52 With A View...or no more views?

I hate to be too negative, but it seems like at least one of the NH "52 with a view" doesn't really have a view anymore. For example, I personally would argue that Staff King no longer has a qualified "view". The trees just obscure the view far too much these days.

How many others on the list have soon-to-be-diminished or already-diminished views? Trying to figure out which ones to visit sooner rather than later.

THE LIST:
http://www.mv.com/ipusers/fs/hike/lists/52view.html

By coincidence*, I climbed several of the mountains on that list last year.

I don’t remember much of a view from the actual summit of Hedgehog, though there were spectacular views all along the ledges en route to and from the summit. Ledges on East Royce had much better views than the view from the summit of West Royce, but the summit of East Royce was too well hidden to have views of its own.

I don’t think there was much of a view from the summits of Resolution or Stairs, either, except toward each other. And I wouldn’t swear that the summit of Stairs wasn’t hidden back in the woods somewhere, rather than on the cliff top, so if it was, there was zero view from its summit.

I didn’t figure out where the viewpoint at the top of Square Ledge was. I thought I had climbed onto the big rock, but it seemed covered with trees when I was there, too thick to bother trying to push through (especially with rain on the way, as it was).

No view from Smarts without the fire tower, but I suppose that doesn’t disqualify it.

Regarding peaks I climbed before last year, there wasn’t anything wrong with the view from Carr, so I don’t know why it would have been dropped from the list. And there were much better views from ledges on South Doublehead than there was from the top of North Doublehead.


* Or maybe it was my subconscious at work, who knows.

Now that I think about it, aren’t the mountains on that list all supposed to have trails to their tops? Resolution and Paugus, to name two, are both bushwhacks. To their summits, anyway.

The best views on E. Royce are located on a set of ledges NW of the summit. There is a rough trail that leads to them, about a 5 minute walk. It is about a 270' view from the Caters, Presis, Mahoosucs, and Old Spec. Very nice!!

Unless you manage to climb up on one of the concrete foundation pillars from the old fire tower and then stand on tiptoe, you won't get a view from Carr. It's grown up too tall around the summit, much like Hale.

I like the view from E Royce, Caribou, and Speckled in Evans Notch,but of course, they are in Maine....

How about this? Is anyone willing to help me figure out the quality of views near or at the summit for each of these 52?

Rating Options: (pick one)
1 - Excellent
2 - Good or OK
3 - Poor or None

Avalon - excellent
Baldface, North - excellent
Baldface, South - excellent
Black-Benton - excellent
Black-Jackson - good/OK (unconfirmed; may be excellent)
Blueberry - good/OK
Cardigan - excellent
Cherry-Owl's Head - excellent
Chocorua - excellent
Crawford - excellent
Cube - good/OK
Dickey/Welch - excellent
Doublehead-Jackson - excellent
Eagle Crag-Meader - excellent
Eastman - excellent
Hayes - good/OK
Hedgehog - excellent
Hibbard - good/OK
Horn - excellent
Imp Face - excellent
Iron - good/OK (unconfirmed; may be excellent)
Israel - excellent
Jennings - good/OK
Kearsarge - excellent
Kearsarge North - excellent
Magalloway - excellent
Moat, North - excellent
Moat, South - excellent
Monadnock - excellent
Parker - excellent
Paugus - poor/none
Pemigewasset - good/OK
Percy, North - excellent
Potash - excellent
Resolution - good/OK
Roberts - good/OK
Royce, West - good/OK
Sandwich Dome - excellent
Shaw - good/OK
Shelburne Moriah - excellent
Sister, Middle - excellent
Smarts - excellent
Square Ledge-Sandwich - good/OK (unconfirmed; may be excellent)
Stairs - poor/none (unconfirmed; may be good/OK)
Starr King - poor/none
Stinson - good/OK
Success - excellent
Sugarloaf-Groveton - excellent
Sugarloaf-Twin Mtn - excellent
Tremont - good/OK
Webster - excellent
Willard - excellent

NOTE: This list last updated at 2:52pm on 2/19 based on your feedback and by looking at the latest WMG.

roadtripper said:

How about this? Is anyone willing to help me figure out the quality of views near or at the summit for each of these 52?

Click to expand...

Blueberry 1/2 close to 360 but growing in
Moat, North/Moat, South 1 bare summit
Paugus/Resolution 4 trail not to true summit which is scrubby, growing in at trail highpoint
Pemigewasset 1/2/3 excellent from cliff, so-so up notch from summit, none in many directions
Roberts 1/3 great S views on way up, good N view beyond summit, summit viewless
Shaw 2 outlook in one direction
Sister, Middle 1 360 from tower base
Stinson 2 views N & S from multiple points

RoySwkr said:

Stinson 2 views N & S from multiple points

Click to expand...

Here are some photos from Stinson (September 2010)

Tim

roadtripper said:

How about this? Is anyone willing to help me figure out the quality of views near or at the summit for each of these 52?

Rating Options: (pick one)
1 - Excellent
2 - Good or OK
3 - Poor or None

Click to expand...

Black (Benton) - Excellent views east to Moosilauke, and other views en route
Cube - Good views; fun ledges to explored, especially on the unofficial north summit
Resolution - Not the best viewing weather, but I'd say "2 - good"
Royce, West - Good/okay. East Royce is much better, even if it is in Maine.
Sister, Middle - Good/excellent. Pretty close to 360* views, IIRC.
Smarts - Excellent from the firetower, especially if you know the local landscape. Views from the southern Green Mtns to the Whites
Stairs - Okay views, but limited. More interesting to look at (from say Crawford), than to look from
Starr King - poor/none
Stinson - I'd say poor. It's mostly grown in, and what views there were are narrow and/or obstructed.

Black Mountain (Benton) is open ledges on top with spectacular views almost all the way around:


Jennings has a viewpoint looking south only, but with a good view towards the lakes region:


Success is open and flat with low scrub offering excellent views all around of the Mahoosucs:


Note: be sure to visit the Outlook off the Success Trail:


Tremont has a limited viewpoint south (we couldn't find the north viewpoint, it's off trail somewhere) but it's a great view:

Also, anyone have any idea why Pine Mountain isn't included on that list? That mountain near Dolly Copp campground is fantastic.

Nice thread

The 52Wav was started up by Lib Bates and the Over the Hill Hikers, from Sandwich NH
back in the late 1980's to offer alternative peaks, with views, in New Hampshire, to a hiking crowd that was slowing down a bit.

There is no doubt that many of the Viewpoints that were stellar in their day have become overgrown to a point and that the list may need some updating.


In the last couple of years there have been a few changes to the list with the subtraction of Wolf and Carr and the addition of Roberts and Black/Jackson

The fact remains however that it is Libs List and change comes slowly.

For more information about this check out this link to a new book about Lib and the Over The Hill Hikers..pretty good stuff

http://www.overthehillhikers.blogspot.com

that being said

Martha/Cherry has a fine viewpoint
Eagle Crag and Meader both worthy on an excellent ridewalk
Eastman a fine outlook
Potash excellent as well

roadtripper said:

Also, anyone have any idea why Pine Mountain isn't included on that list? That mountain near Dolly Copp campground is fantastic.

Click to expand...

I agree about the great views from Pine Mtn. I seem to recall that the compilers of this list impose a 2,500 ft. cut-off, which excludes many other NH peaks with trails and with views better than some on the current list.

I am also going to disagree with Stinson being "poor". I thought the panorama from the old tower site was simply delightful.

Brian

Starr King not so bad in winter. I got this shot from a point along the trail just a bit to the east of the true summit.
Maybe not great; but O.K., I think. Perhaps worth a 2.5 rating rather than 3?


View southeast from Starr King Summit by Elizabeth W.K., on Flickr

Here’s Stairs Mountain from Resolution:



and Resolution from Stairs:



Wonalancet Hedgehog, Nanamocomuck, and Passaconaway from Hedgehog:



and Hancock and Carrigain from Potash: