The recommendation for doing long weekends works but you need to be careful to pair less aggressive hikes with longer hikes. West Bond is a real long day no matter how you approach it but you happen to have South Kinsman a nice nearby match for Sunday. Isolation has a nice match with South Carter. Cabot and Moriah is nice pairing. That just leaves Owls Head, which really is not that difficult as two 3/4s of the hike is on old railroad grades. The other thing folks forget is the length of daylight. Try to do you longest hikes in mid June to mid July so you have longer days.
These last 7 are going to be a PITA
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DayTrip
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These wouldn't be on my top list of worst day hikes. Both comfortable day trips when I did. Lincoln Woods trail head is just about 3 hours from my house and most of Owl's Head hike is pretty easy (and boring). Owl's Head might be one of my least favorite 48k's. Isolation I also found pretty comfortable. Was a longer ride but not an overly long hike.
The worst trail heads for me are the ones up Rte 16 like 19MB, Stony Brook and Carter-Moriah from Gorham. These are 235-245 mile drives for me whether I go Rte 93/Rte 3/Rte 115/ Rte 2 or Rte 495 / Rte 16 (which I almost always never do because traffic is almost always lousy with the single lane road). I don't drive overly fast, generally 5-7 mph above posted speed limit.
A reminder for those heading up from the south, learn the back roads, they can really help with dealing with seasonal traffic. The fastest approach to the whites is I 93, If you learn about Bear Notch Road and the Covered bridge that leads to Passaconaway road on the Eastern end of Kanc in combination with West Side Road in North Conway, you can get to the RT 16 trailheads a lot quicker via I 93 and the Kanc (except during leaf season). Trying to cut across from I93 to RT 16 south of the whites is far slower than you would think, far too much tourist traffic and unless you know the back roads through Madison to avoid the dreaded stretch of RT 16 from RT 125 west to North Conway you are in for slow ride up to North Conway (its worth finding the Madison shortcut). Others just use Bear Notch Road and head east to RT 16 and skip North Conway.
I 91 is a great way to head up from CT and western mass, the problem is going that last 30 or 40 miles east of I 91 is slow. I had a project near Greenfeld Mass last year and I tried every combination to get to Gorham NH and inevitably I91 to St Johnsbury and then I93 south to Littleton then RT302 east was consistently the fastest route. If I wanted to get to Franconia Notch there are backroads that come over from Hanover via Rumney and onto RT 25 but unless you run well above the speed limit on these rural roads there is no time savings. Rarely does it save anytime getting on RT 2 in St Johnsbury and heading east to access the northern presidentials.
There is no short cut for Cabot. Give it another 15 or 20 years and access from the west side of the ridge may reopen but for now the haul to the fish hatchery trailheads is a long one.
Car Navs tend to default to major highways so if you want to use the shortcuts its time to do some old fashioned research on a map.
I 91 is a great way to head up from CT and western mass, the problem is going that last 30 or 40 miles east of I 91 is slow. I had a project near Greenfeld Mass last year and I tried every combination to get to Gorham NH and inevitably I91 to St Johnsbury and then I93 south to Littleton then RT302 east was consistently the fastest route. If I wanted to get to Franconia Notch there are backroads that come over from Hanover via Rumney and onto RT 25 but unless you run well above the speed limit on these rural roads there is no time savings. Rarely does it save anytime getting on RT 2 in St Johnsbury and heading east to access the northern presidentials.
There is no short cut for Cabot. Give it another 15 or 20 years and access from the west side of the ridge may reopen but for now the haul to the fish hatchery trailheads is a long one.
Car Navs tend to default to major highways so if you want to use the shortcuts its time to do some old fashioned research on a map.
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1SlowHiker
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I get it. Coming from RI, I have the option of taking 95 through ME and picking up RT 16 vs. going up 93. This cuts off a lot of miles (& traffic I assume off season,otherwise going through N Conway would be slow) Plus my choice of worst 1 day hikes include a higher hiking to driving time ratio (slow hiker
).
DayTrip
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I get it. Coming from RI, I have the option of taking 95 through ME and picking up RT 16 vs. going up 93. This cuts off a lot of miles (& traffic I assume off season,otherwise going through N Conway would be slow) Plus my choice of worst 1 day hikes include a higher hiking to driving time ratio (slow hiker
Not sure exactly where you are in RI but try going up Rte 146 to Rte 290 to Rte 495 and Rte 3 to Rte 93. It seems way longer (and probably is longer mileage wise) but it is a faster ride (although Worcester can be tough at rush hour). I do that "corridor" a lot for work (I work in Smithfield). Rte 16 is just a brutal ride killer. Always one guy going 35 mph all the way up. Rte 95/128 isn't exactly fun either unless it is 2 AM, and even then I've hit brutal traffic jams believe it or not.
Sematary
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Alex, I pm'd you and sent an email to your regular email address. Check your spam folder if you don't see it, but I'm def. interested in doing that Isolation hike.
alexmtn
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Hi, your e-mail was indeed in my spam folder - thanks for suggesting that I check it. I'll reply there. In the meantime, just click the "Isolation 4/2" link to get full info on the trip . . .
Alex
Alex
Stan
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Keep in mind the leave no stragglers approach, it would place you on a path, so to speak, to the NE 100.
Too late now but West Bond in conjunction with the other Bonds is logical.
Cannon Ball (that still on the list?) in conjunction with either Cannon or Kinsman and The Horn as part of a Cabot hike.
East Sleeper in conjunction with a Whiteface-Passaconaway loop.
Hight, though not on the list is not to be missed, when you do Carter; a more leisurely perk of liberation from the 24 hour day trip.
Maine and Vermont won't be any more convenient than the Whites.
Too late now but West Bond in conjunction with the other Bonds is logical.
Cannon Ball (that still on the list?) in conjunction with either Cannon or Kinsman and The Horn as part of a Cabot hike.
East Sleeper in conjunction with a Whiteface-Passaconaway loop.
Hight, though not on the list is not to be missed, when you do Carter; a more leisurely perk of liberation from the 24 hour day trip.
Maine and Vermont won't be any more convenient than the Whites.
Sematary
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I've done Hight and Carter (actually a couple of different times). I'm missing Moriah and South Carter on that range so that will be a single hike - a tough one but worth doing.
I don't know if maybe I accidentally did East Sleeper or the Cannon Balls at any point. I've done North Kinsman and Cannon so it's possible I guess. lol
Maine and Vermont def. aren't any more convenient but after NH, the goal is to finish all the NE 4000 footers. I never really thought about it enough in the past to consider the top 100 when I was planning my hikes. /shrug
1SlowHiker
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I'm in Portsmouth (aquidneck Island). I think too far east for your suggestion, I'll sometimes pick up 495 off Rt 24 if I think I'll hit Boston commuter traffic or 95 (old 128 beltway) around Boston. I don't usually do the ME to Rt 16 route unless its in the middle of the night. Thanks for the info though.
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