4,802 ft | Moosilauke | 0 routes
Feels like 60°F
~4.4°F drop per 1,000ft
Best Hiking Window
Friday is the clear choice — dry trails, light winds (6–31 mph at summit), and 15+ hours of daylight allow for a comfortable, unhurried ascent. Early morning or mid-morning starts provide the best margin before any front-related clouds thicken. Avoid Saturday entirely due to severe weather risk; Sunday remains wet and cold.
Trail: Beaver Brook Trail, herd path, Carriage Road, South Peak Spur, Glencliff Trail, Road Walk, Warren Recreational Rail Trail, Wachipauka Pond Trail, herd path
Conditions: Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Snow - Wet/Sticky, Mud - Significant, Snow - Spring Snow
“Epic day to grid out Moosilauke! We started hiking at BB at 5AM and finished around 12:30. Skies opened up within a minute or two of us finishing hike-perfect timing. We stayed dry all morning and had great views on Moosilauke summits. Much less snow than anticipated. Was glad to have boots but trailrunners would be okay already if you lean that way and don't mind soggy feet. Carried spikes, only a few very short sections where snow was unavoidable. Also carried trailrunners which we swapped to at 4200' on Glencliff for rest of day. First traces were at 4K'. Slightly breezy and chilly but pleasant in the alpine. Waterfalls were gorgeous on way up. Snuck up on a snowshoe hare just past main summit sitting right on the trail. Only 4th time I've seen one in 11 years of Whites hiking and two of those sightings were in the last ten days! Mt. Blue herd path is obvious to find as you pass it and easy to follow to summit with good footing. We road walked to skip the wide crossing on Town Line trail. Jumped on the rail trail we saw on the map and saw many bags of trash that had been dragged from the adjacent neighborhood and shredded in the woods and on trail. Saw one overflowing dumpster might have been the culprit... That's a bummer that's how bears get habituated and we end up with pemi situations:(. Enjoyed a snack break at pond for a few minutes before the mosquitoes appeared and we bugged out. Took the herdpath at north end of pond and it is in good shape. Spits you out at the south end to avoid any out-and-backs. Awesome spot. Really fun traverse and we saw a 1:1 ratio of hikers (section hiker) to snowshoe hares on one of New Hampshire's finest 4K peaks over fifteen miles-so that's a great Sunday!!!”
Trail: Gorge Brook Trail, abandoned Gorge Brook Trail, abandoned Gorge Brook Slide Trail, Carriage Road, bushwhack
Conditions: Dry Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable
“A FINE day in the forest for after work vert. Salami's first hike after an extended break! Nothing really out of the ordinary to note here, conditions are very good throughout maintained trail corridors. Abandoned Gorge Brook has seen significant blowdowns overwinter and what was a borderline trail to avoid people/dogs on has now been more or less reclaimed to a point not worth taking. Passable? Sure. But too many obstacles. Far more efficient now to just take the trail. As a total spur of the moment idea at last sure water we opted to take the abandoned Gorge Brook Slide trail. "It's about 0.4 to the Carriage Road and 1000ft of vert" - to which Salami replied "OK SOUNDS FUN" (this detail is important in a minute). Having been on this route at least a half dozen times, no real change in it, its still incredibly interpretive, slicker than snot black moss and almost entirely a bushwhack with some old school blazes of reassurance. FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER... Salami states "Wow this is a calf burner" to which I replied " I DID SAY 1000 VERT IN 0.4 - 0.3 really with the approach!" Much laughs ensued. Hit the Carriage Road below the lemon squeezer. A 5-10mph wind which was more of a suggestion (likely around 15) kept us moving up and over the summit and the bugs in the next town over.. Nothing really of note on the way out, about 4 people out enjoying the day.”
Trail: Gorge Brook Trail
Conditions: Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable
“First trail I've seen this spring completely free of any lingering snow/ice. Mud & wet to be expected after 36 hours of rain. Trail is in great shape.”
Conditions synthesized from: NWS Higher Summits Forecast, NOAA Open-Meteo, Mount Washington Observatory, NETC Trip Reports, NOHRSC Snow Depth, Mt. Washington Avalanche Center, USGS Stream Levels, OpenWeather Air Quality.
AI-generated from public data. Always verify conditions before heading out — backcountry weather can change quickly.
No routes available for this peak.
Westernmost 4000-footer with extensive above-treeline summit. Dartmouth Outing Club maintains trails and the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge.
Elevation
4,802 ft
Range
Moosilauke
Rank
#10 of 48
Difficulty
Moderate
Coordinates
44.0234, -71.8315
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6 incidents on file · 1 fatal · drawn from NH Fish and Game releases and regional reporting
71-year-old female hiker from Northampton, PA
Martha Keck, 71, fell while descending the Gorge Brook Trail on Mt. Moosilauke after summiting, suffering a serious but non-life-threatening injury. She was located 0.43 miles from the trailhead but could not complete the descent and requested assistance. A rescue crew of 13 Dartmouth College students and one bystander EMT carried her out to the trailhead by 6:30 p.m., where she was transported to Littleton Regional Healthcare.
Two hikers (names not released)
Two hikers making a 7-mile loop called for help from waist-deep snow on the Snapper Trail without snowshoes or headlamps and with low phone batteries; contact was lost when their batteries died. They later found a battery charger in their pack, reached a more packed trail, and were self-rescuing when located.
Yarrow Farnsworth, 47, of Groton, NH
Farnsworth suffered a lower-leg injury descending the Beaver Brook Trail from Mount Moosilauke, about 2.2 miles from the trailhead, and could not continue. Officers and Pemi Valley Search and Rescue carried her out by litter, arriving at 8:30 p.m. Wet weather had created slippery trail conditions.
25-year-old male from Lynn, Massachusetts
On May 20, 2023, Bruno Zotarelli, 25, slipped while descending Mount Moosilauke on the Gorge Brook Trail and suffered a lower-leg injury, rendering him unable to continue. Conservation Officers and 15 Pemi Valley Search and Rescue volunteers carried him 2.1 miles out in a rescue litter. He was transported by ambulance to Speare Memorial Hospital in Plymouth.
Marissa Avadanian, 22, of Morgantown, PA
Just before midnight Saturday July 24, 2021, Avadanian aggravated a prior injury on the Beaver Brook Trail while hiking with her brother and father. They had reached a point just below the summit before turning back when she began having difficulty.
Roy Sanford, 66, of Plymouth, MA
Sanford set out on an up-and-back hike via the Glencliff Trail on Sunday March 14, 2021. After he failed to return, a search was launched; per NHFG, officers 'experienced blizzard conditions with snow, heavy wind gusts and below freezing temperatures right from the trailhead.' The ground team observed foot tracks in fresh snow heading down Gorge Brook from the summit and reached his body at about 3:40 p.m. Monday March 15; he was pronounced dead at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.