Easiest/Hardest 4000 Footer?

[Peakbagr]

Easiest: Cascade
Hardest: Emmons via Seward or Couchsacagra.

 

[J.P.]

Rating just the difficulty of the hike to get to the peak without considering the weather conditions, etc. I'd say:
Easiest - Slide mountain in the Catskills. It's just a pleasant walk in the woods.
Hardest - Emmons via Seward and Donaldson.

 

[Head]

Easiest: Hale-Birdman and I cruised up and back in 2.75 hrs...and we aren't fast!

Hardest (because of distance): Middle Carter (We did all of the Wildcats, Carter, and South Carter before topping off on that one...PHEWW!)

Hardest (because of winter weather): Mt Marcy (2 winter attempts: 1st was -35 near the summit, 2nd was 70+ mph wind gusts on a 10 degree day on summit)

Hardest (because of summer weather): The Santanoni Range-became extremely dehydrated on a 90+ degree day with 90% humidity

Hardest (because I was outta shape!): Emmons via Seward and Donaldson

 

[dr_wu002]

Osceola (via. Tripoli Road) is the easiest 4000' peak that I've hiked so far. It's a delightful hike but really easy.

Haystack was a nightmare, hiking up the south side with heavy packs, high winds and light snow Memorial Day Weekend 2004. I can't wait to do it again -- best hike ever -- but I won't take my heavy pack up, at least that trail (it's easier hiking from Little Haystack).

 

[Eric Savage]

I have done all of the New England 4Ks and here are my thoughts (non-winter):

NH easiest: Pierce, Osceola or even Moosilauke
NH/NE hardest: Bonds (but very rewarding) or Owl's Head

ME easiest: Redington if you can drive in far enough, if not maybe Bigelows
ME hardest: North Brother

VT/NE easiest: Camel's Hump
VT hardest: Killington

Catskills: both easy

Given my few experiences in the Daks, they seem to be the toughest range in general, due to the distances if nothing else, though there are a few easier ones (like Porter).

 

[poison ivy]

Hardest of all time: Definitely Mt. Marcy. Half-way down I swore I'd hang up my hiking boots & spend my weekends on my porch laughing at others who hiked. (Fortunately, I got over that.)

Hardest in NH: Madison thanks to that blasted Osgood Ridge Trail & an injury. Ugh.

Easiest:The VT 4K's have all struck me as being very easy especially when compared to trails in the Whites.

Easiest in NH: Osceola

- Ivy

 

[jfb]

The hardest one I can remember would be Madison via the Howker Ridge trail. I expected the summit to appear shortly after treeline, it was further away than I thought it would be.

Easiest was Lincoln. After summitting Lafayette, Lincoln is just a bump on the ridge on the way down.

 

[kltilton]

Easiest has to be Pierce for me so far.

Lafayette was pretty hard because it was my first time above tree line during the winter. I remember Madison via the Osgood Trail being pretty tough though too.

I have hiked and run up Washington many times and it can be tougher than all or fairly easy depending on the weather.

 

[truepatriot09]

Easiest: Pierce
Hardest (mentally): Canon. Only because we were being very ambitious and wanted to do Canon and the Kinsman's in winter by going over the Cannon Balls. It snowed and snowed and snowed and by the time we hit Fishin' Jimmy, we didn't have anything left so we went down.
Hardest (physically): 1 day presi traverse (does that count?).

 

[1ADAM12]

Easiest without a doubt.....Cascade and Porter.....also Marshall

Hardest well I have a few.....Couch......Haystack over memorial weekend with 4-6 feet of packed snow....post holed most of the way also I would have to say Redfield before they removed all the blowdown and Cliff for being so tedious fighting the blowdown.

Although I have had some tough summits I enjoy every mountain that I have been on. Its the physical accomplishment I think!

ADAM

 

[askus3]

Hardest: North Tripyramid. That slide was absolutely treacherous. Definitely the longest, most dangerous trail I was on in the Whites. That was scary. I was on all fours for a sustained elevation gain with some flimsy roots as my only grip from falling into oblivion. Click on photo attachment below to see. I have not done Huntington Ravine but Madison Gulf Trail & king Ravine were fun and don't come near the danger level I was challenged with on that infamous slide. Honorable mention: a much shorter but dangerous icy patch on the Kinsman Ridge Trail ascending Cannon from Coppermine col in March. (I did that same stretch in other seasons and had no problem & uneventful), Flume Slide in a light drizzle & Wildcat "D" & Wildcat on a 90 degree death march with full packs.

Easiest: Galehead. Out the hut door and your there! Monroe gets honorable mention for the same reason.

 

[Mark Schaefer]

Two tales of the same 4K

It was the easiest of hikes, it was the hardest of hikes, it was the same hike.

Disclaimer: I have climbed all 48 New York peaks on the 4K list, but only a dozen of the New England 4Ks.

As already stated the two Catskill 4Ks are among the easiest. On their shortest trails each can be climbed in under an hour. My best time on Slide was 40 minutes so that qualifies as my easiest.

My hardest hike that included a 4K was also Slide. Perhaps I am taking a little liberty with the question, but it re-emphasizes the point several others have made concerning conditions.

I started up Slide 40 minutes before sunrise in late April. I arrived on top just as the sun rose, but that was not the objective. Slide was just the first of 8 peaks that day. The others are only 3.5Ks, four of them trailless. I finished the hike 40 minutes after sunset. Elapsed time hiking was just over 15 hours. It is hard to say how many miles as I got badly off route twice, and I flailed around in heavy thickets on the three of the summits. It had been a harsh winter and much snow remained. I fell through dozens and dozens of spruce and balsam traps, more than on any of my winter hikes.

The hike was harder than my mudfests in the Sewards and Santanonis. Harder than the long summer slogs to Marcy and Allen, with and without black flies. It was harder than the high winds on Whiteface (Adk), and harder than the much greater vertical climbs on Washington and Katahdin. Perhaps it is cheating to include the added affect of those non-4Ks, especially since they came after the easy climb of Slide. But if I had reversed the loop and finished on Slide it would have been just as hard.

It does show that the easiest 4K can become a bear of a hike depending on conditions, especially with a whacky route.

 

[forestgnome]

This thread shows the tremendous effects of both weather and state-of-mind. Everyone's hardest hike seems to involve one or both. When both are working against you, beware! I have termed my hardest hike "The Mt Monroe Meltdown". It was late May. The plan was up Ammonoosuc Ravine, Crawford Path to Edmunds Path, then descend. I was warned by a forecast and two descending parties on Ammonoosuc that a lightning storm was probable, but continiued. I saw a dark cloud mass far off to the southwest,above me a thick haze. "No problem!", I thought. Somewhere between Monroe and Franklin it nailed me, even though the sky looked the same. In a matter of minutes I was experiencing wind-driven hail. Then the lightning came. I was terrified. The wind peeled off my rain poncho with ease as I scurried down to treeline, where I wimpered and thought about what I'd do with my life if I survived.
By contrast, I've enjoyed the same route on a cool, sunny September day. It seemed very easy, didn't want it to end!

 

[amstony]

Easiest was Killington in Vermont, practically ran to the top......

Most difficult for me was Adams, when I did Madison and Adams together last August. I'll never do it again, until of course I go do it again in a few months!!

 

[moose_mckenzie]

Easy -- Phelps from Van Ho trail

Hard -- Street Bushwhack from N-LP

 

[Stan]

Easiest: Tecumseh, Porter, Cascade

Hardest: For me, the hardest were Moosilauke - I was sick as a dog that day but thanks to the hike and a serving of Immodium Plus early on, I ended up enjoying it - and the Tripyramids - it wasn't the slide, I swear I dropped an orange about 3/4 up the North Slide and it's still rolling, it was the mosquitos, black flies, deer flies, gnats etc. ... they were so thick that I started to ward them off with my iron frying pan and hikers could hear the clunk and the clink as far away as Passaconaway ... then we groveled like moose in the stream below the South Slide ... ahhh! what a relief when it was over.

 

[jrbren]

Easiest: Cascade in ADKs, even in winter.
Hardest: Probably Emmons because the Seward, Donaldson and Emmons hike is very difficult due to its length and badly eroded and unpleasant heard paths. Other approaches to Emmons would be long bushwacks via the valleys. It was also a hot day when I did this hike. Mud galore !

Obviously most peoples answers will depend on the conditions when they hiked them.

Adams in NH is usually physically tough due to elevation gain but very enjoyable for obvious reasons, so I do not think of it as "difficult" because it lacks the drudgery of some of the long tree mountain hikes in the ADKs. I aborted one attempt on Adams a couple of years ago in April because I could not stand up straight due to high winds above King Ravine on the North side, so I tried to sneak around back via the Hut route (I was coming up from Appalachia, Air line trail). But here I found deep snow and unpredictable stability, ie, one step might be one boulder, the next might be between boulders where you punch through up to your waste or worse. I could not tell which step would be what because snow covered everything on the South side approach. So I saw some people on Madison and thought "good, broken trail", and summitted Madison that day instead. So Adams gets a nod but for different reasons then Emmons. In general I would say any lesser traveled eastern US 4K peak with an unbroken trail will be a challenge in the winter, moreso then the most difficult eastern US 4K peak with a broken trail or summer hike. Notwithstanding the Presidentials in high winds and otherwise uninhabitable weather. I have not even attempted those in Janauary & February, April is interesting enough for me!

Happy New Year,
John

 

[amstony]

HARDEST: For me the hardest was Adams. I did Madison and Adams together last August. I'll never hike Adams with its ever shifting rocks again, at least until the next time I hike it....

EASIEST:
In NH my easiest was Liberty, I did it as my first 4K and did not know any better....

In Vermont Killington was a walk in the park, definitely the easiest hike via the Bucklin Trail. I would use it for trail running practice; it was just a real nice, pleasant, enjoyable hike.

 

[SteveHiker]

Hardest: North Tripyramid. That slide was absolutely treacherous. Definitely the longest, most dangerous trail I was on in the Whites. That was scary. I was on all fours for a sustained elevation gain with some flimsy roots as my only grip from falling into oblivion. Click on photo attachment below to see.

I'd agree that it one of the more difficult trails. But I thought it was one of the more fun. You really have to pay attention to what you're doing and plan out each step. It's a little harder than the Flume Slide because there's less to hang on to.

 

[marty]

Easiest - Waumbeck (NH) and Redington (ME) - not too steep, not too far.

Hardest - surprisingly Moriah via Carter-Moriah from Gorham, NH. Conditions were wet and the numerous steep ledges were very tough to descend.