A Guide to the Best New England Hiking
New England makes up a good portion of the east coast in the United States. Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, make up New England. Within these states, there is a lot of hiking available. Specifically, in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Without a doubt, New Hampshire has the best and most hiking available out of all the states listed. However, without a doubt, Vermont has the best New England skiing.
With all that being said, in this post, you will read about the best New England hiking. You will also read about the best hikes, mountains, towns to stay in, hiking challenges, and more. In addition, you will read about New England hiking bucket list, New England hikes, New England hiking trails, New England hiking challenges, New England hiking clubs, New England hiking trips, New England hiking patches, New England hiking mountains, and more.
This post is all about New England hiking.
New England Hiking:
New England Hiking Towns
Okay, if you want to hike, I think having a home base or somewhere to stay (if coming from out of town) is the best place to start. I’m going to start geographically and begin with places to stay at, in Maine. Then, I will talk about New Hampshire and Vermont. For Maine, there are a couple different places to hike. First being Acadia, which offers a lot of beginner to intermediate hikes. Then, the really bad ass hikes are in Baxter. Baxter State Park has the infamous Katahdin hike, which ends the Appalachian Trail. All the hikes in Baxter State Park look amazing.
However, it gets SUPER crowded here in the summer. A lot of people camp at Baxter and make reservations up to six months in advance. I wish I was joking when I say that but unfortunately, that is true. You really want to plan ahead if you are interested in hiking Baxter State Park. Here is a link to make hiking and parking reservations for Baxter State Park.
Now, as far as New Hampshire and Vermont go, there really is only one main mountain range that you will want to hike. In New Hampshire you will be hiking the White Mountains and in Vermont you have the Green Mountains. The list below gives a couple different towns in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont that are great, central towns to stay in for hiking.
- Bar Harbor, Maine (if hiking Acadia National Park, good for AirBnBs NOT Hotels)
- Millinocket, Maine (Baxter State Park)
- Rangeley, Maine (Saddleback hiking and skiing)
- Lincoln, New Hampshire (White Mountains)
- North Conway, New Hampshire (White Mountains)
- Burlington, Vermont (Green Mountains)
- Woodstock, Vermont (Green Mountains)
All of these towns listed above have many different hotel and AirBnB options, as well as HipCamps. HipCamps are a cheaper option compared to hotels and AirBnBs. They offer more cabin and camping accommodations.
New England Hiking Trails : Maine
Okay, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont cover a LOT of mountainous terrain and therefore, a LOT of hiking/hiking trails. Maine has a couple different mountain ranges within it. They are the White Mountains (Mahoosuc Range), Longfellow Mountains, and the Bigelow Range. I am going to list the most popular hiking trails. Then, I will link my article that further lists more hiking trails in Maine. Acadia National Park definitely has the most visited trails but the whole state of Maine is really filled with lots of different trails and mountains. Alright, so below are some of the most popular hiking trails in Maine.
- The Bubbles (easy, Acadia National Park)
- Beech Mountain (easy, Acadia National Park)
- Beehive Loop (moderate, Acadia National Park)
- Dorr Mountain (moderate, Acadia National Park)
- Cadillac Mountain (moderate, Acadia National Park)
- Saddleback Mountain (Difficult, Saddleback, Rangeley, Maine)
- Old Speck (Difficult, Grafton Notch, White Mountains)
- Sugarloaf & Spaulding (Difficult, White Mountains)
- Mount Abraham (Difficult, White Mountains)
- North & South Brother (Difficult, Baxter State Park)
- Mount Katahdin (Difficult, Baxter State Park)
Here you will find a list of more Maine hikes.
New England Hikes : New Hampshire
Okay, New Hampshire really is the rockstar when it comes to New England hiking. Without a doubt, it has the most and most impressive hiking out of all of New England. New Hampshire is home to the incredible White Mountains. The New Hampshire 48 Hiking Challenge will leave you breathless from the exercise and AMAZING views. I LOVE hiking in New Hampshire. Again, I will list the most popular (starting with easier hikes to more difficult ones) mountains then list an article with even more trails.
- Artist Bluff (easy, Franconia Notch State Park)
- Mount Cardigan (moderate Cardigan Mountain State Park)
- Mount Willard (moderate, Crawford Notch State Park)
- Blueberry Mountain (moderate, White Mountains National Forest)
- Potash Mountains (moderate, White Mountains National Forest)
- Smarts Mountain (moderate, White Mountains National Forest)
- The Osceolas (moderate, White Mountains National Forest)
- Mount Avalon (difficult, White Mountains National Forest)
- Mount Crawford (difficult, Presidential Range)
- Mount Pierce (difficult, Crawford Notch State Park)
- Cannon Mountain & the Kinsman (optional) (difficult, Franconia Notch State Park)
- Mount Chocorua Loop (difficult, White Mountain National Forest)
- Black Mountain (difficult, Sandwich Range)
- Castle Trail (difficult, White Mountains National Forest)
- Baldface Circle Trail (difficult, difficult)
- Mount Shaw, Black Snout, and Big Ball (difficult, Castle in the Clouds Conservation Area)
- Mount Paugus (difficult, Sandwich Range)
- Franconia Ridge & Lafayette (difficult, White Mountains National Forest)
- Mount Lincoln (difficult, White Mountain National Forest)
- Presidential Traverse (many ways to break these peaks up) (difficult, White Mountains National Forest)
- The Cliffs, Bond & West Bond (difficult, White Mountains National Forest)
Here is a link to more of the White Mountain 48 Hiking Challenge in New Hampshire.
New England Hiking Mountains : Vermont
Finally, onto our last state, Vermont. Now, I love Vermont for skiing, however, for hiking, it is kind of lacking. I really only like the five 4,000 footer hikes and then the rest are no where near comparable to the White Mountains (Maine & New Hampshire) or the Adirondack High Peaks (New York). Apart from the five 4,000 footers, Vermont does not have very impressive hiking. It has nice, gentle, rolling hills compared to New Hampshire, New York, and Maine. If you are new to hiking, Vermont would be a great place to start, as it has more gentle inclines. But then as you get more advanced, definitely hike the Vermont 4,000 footers, New York, Maine, and New Hampshire.
- Mount Olga (easy, Green Mountains)
- Bromley Mountain (moderate, Green Mountains)
- Baker Peak (moderate, Green Mountains)
- Pico Peak (moderate, Green Mountains)
- Camel’s Hump (moderate/difficult)
- Killington Peak (difficult)
- Equinox Mountain (difficult)
- Mount Mansfield (difficult)
- Mount Abraham, Lincoln Peak, Mount Ellen (difficult)
Here is a list of even more Vermont mountains.
New England Hiking Trips
As far as different hiking trips go, there are a ton of different ways to plan some excursions. By far the most accessible and easiest trails to drive to are any of the New Hampshire 48 peaks. Typically, parking is on the side of the road or there will be a parking lot right at the trailhead. Maine is a little harder, as you have to get passes for both Acadia and Baxter Parks, which fill up fast. You can’t just plan a hike the night before going if you want to hike in Maine. Both, Burlington, Vermont and Lincoln, New Hampshire are great towns that you could easily plan a long weekend at and hike.
For Maine, you will have to plan a couple months in advance, and even more if you plan on hiking in the summer/busy months. If you want to hike Maine, I would plan a week of hiking in the summer and book it at least 4 months in advance, 6 months if wanting to hike Katahdin. Whereas, New Hampshire and Vermont you can easily plan a couple different long weekend trips a couple months in advance.
New England Hiking Challenges
Now, hiking challenges are a great way to get into hiking and continue your hiking journeys. There are easy and many difficult different hiking challenges to choose from. Some nice, easier hiking challenges, that will ease you into hiking are Vermont’s Fire Tower Challenge, Catskill Fire Tower Challenge (New York), and 52 With a View (New Hampshire, more difficult).
Now, once you conquer those challenges, some great, difficult New England hiking challenges are the Vermont 4,000 footers, New Hampshire 48, New England 67, Northeast 111 (includes New York’s 4,000 footers), and New England 100 highest.
With these challenges, you can earn patches. If you click the link, linked to these challenges, that I will list, the link will bring you to the rules and registration for the different challenges. Catskill Fire Tower Challenge, New Hampshire 48, New England 4,000 Footers, New England Hundred Highest, Northeast 111, and 52 With a View.
New England Hiking Clubs
Another great way to ease into hiking is to join different hiking groups or clubs. A lot of the different mountain ranges have different mountain clubs associated with them. You can join these clubs and go on the different meetup, group hikes and other events that they offer throughout the year. The White Mountains are apart of the larger mountain club, the Appalachian Mountain Club. Here you can find different events and group hikes, specifically for the White Mountains in New Hampshire. This link will bring you to different events for Maine as well. Here you will find the Green Mountain Club for Vermont with group hikes and events as well. Additionally, the Adirondack Mountain Club also does this (in New York).
Another way to find meetup groups is through different FaceBook groups and the app, Meetup. Although, now you have to pay for Meetup, thus, I would stick with the Mountain Club meetups and FaceBook groups. The Hiking Buddies NH 48 is a good FaceBook group for the New Hampshire 48.
And that wraps up our guide to the best New England hiking in the US. New England offers a ton of hiking which can be overwhelming but if you break it up, it’s not too bad to find somewhere to start. I think hiking challenges are a great way to start hiking and to explore many different peaks. Also, I would not hesitate to take advantage of the different Mountain Club group hikes and events offered. Ultimately, hiking is a great way to get outside and to stay in shape. Thank you so much for reading, I hope this was helpful and take care.
