I love ranking things, despite the fact that I know it drives everyone I know crazy and it can be annoying, there is something about organizing and ranking things that creates peace and order for me. First a few notes: I love all of these mountains. In some ways its comparable to someone asking you to pick your favorite flavor of ice cream or vacation – they are all great of course, but on any given day your experience can be different depending on many variables that are in and out of your control. Mood, energy level, partners, weather, duration, season, trails taken, etc. In fact I’ve repeated a few of these that I didn’t like on my first go of it but would now put them towards the top of my list (Hale). I’m ranking all of the mountains separately even though I combined a few via a loop or out and back hike. I plan to hike all of these mountains multiple times again so this is just my ranking based on my initial round of hiking the NH 4Ks.

#48 – Hale – rainy, damp slog in May. I was grumpy the entire hike, the giant pile of magnetic rock at the viewless summit in a snow squall didn’t lift my spirits.

#47 – Moriah – Weather was great, the bugs were not. Lost my shoe in the mud, found it along with two large snakes.

#46- Isolation – Rocky Branch Trail is quite possibly the worst trail in NH (standing water and rock hopping for miles). Next time we will opt to descend to Isolation from Glen Boulder.

#45 – Tecumseh – Stairs and ramps and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, sorry I dozed off there.

#44 – Waumbek – Air was soupy. Entire hike felt like I was on an gradual ramp in an enchanted forest. Would make for a great beginner winter hike.

#43 – E. Osceola – Ascended via the little used Greely Pond approach. It was secluded and muddy, great head clearing hike, but not that memorable.

#42 – M. Tripyramid – I was so pumped up after going up the North slide I honestly don’t remember going over this one. I think the summit cairn was a giant pile of moose poop.

#41 – Cabot – Greeted by 0 degrees and a “No Pooping” sign at the trailhead. Creepy feel the entire way, the cabin didn’t help ease that feeling.

#40 – Zealand – Really pretty, gradual trail most of the way from Zealand Rd. Summit was unremarkable except for the sign.

#39 – Galehead – Exactly like Zealand, but with a great hut at the base of Frost Trail w/ coffee and baked goods and a killer view from the deck

#38 – Owl’s Head – Its like climbing a giant pile of rip rap – none of it blazed – and no summit marker. But its on the list, so we climb it!

#37 – Willey – 100% humidity this day. The stairs weren’t bad at all, the last .75 mile after the stairs felt like an eternity.

#36 – N. Twin – Sketchiest water crossing I’ve had so far. Cold, windy, and rainy meant no views and saving S. Twin for another day. Hatched my brilliant idea for an Owls Head, S. Twin, Bonds Traverse hike on the descent of this one. I must’ve been dehydrated.

#35 – Passaconaway – I remember really liking this one, but I don’t recall any details – was going through a tough time in my life, I think I was just climbing on autopilot and did a ton of thinking.

#34 – Whiteface – See Passaconaway – I think there may have been a cool metal ladder welded into the rock. Also I may have seen a bear in the parking lot – again the details are fuzzy.

#33 – Carter Dome – One of the worst weather hikes we’ve ever had. Blizzard conditions in March. Zeta Pass had some crazy snow drifts with a considerable drop off which got our blood pumping. This hike is best when combined with Mt. Hight, which we didn’t do this time around due to the weather.

#32 – Hancock – Great views of the Arrow Slide on the way in (need to climb that one of these days) and some pretty steep, eroded sections close to the summit. Didn’t see too many people this hike which made for a nice quiet day.

#31– S. Hancock – Summit outlook has some great views of Carrigan and the ridge walk between Hancock and South is one of my favorite stretches of trail.

#30 – Pierce – The bugs were bad and the views were not great (by Presidential standards). Was cool to hike on Crawford Path – the oldest maintained hiking trail in the US.

#29 – Tom – This was my first winter hike and I instantly fell in love with not having to deal with rocks, roots and mud. Tom made for a nice “easy” gradual hike with some great butt sliding in places on the A-Z trail.

#28 – Washington – One of my all time favorite hikes (combined with Monroe) as it was Flags on the 48 and we had gorgeous weather, but the summit was chaos between, cars, the cog, a 45 minute line to get a summit pic (we opted out). Something about a snack bar and flush toilets above 6000 ft. don’t quite fit.

#27 – Carrigan – Sawyer River Rd was closed which added ~ 4 miles to an already long hike. The observation deck was also closed for renovations which was a bit of a disappointment. This one is tops on my list to hike again as I know its a crowd favorite.

#26- Field – This was Jen’s first winter hike and we combined it with Avalon which was our first 52WAV. Some great memorable moments on this hike together including sharing whiskey nips in zero degree temps on the outlook at the summit.

#25 – Cannon – I was a bit of a rookie when I hiked this one (4th one) and went up Lonesome Lake to Kinsman Ridge and then descended Hi-Cannon, which was a dumb move due to the steep, technical nature of the trail. On a positive note, its how is I learned about the Terrifying 25.

#24 – Jackson – Thought this one was easy, partially because I went into it thinking it would be like the other Presidentials (its not) but also because we only did this one as an out and back on Webster -Jackson trial, without doing Mt. Webster. Definitely need to go back and hit Webster and the cliffs. Views were great and good “bang for your buck”.

#23 – Garfield – This was a great, relatively mellow, long gradual hike until the last .10 towards the summit. I probably should’ve have been hiking as I just had a relatively minor surgical procedure on my legs 2 days before which caused my legs to go numb halfway through – but at this point I was obsessed.

#22 – Osceola – My second ever 4K and the only hike where I took my then 6 and 9 year old girls. I was determined to get to the summit, which admittedly wasn’t that hard – different story for two kids who were only mildly interested in the snacks that were promised. We ran out of snacks 2 hours in – there was lots of crying and complaining – some of that by the girls. They haven’t been to the top of a 4K with me since. 😦

#21 – S. Kinsman – Did this as part of an overnight at the Lonesome Lake hut which was my first hut experience – loved it. Also went into thinking Fishin’ Jimmy was going to be terrible, I actually really liked it. The summit of S. Kinsman was good, but feel like the ledge views from North were slightly better.

#20 – N. Kinsman – Great views of Kinsman Pond, Cannon and Franconia Ridge from a ledge make this a very memorable peak. As much as I liked Fishin’ Jimmy on the way up, the descent was a bit technical and tedious – still a great overnight hike with one of my oldest friends.

#19 – Liberty – The summit looks like the peak in The Lion King where Simba is held up for the rest of the kingdom to see. Liberty Spring trail on the descent still remains one of my least favorite trails in the Whites – miles of step boulder step downs. Lots of swearing because I left my poles in the car.

#18 – Flume – Took the Flume Slide up which was memorable, but not scary in my opinion. Its almost completely in the trees which doesn’t make it feel like a true slide, whatever that is. It was definitely steep and wet everywhere, but never was a scared that I would fall. The summit of Flume is beautiful but small.

#17 – S. Carter – Something about the Carters I just love – a bit of an enchanted forest vibe all around – it seems like you are miles away from civilization. We hiked this one on 9/11 and hit Flags on the 48 just in time to help them raise the flag on the very small summit. Such a great tradition and something I will never forget.

#16 – M. Carter – Hit this one right after Middle when the flag was still flying. Although the very small summit was crowded we found a little East looking overlook for two to have our lunch. We hatched a plan to also hit Hight which would add to an already long day (we hit Imp Face on the way up too). So glad we did as it put a cap on a very memorable and emotional day.

#15 – Lincoln – The Franconia Ridge hike is tops on my list of must do, repeat hikes. This is one where the forecast was completely wrong. 60-65, clear sun at home (2 hours away) low 40s, completely fogged in and sustained 40 MPH winds on the ridge. Still loved Falling Waters trail and our short side trip to Shining Rock.

#14 – Lafayette – the plan was to see peak foliage mid week to avoid the crowds. We were 0-2 on that as the summit ridge was completed socked in and I swear we saw ~1000 people on the ridge on a Tuesday in October (Covid factor). Must go back on a clear day, probably not much we can do about the crowds as I know this is one of the most popular hikes in NH.

#13 – Madison – The plan was to bag both Madison and Adams on the same day via the Airline Trail. 55 degrees and mix of sun and clouds at the trailhead quickly turned to cloudy, cold and 50 MPH sustained winds above tree line so we made our way to Madison Springs to regroup. Airline is a very cool trail above tree line where its turns into Knife Edge with amazing views into Kings Ravine. We made the wise decision to only bag Madison on this day – giant rock scramble up to the summit. Spent exactly 25 seconds at the summit due to lack of views and crazy winds.

#12 – Wildcat D – My final of my first round of the 48! Gloomy Fall day at the summit but my parents and kids braved the elements and took the chairlift up to meet me at the summit with champaign and noise makers – I may have cried. The actual summit near the observation deck was a bit anti climatic due to the cairn being located under the deck and lack of views on this day. Still a great one to end on.

#11 – S. Twin – I still say the .8 mile section of the Twinway from Galehead hut is one of the steepest non-scrambles I’ve been on – I think the elevation gain is over 1000 feet. Luckily we were early on in our 2 day Owl’s Head/ Bonds Traverse and had a great breakfast and rest at the hut after staying at 13 Falls the night before. Beautiful 360 degree views at the top with a clear view of what was ahead of us made this summit memorable. Glad we saved this one instead of trudging on in the rain when we did North Twin.

#10 – Jefferson – Caps Ridge is a great trail that makes you work for every foot of the 2.5 miles up. The Caps themselves really consist of three very short scrambles – only a few dicey sections. Every NH hiker needs to try this one. The views from the outlook at the Pot Holes are fantastic and you are above tree line for almost half of the hike.

#9 – Monroe – Ammonoosic Ravine Trail is one of my all time favorite trails. This was just and epic day all around, perfect weather, Flags on the 48, and deciding to hike Washington when we got to Lake in the Clouds because it was “only a mile away” even though Wash was my original plan to finish on. So glad we did this. Zero wind, no clouds and mid 50’s in mid- September – doesn’t get much better than that!

#8 – Eisenhower – Jen’s first major hike in many years and relatively early on in our relationship. She fell in love twice on this mountain I like to say 🙂 I have such great memories of this hike but what stands out to me the most was the post hike “tailgate” in the sunny parking lot with sangria. We sat there from hours just chatting, drinking, eating and just feeling so completely fulfilled after a great hike. Such a beautiful day!

#7 – Moosilauke – My first, and boy I had no idea what an affect this mountain would have on me. My pack must’ve weighed 40 pounds as I was hiking in April on my 40 birthday. I was nervous and excited and felt like I was on another planet when I got above tree line. I had zero idea what I was doing but being out in the wilderness and only seeing a handful of other people and just feeling the so many emotions at the accomplishment of getting up there and the absolute magnitude of the beauty at the summit made me realize I belong on these trails and I would be back, many, many times. I was hooked!

#6- Bond – An amazing summit on its own, but given its neighbors hard to rate this one above them. I remember thinking that we reached the summit from the North much faster than we thought. Great views at the top and we had it mostly to ourselves. The descent off Bond towards Bondcliff was not my favorite, but that’s not Bond’s fault that’s on me for planning an insane 2 day mini-Pemi.

#5 – Adams – the toughest day hike I’ve done to date. This mountain kicked my ass, but boy was it worth it. There are not easy approaches to this mountain but we took Spur Trail which was definitely the road less traveled as we didn’t see any other hikers on this section at all – great views from Knights Castle. Another amazing weather day with warm temps, minimal wind and great views of The Presi Range. Saving Kings Ravine and the Subway for another day, but hear they are must dos!

#4 – N. Tripyramid – The North Slide is no joke! I climbed this solo which added to the danger of an already pretty dicey trail. The wide open exposure of the slide makes this a bit scarier than Flume or Owl’s Head slides, but there are only a few very steep sections where you need three points of contact and are worried about loose rock sending you down for a tumble. So glad I did it and the views from the slide are amazing. The views from the slide and the adreneline rush bumped this one into my top five for what is a pretty unremarkable summit.

#3 – Bondcliff – The image of a hiker standing out on the rock jutting out just below the summit of Bondcliff is quintessential White Mountain hiking and for very good reason. Standing on top of Bondcliff is one of the few places in the White Mountains where you truly can only see vast wilderness and no man made structures. It is remote, wild, rugged and one of the most beautiful places I’ve been lucky enough to step foot on. Its also extremely difficult to get to which adds to the reward of an already special place. Bondcliff came at the end of a two day, insane mileage backpacking trip Jen and I accomplished which I still say is the hardest physical accomplishment of my life, and we were exhausted and delirious so we need to go back to truly give this special place its due.

#2 – W. Bond – I love W. Bond. It has a cool little spur trail leading up to it and once you are there its a small, pyramid shaped summit only big enough for one or two people with 360 degree views of the Bonds and Pemi Wilderness. I was emotional just standing on top of the tallest rock on the summit taking in the views of where we had hiked from and the magic we had in front of us. Words cannot express the beauty surrounding this mountain and its a place that makes me proud to call NH home.

#1 – Wildcat A – What?! Something about this little non descript summit instantly found a place in my heart. The summit itself had the smallest summit cairn that I had ever seen – which was perfect for the occasion. It was my penultimate summit in my first round of the 48 and I had mixed emotions that my quest was coming to an end, excited, sad, nervous that my parents and kids would be waiting for a long time on the cold, cloudy summit of Wildcat D where they rode the chairlift up to celebrate my final summit with me. The climb up Wildcat Ridge was a bit of an ass kicker, the view was completely socked in with clouds but I love that the sad little summit cairn was there greeting us like “What do you want from me?” In my write up of my final hike on this site I compared it to the cool kid in high school that was cool without trying or knowing it and I stand by that. Also a must repeat for me to truly enjoy the view and perhaps camp at the not so stealth site near the summit.