In July of 2014 (he was 11) Jacob and I were at Squam Lake talking about going on a hike, as we had been doing the past few summers. We had mostly been climbing Mt. Morgan (2200′) every year and doing the Welch-Dickey loop (4.1 mi). He had been enjoying it so I suggested we do a more strenuous hike. We got discussing taller mountains, including Washington and others in the Presidential range, and that digressed into the “peakbaggers” who try to climb all of the 48 mountains over four thousand feet in N.H. He had recently gotten excited about lists and had started one for all of the types of fish he had caught. The idea that there was a list of mountains that he could complete got him very interested in hiking. We looked out into the future and decided that if we were aggressive, he had 8 more summers before going off to college. If we averaged 6 peaks each summer trip, we’d complete all 48 just before he went off to college. Only getting 4 this summer, means we are behind on our pace to complete on time. We’ll have to do a lot of multi-peak hikes or extend the completion to his college graduation. No matter when we complete it, these will be times to remember our entire lives. By the way, I expected Lauren will participate in many of these climbs, this isn’t just a father-son thing.
It turns out that in August of 2025, 11 years later we completed all 48 peaks. It was a very special 3 day- 2 night hike completing 8 peaks, including all the Presidentials. Jacob had skipped his last semester at UVA and was working full time, but had just completed his BS Degree at UVA with a couple remote summer courses. Coincidently, we would summit Mt. Madison on the morning of Aug 19, 2025, my birthday, to complete all 48 peaks.
Below is a map of all the hikes we did to complete the 48 peaks in August 2025. Each solid color represents the 24 days we spent on hikes. Some days were a single peak and others like the Presidential Traverse (in yellow) were 6 peaks. Four of the hikes were overnight hikes with a stay in an AMC Hut. Three of those overnights were for a single night, Carter Notch, Galehead, and Zealand Falls huts. The last overnight hike was two nights including the Mitzpah Spring and Madison Spring huts. We did visit the other three huts on single day hikes, Greenleaf, Lonesome Lake, and Lake of the Clouds.
I’m going to leave these planning notes below. While we have complete all the hikes, its good info about planning the hikes each year.
Jacob had new hiking shoes in 2018 and they seemed to still fit in 2024 but were pretty worn. He ended up using these boots to complete the hikes in 2025 and they are now retired. Make sure we have wind breakers or some kind of outer shell to break wind and more importantly keep us dry if it rains. They need to fit over our packs unless packs water proof? Are there covers for our packs? Flip flops for hut would be great, but a pain to carry. Ended up just walking around in hut in our wool socks used for that days hike and had a 2nd pair for next day hike. Nice to get boots off but don’t want to run around barefoot. Starbucks Via instant coffee and moo-moo worked very well for coffee. We brought too much candy in 2018. The Triscuits in a baggy and the pre-sliced cheddar were good for day hikes. The Beef Jerky in a pouch was excellent. Pepperoni stick was good but only needed half. Peanut butter crackers were good. Sunscreen needed on open ridge, find small day packages to keep light. Towelettes were good and could clean backside in outhouse. Wool hiking socks were great. Could probably just use two shirts, one clean one for hut and one dirty for hiking and rinse out dirty and end of night. A hand towel for cleaning up at end of day was great. Pocket knife is in front pocket of my pack. Can bring water filter if we think there will be long stretches without water…but I think unnecessary. Turned out we never needed a water filter. Don’t want to carry more than 2 liters. 2 liters is more than enough for almost all day hikes, especially if hydrated well just before hike. On the overnight hikes the AMC huts provide drinking water.
Here is a site to check trip reports:
http://trailsnh.com/hike/n/357730524/Owls-Head-NH
Here’s a site to check peak bagging loops:
https://sectionhiker.com/leave-no-stragglers-how-to-hike-the-white-mountain-4000-footers/
In 2025 I have account at http://www.alltrails.com and have saved off the remaining hikes in Favorites. All Trails app on phone. Gaia app is good for tracking the actual hike, creates a GPX file. Have a map of all our hikes in Gaia. In hindsight AllTrails was useful for trail reviews, but I thought its user interface for recording and playback of your actual hike was lacking. Gaia was better for recording the hike itself.
Try to get to the hut early to grab the best bunk. The hut personnel do have you already assigned to a particular bunkroom. At Galehead it was 4 rooms with four 3 person bunks for total of 48 people. At Zealand Falls the bunk rooms are larger with 2 rooms with six 3 person bunks for 18 people in each room and 36 people total. At Madison, there was quite a few bunk rooms, we got there late and ended up with the top 2 bunks on the 3rd level, dozen bunks in the room.
Check weather for next two days to see how much warm clothing to bring. In 2017 we did not bring any rain gear as no rain forecast though we got lucky as first night thunderstorms rolled in and it poured hard but we beat it in. Carry garbage bags as backup. Hats for sun and rain required. Reading glasses. Advil. Only need water to carry to get to hut, we can refill there. We do need maximum empty bottles for second day though. Towel and/or washcloth to cleanup at hut would be great Sheets but no pillow case should be brought Earplugs, eye mask, small flashlight. (bunks have reading light) No electric to charge phones so bring charger. Cash to tip hut personnel. Liquor? Bug spray/wipes though were not needed in 2017. Supper is at 6pm and breakfast at 7am.
Here is the link the AMC info on climbing the 4000 Footers.
When you have completed all 48 4000 Footers, you can apply for official recognition from AMC 4000 Footer Club which is not part of the AMC, but a volunteer group very active in trail maintenance and promotion of hiking in New England.