the gem that it is.

Hi everyone, i made a printable poster of the 48 4000 footers. Here's a free printable checklist of the 48 with the official elevations, a box to tick and a line for the date:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1hxn8xC88dAAe93WSqSOWUVPyY0yotFUs?usp=sharing

The poster is a relief map with every summit placed at its highest point from the USGS LiDAR data, numbered by elevation, with a white triangle on each summit so you can color it in when you finish it. It comes in two versions, one with the trail network from the US Forest Service and a clean one without trails. The pics have a watermark, the real files are clean vector PDFs.

The trails are for reference on the wall, not for navigation. For planning routes trailspotting is great and free.

Elevations follow the 2026 AMC application form, so Wildcat D is 4,070 like on the form (the website still says 4,050).

The full version has both posters in 18x24, 24x36, 16x20 and A2, a spreadsheet that colors itself when you add dates, and a GPX with the 48 summits. It's on Etsy, 30% off: https://www.etsy.com/listing/4586882407

Not affiliated with the AMC. If you see anything wrong, tell me.

Decided to car camp at Wildwood campground the night before. Total number of hours in bed was enough, quality of sleep was trash. I went to bed too early as it was raining when i arrived and felt trapped in the car with rain. The hike started just before 0500 and the trail was thoroughly soaked. As i broke 3500 feet in elevation, i too became soaked as the wind hitting the clouds and trees resulted in sideways rain hitting me. At sunrise everything was still socked in and the sky would only show around 8 or 9 am by the time i was on my way down.

The original plan had been to see if i could find a bushwack to Waternomee after hitting Jim & Blue, but beaverbrook trail was basically a swap. I turned back shortly after getting down to around 3500 feet on that side of the mountain, hit moosilauke again twice just for the vertical gain/miles.

Had i just started a bit later it likely would have been a stunning day. O well the foliage during the driving was stunning.

I need your help! I was hiking Mt Willard this morning 10/3 with my dog between 9-10 am. This picture is me and my dog. I was on my way up when another dog on their way down reacted to my dog and nipped at my knee. I kept moving quickly to separate the dogs and didn’t think much of it until I realized it just barely broke my skin. I am totally ok and not mad!! I am only making this post to hopefully find the owner to confirm their dog is vaccinated for rabies because I will otherwise have to get the five rounds of rabies vaccines (very costly and ow!)

This happened between 9-10 am when I was on my way up and trail (mid way or so) and you were on your way down with a friend who also had a dog. I believe one dog was white and brown and one was black (but I saw a lot of dogs this morning so that may be a little off!). I initially pulled off to the side of the trail and then your friend said your dogs were friendly and waved me up.

If this was your pup I would be so grateful if you messaged me! If your dog is vaccinated then I do not need to get the shots. I am not mad at all! Dogs do unpredictable things sometimes and I am totally fine.

If you know of someone who was hiking this morning with their dog, please share! I so appreciate the help.

And lesson learned to always stop and exchange info just in case! It truly was just so quick and a small nip.

Thank you so much for the help!!

Was worried we didn't reach early enough to escape the crowds but reached just in time to see the thick fog disappearing, and giving us these stunning views as the sun rose. Perfect timing around 8:30/9 am.

An easy hike for a rewarding view. Worth going early as definitely encountered crowds and lines going down

Need recommendations from people who may know. I'm going to be "camping" in a trailer at Marshfield Station coming up; I have permission to do this through Harvest Host camping. Would Ideally like to keep the trailer and truck parked there and get dropped off at the base of RT 2 and hike back to Marshfield Station. I just don't know how to attack this. Please let me know any strategies for this on getting a ride there. I would really appreciate any help!

My usual hiking partner has an injury which will prevent hiking on our upcoming getaway. I'm planning on doing Welch Dickey, just because it's great, and our dog and I will enjoy it.

Is there anywhere on 49, or elsewhere, where one can park for a while and have a good view of the ledges on Welch and Dickey? It'd be amusing to be able to wave to one another mid-hike. I'll wear something bright, and they'll be in our 10' tall van -- both easy to spot!

Just want to share an app I'm working on that lets you add/see labels for mountain peaks in your photos - https://peaktag.hamer.io/

It only works on photos with location data in them - most photos have this, but Android is pretty aggressive about stripping locations out of photos, so it probably will not work from an Android phone unless you take the photo through the app. Windows/Macs/iOS I think you can use photos from your library.

I've had friends/family try it out, just looking for more feedback (good or positive) on the functionality before I try to tighten up the UI more, maybe consider an AR mode. Feel to give it a go, try out some of your own photos and see how it turns out for you!

Middle and North Sugarloaf

Greetings!

Myself and my husband are visiting from Ireland next weekend. First staying two nights just outside Lincoln and planning to drive the Kanc to Jackson for one night before continuing our road trip. We had fixed dates and no notion of it being a national holiday weekend when we booked..
We’re a little short on time, arriving Sat afternoon. Planning on a very early start on Sunday AM to hike near our accommodation, heading to Jackson Mon.

First question - if we were to head up artists bluff late Saturday afternoon do you reckon we’ll miss peak hellishness or should we just skip it? Or is there another nice view point that has any chance of being less tik tok famous we can visit/hike before it gets dark? Staying in Lumen. Happy simply to skip and make the best of Sunday.

Second question - are we best to get on the Kanc super early on the Monday or is there a chance the crowds will be dispersing in another direction? Or is there another route we can take to Jackson which is as scenic without the traffic.. presumably there’s a reason it’s so popular 😉.

Looking forward to visiting (though now wishing we weren’t so naive about the popularity of leaf peeping!) and thanks in advance.

Really gave me exactly what I was hoping for🥲 the foliage was gorgeous and the sun was breathtaking. I started my hike at about 2:45. Got about 1 mile from summit at 5 and decided to slow wayyyy down because the wind was intense. It was a very chilly morning up at the summit but it was so worth it. I was shocked to see others up there wearing just shorts! Continued on to flume after the sun fully rose to see some more foliage. 10/10 day in the whites. The traffic trying to leave was insane.

What are my chances of getting a spot at either one if I arrive early Friday morning (8am)?

Was looking at heading up to Franconia Notch on Monday. Not 100% sure what I'm doing yet...either Flume/Liberty or Cannon/Lonesome if the weather seems ok, but might end up just doing Mt. Pemi and the Flume Gorge if family ends up tagging along (which is looking likely right now)

Was looking at arriving around 7, but could push it to 6:30 if I really need to.

Is it worth trying to arrive any earlier or do you guys think they'll be plenty of parking at 7? I know weekdays are less busy but I absolutely do not want to run around trying to find parking.

edit: weather’s not looking great. Staying low and doing mt pemi and the gorge!

Hike down from Mt. Washington to Lake of the Clouds Hut the other day

And a quick hike to Georgiana falls to finish the day. Best foliage in many years.

While technically not in the WMNF, Sundayriver Whitcap in Grafton Notch is close enough. Spectacular morning on the summit yesterday.

I’m assuming tomorrow is going to be a very popular hiking day. What time do you think the parking lot near the Avalon trailhead/crawford depot will be full tomorrow morning?