Difficulty: Difficult
Length: 500 miles /
805 km
Duration: Multiple days
Family Friendly
• Dog Friendly
Overview:
Having completed the full Northeast 111er peak list myself I am very excited to share this Ultimate Guide Bundle with aspiring peak baggers. As far as I can tell this is the most comprehensive digital guide to the highest peaks in the all of New England including the states of NY, NH, VT, and ME.
I have taken great care to include very accurate gps tracks for the best trails on each peak. For any one of the mountains there are multiple routes to the top but I have used my experiences in the Mountains to detail the routes that I find are the most rewarding to climb. I have chosen the standard route to the summit for most peaks and have tried to group peaks together in long range hikes such as the Bond Range and Franconia Ridge Range of New Hampshire and the Great Range in the Adirondacks so that you can summit as many peaks as possible in a single hike. In each case I've explained my route decision clearly and have detailed all the major trail intersections often including the actual trail signs for each intersection. There are many peaks in NY without a maintained trail to the summit while the only peak in the New Hampshire White Mountains without a maintained trail to the summit is Owl's Head. For these peaks I have described in detail where the true summit is and the gps track follows an established herd path.
If you have any questions at all about the hikes or what you may encounter or what you may need to bring I urge you to send me an email asking for advice as I will be happy to give it. Climbing all the 4,000 foot peaks in the Northeast was very rewarding and I think it changed me for the better and made me really appreciate the outdoors and I know it will do the same for you. To give you an idea of the kind of undertaking this is, here are some stats I calculated upon completion of the list in 2006. I climbed 36 peaks (31%)solo (not advisable though), it took me 68 trips to climb them all (I was turned away on several occasions due to weather conditions as well), it took me ~762 miles of hiking (1/3 the length of the Appalachian Trail), over 470 hours on the trail, and I climbed over 184,000 feet of vertical (that is a low-ball figure as it doesn't include elevation change climbed between peaks on multi-peak trips). Realistically I climbed more like 200,000 vertical feet which is 7 times the height of Mt. Everest. None of these figures encompass that time it has taken me to map out my routes, pack, and plan these hikes nor do they reveal the travel time it took to get to the trailheads for the hikes. I have lived atleast an hour and half to two hours from the mountains I have climbed which often meant I spent more time driving to the mountains than actually climbing them! I have spent thousands of dollars on hiking equipment throughout the years. I've worn through 3 pairs of leather boots, 2 backpacks, and one pair of Leki hiking poles. The cost of gas to get to the mountains I needed was ridiculous. I'd say that in total with gas, equipment costs, the motels I stayed in occasionally, and the food I spent for breakfasts, lunches and dinners afterwards it has cost me nearly $8,000 to $10,000 to climb all the 115. For more information on my overall experience I urge you to read my final blog post on the 111 in the links below.
Instead of ripping pages out of guidebooks we can now take along these digital guides with our smartphones. Not only will these guides direct you with driving directions to the trailhead but you will also be able to follow along the gps tracks included in these guides and see photos of what you will encounter later on the trail. These guides can be downloaded to your phone for offline use in areas where you don't have cell phone reception in the high peaks. That way you'll always have a terrain map beneath the track. Please see the attached link for how to do this.
Tips:
In the summer you will want to bring bug spray. These peaks are often tough and above treeline and don't be fooled by their low elevation compared to the Rockies or the Pacific Northwest. Some of the hikes I detailed here are very long such as the Bond Range, Franconia Ridge, Katahdin, and the Great Range and often you will not find water above treeline so be prepared. Be safe and abide by all trail signs and trail closures. Make sure you bring your smartphone with you but be careful to watch the battery life on longer climbs, especially overnights as having power to make an emergency phone call in case something goes wrong is paramount. Also, weather can change very quickly in the mountains and I have been witness to snow storms in the middle of the summer so watch the weather before you go and be prepared. Mt. Washington is one of the most dangerous peaks in the entire Northeast and is the only one above 6,000 feet. For a long time it held the guinness record for land wind speed and Katahdin in far Northern Maine has over 2,000 feet of exposed rock above treeline.
111 or 115... You may have noticed that there are 115 mountains in the list which doesn't fit the list name... Well, this is because the list was made a long time ago and surveying methods have improved over the years. Several of the peaks that were thought to be over 4,000 are now found to be under, but they are still included in the list and several that were thought under have now been added to the list. The ones that are not over 4,000 but are still in the list are four 46er List peaks from the Adirondacks of NY (Blake, Cliff, Nye, and Couchsachraga).
If you have read this far I thank you and believe that this guide bundle will provide a wealth of knowledge to you along the trail as you head for the summits. I've done my best to be very clear and detailed about each guide based on my own experiences but if you find I've made a mistake I welcome any comments or suggestions. The great thing about the digital age is that these guides are dynamic and I can change and improve them over time. Help me through suggestions and you'll therefore be helping all the others that have downloaded this bundle.
And, as you head into the outdoors remember that more and more people are doing the same. Be respectful of others on the trail and also take the time to clean up any trash you see on the trail and to take everything out that you came in with following the "leave no trace" mantra. Basically, you should leave nothing but footprints behind! Oh... there is one thing you should take a lot of... PHOTOS!
