Atlas Guides/Guthook's Guides -- Hiking Apps
Nice post! I'd have bet money Mahoosuc Notch to Mahoosuc Arm would have been in the top three. It was steep but a very fun climb.
Flatfoot
AT 2013, GA->ME
PCT 2017, Mexico->Canada
I lost road access to part of my AT corridor boundary in Maine at Sawyer Notch. Guess what my choices are to access Sawyer Notch
Section 10 from 1932.2 to 1932.7 with 799 change -- Sawyer Notch to Moody Mtn (1300' in 1.3m)
Section 15 from 1930.8 to 1931.3 with 754 change -- Hall Mtn Lean-to to Sawyer Notch (1530' in 1.3m)
If someone thinks the trail is steep in that area, the corridor is even worse.
I'm glad to see confirmation that hiking in Maine and NH is a lot harder than I'm used to. I'm training for my future AT hike in the toughest part of the entire trail I lost 10 pounds over the Summer, just hiking weekends. I want to know how steep that 3 mile section is between Katahdin Stream Falls and the Tablelands is. GF and I climbed that in the rain. We went down the Saddle trail, thinking it would be easier. Nope. Not any easier, but once we started down, we were committed. I can remember coming down Sugarloaf on my butt quite a bit and that climb up Crocker Mountain was pretty tough. I really don't remember the climb up, but the climb back down scared the bejeezus out of me. It was steeper going down!
I'm a firm believer that navigating a steep downhill with a pack is much harder than climbing it.
GA←↕→ME: 1973 to 2014
Yes, definitely - hard on the knees, hard on the nerves, and something like 80% of mountaineering accidents occur on the trip down. If I'm going to traverse a mountain, I'd much rather go up the steep side.
Unless there's enough snow to bring out my ice axe and glissade down. That's what I did on my last clueless weekend.
I always know where I am. I'm right here.
Yeah really guthook, awesome data summary. But I personally say it another way: Those New England, and particular NH people are tough folks (AKA: BMF's). I was amazed to see whole families navigating those White Mountain sections with apparently no problems. When we talked to some they were most locals. Wow, we were impressed. Our trails out here in Colorado are "sissy trails" by comparison to the Whites.
There was this aluminum ladder in Harriman NY that was pretty steep.
I wonder what Roan would rank if the data was from 2011, before the other switchbacks were added.
One of my most vivid memories from my 2005 SOBO attempt was coming down Old Blue. I was planning on camping on the other side of South Arm Rd. It was something like 1.5 miles from the peak to the road. I hiked for about a mile and came across a break in the trees while on a slow descent. The road below looked so small. There was no way it was only half a mile of trail down to it.
Sure enough, another 50 meters or so and the trail made a turn to go straight down the mountain. I just remember it being straight down a steep mountain. I was glad I was camping at the road that evening.
I still have pictures from that break in the trees, where you can see the road below. Every time I show that picture to people I tell them about that descent.
2005 SOBO Attempt (500 miles)
2024 (?) SOBO Planning
North from the NOC is no joke, especially for the south
It was definitely shorter, but Albert Mtn. seemed tougher than Stecoah Gap. It might be just because the Albert Mtn climb was at the end of the day during a thunderstorm, though.
How does Huntington ravine central gully or Madison Gulf trail compare to the steepest parts of the AT?
Albert isn't bad. It only stands out in people's memories because it's the first time you use your hands.
Stecoah Gap/Jacob's Ladder is probably the best climb in the lower section.
No need to speculate. Here the real data from da man.
http://www.guthookhikes.com/2015/01/...t-and-pct.html
Bluegrass- let's see the photo! I've just gotten back into backpacking in the last year, section-hiking the trail for the first time since I was a teen. Back then I hiked the presidential range and lafayette pretty much fearlessly with a group from my summer camp in NH, and Bear Mtn CT on the AT with the boy scouts. Funny how things are much scarier as you get older and haven't been doing it all along! But I'm workin on it bit by bit so i can do the whole trail. So far, coming down St John's Ledges and Wetauwanchu/Barrack Matiff in a downpour put a little fear of god in me! Heading north into Mass in the spring and I'm sure I will get some more experience with steep the farther I go.
I know the area very well. You're thinking of either hiking south bound from Sages Ravine (MA) up the north face of Bear Mtn (CT). Going up the north face of bear mtn while relatively short is definitely a tough hike requiring scrambling/hand holding in several spots. Which is why my 60 lb pit/boxer mix had a tough time. Or you're thinking of hiking north bound a few miles north going up Mt Everett. 700+ft in 0.7m.
and yes, way to bring an old thread back.
I just did a loop around Greylock: Up north side of Mt Prospect (a moderately tough hike good to get the legs going), up Mt Williams, Mt Fitch, Greylock, steep decent, then up the south face of Mt Prospect. This is a tough mile-ish. It was pouring rain and muggy AF. After looking at the toughest mile list, it makes me feel like less of a wuss since it's #12 on steepest miles on the AT. Plus I had a 30 pound pack on plus what remained of my camel sack. ~14 miles in about 5 hours. Training for a 7 day hike through Yellowstone.
I remember this thread because at the time I was a few hundred miles into my section hiking odyssey, and really didn't have the mileage under my belt to add anything useful. At that time I remember the climb NOBO out of Stecoah Gap and NOBO up Pond Mountain (in TN, prior to the trail re-route) being pretty tough.
Fast forward to now and I have about 262 miles left to finish, most of it in ME (ME 4 Rangeley to Katahdin). From my personal observations/experiences the couple of climbs that stand out in my mind are NOBO up South Kinsman and NOBO up Mahoosuc Arm...those were both brutal for me.
I also appreciate the posts by Guthook that provide the actual data on the steepest climbs.
AT: 2007-2019 (45 sections)
JMT: 2013