NH 4000-Footers Ranked by Difficulty

By this ranking, Mount Jackson is the easiest of New Hampshire's 48 4,000-footers: its easiest mapped route (Mount Jackson via Webster-Jackson Trail) is 4.9 miles with 2,140 ft of elevation gain, about 2-5 hours of hiking. "Easiest" still means a real mountain hike: check conditions and carry the Ten Essentials.

Owl's Head ranks hardest: its easiest mapped route (Owl's Head via Black Pond Bushwhack) runs 15.7 miles with 3,122 ft of gain, roughly 7-12 hours. The ranking reflects effort and terrain, not weather, so an exposed summit on a bad day can be harder than its rank suggests.

Each peak is scored on the easiest route we have mapped for it, using that route's own line: elevation gain, distance, and the steepest quarter mile of trail. Gain counts for more than distance, a very steep pitch adds to the score, and a short list of routes known for scrambles or ledges gets a further bump, because elevation data is too coarse to see them. We tuned the weights so the ranking agrees with published difficulty ratings and with the peaks experienced hikers consistently call easiest and hardest. Peaks are then grouped into tiers from Easy to Most demanding.

There are 48 official 4,000-footers in New Hampshire, as defined by the Appalachian Mountain Club's Four Thousand Footer Committee. A peak must rise at least 200 ft above any ridge connecting it to a higher 4,000-footer to qualify. Hiking all of them is the classic "NH48" peak-bagging list.

Tecumseh, Tom, Jackson and Pierce keep their summer difficulty best, because their trailheads (the Waterville Valley ski area and Route 302 in Crawford Notch) are plowed. Hale, Zealand, Garfield and Osceola get much harder: their access roads are gated in winter, which adds miles of road walking to routes that rank easy in summer.

Each peak here is scored on its own out-and-back route, and Bond, West Bond and Bondcliff sit deep in the Pemigewasset Wilderness. Most hikers do them together as one long traverse or on an overnight instead, so the single-peak mileage in the table is not the typical day. Plan them as a group.