New England 4000'er Hiking List
In our previous post we broke down all of the details about the New Hampshire 4000’er Hiking Challenge as well as the various offshoots of this hiking list in great detail. In this post we are going to break down the New England 4000’er Hiking Challenge which requires hiking all of the tallest peaks in New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. Spawned off of the original New Hampshire 4000’er Hiking Challenge, the “NE67” takes the challenge of “The 48” one step further. With five peaks in Vermont and fourteen in Maine, including the trailless Mount Redington, the NE67 is the perfect list to increase your hiking skills if you’ve finished “The 48.”
The NE67 is also overseen by the AMC Four Thousand Footer Club and there is a hiking patch available if you complete the list and the application requirements. An award ceremony for all of the lists overseen by the AMC committee is held in April (further information can be found on their website). The same rules apply for what counts as hiking each of the peaks on the NE67 list as for the NH48 and can be found here.
As of 2023, there are over 4,300 finishers of the NE67, less than a quarter of the finishers of the NH48, and for good reason. Many of the peaks on this hiking list which are located in Maine are more difficult to reach unless you live in that region of New England. The furthest peaks from the White Mountains are located several hours away in Baxter State Park, Maine. The glorious Mount Katahdin encompasses a handful of subpeaks, with two on the NE67 hiking list. Additionally, located within Baxter State Park, is North Brother, which is another peak on the NE67 hiking list.
Among the fourteen peaks found in Maine is one trailless peak which is, in our opinion, much harder to navigate compared to Owl’s Head in New Hampshire. Following the herd path to the summit of Mount Redington will be more challenging and we recommend doing your research before heading out to summit this viewless peak. If you are comfortable using the navigation app Gaia, a recommended route is outlined, but be sure to do additional research on this hike before heading out.
One of the bonuses of the NE67 hiking list, for those individuals that love hiking patches, is that there is an additional patch available for purchase once you complete all of the 4000’ers in Maine. More information can be found here.
The five peaks which are part of the NE67 located in Vermont are found on (or directly off) of the Long Trail. The only peak not on the Long Trail is Killington which is reached by taking a short spur off of the Long Trail.
In Maine, the fourteen peaks are more scattered apart. Old Speck is tucked in Grafton Notch and stands alone (as far as the NE67 list goes). North Brother, Baxter & Hamlin are all located in Baxter State Park. The ten other peaks are found in the Rangeley Lakes region of Maine and with some proactive planning can all be done in a few hiking days if you peakbag.
When completing this region, we did North and South Crocker in one day as well as Redington. Next we did Sugarloaf and Spaulding Peak in one day. We hiked Bigelow West and Avery in one hike, followed by Abraham, Saddleback and The Horn in one day (this one required driving between two trailheads). We did all of these hikes over the course of a week and spent the week in Rangeley, Maine at a hotel so we didn’t have to drive as far.
When pursuing the completion of the NE67, we recommend purchasing maps for the regions that you will be exploring. We purchased the Green Mountain Club’s Long Trail map for all of Vermont. For the Rangeley Region we purchased the Rangeley map and for Baxter State Park we purchased the AMC Maine Mountains Trail map. Old Speck is located in the Mahoosuc region of the AMC White Mountain map set.
