Steepest climbs on the AT

[illabelle]

I think I probably copied that list about 2017 or so. At the time we would have had 3-4 years left in our 10-year section hike, and yes, we had a bunch of those tough ones left. However because we weren't trying to do the trail in order, we organized the remaining miles (slacking at times) so that we could knock out several in each trip without being overwhelmed by a particularly tough section. I think one of the worst for us was from Pinkham north to Gorham. The Mahoosucs were "memorable" also.
If I remember correctly, Guthook said he selected half-mile increments to avoid having data skewed by things like ladders. I'll look for the old thread and post it here if I can find it.

And here it is, Guthook's list is on post 121 out of 183 from 2009 to 2018, so if you wanna peruse the old discussion, it's there:
https://whiteblaze.net/forum/showthr...f-the-AT/page5

[gbolt]

If you think the AT over Moody is difficult, the AT corridor boundaries on both the north and south sides of the AT route are decidedly more interesting. I am the corridor monitor for that section.

I couldn’t imagine the difficulty of that! Thank you for being a corridor monitor! When I was there the last time, there was a camp of maintainers and crew in a low valley close to a. Water source. I even mentioned to my trail brother how difficult it must be to be a part of that crew!

[LittleRock]

OK, I re-did the calculations with a 0.25 mile distance increment instead of 0.1 mile. Here goes:

Overall:

Rank	AT mile	State	Elev. Change (ft)	Grade (%)	Location
1	1878.0	NH	537	40.7	NOBO ascent from Pinkham Notch
2	2194.7	ME	516	39.1	Ascending Mt Katahdin
3	1882.8	NH	503	38.1	NOBO ascent from Carter Notch
4	1884.9	NH	489	37.0	SOBO ascent from Zeta Pass
5	1947.2	ME	488	37.0	NOBO ascent of Moody Mtn
6	2001.0	ME	487	36.9	NOBO ascent of South Crocker Mtn
7	1871.1	NH	475	36.0	SOBO ascent of Mt Madison
8	1920.7	ME	465	35.2	SOBO ascent from Mahoosuc Notch
9	1949.5	ME	456	34.6	NOBO ascent from South Arm Rd
10	1888.5	NH	450	34.1	SOBO ascent of North Carter Mtn
11	1852.4	NH	443	33.6	NOBO ascent of Webster Cliffs
12 (tie)	1801.8	NH	442	33.5	NOBO ascent of Mt Moosilauke
12 (tie)	1805.6	NH	442	33.5	SOBO ascent of Mt Moosilauke
14	1836.5	NH	438	33.2	NOBO ascent of South Twin Mtn
15	1833.4	NH	431	32.7	SOBO ascent of Mt Garfield

South of Glencliff, NH:

Rank	AT Mile	State	Elev. Change (ft)	Grade (%)	Location
1 (tie)	1476.8	CT	417	31.6	SOBO ascent to St. John's Ledges
1 (tie)	1512.2	CT	417	31.6	SOBO ascent of Bear Mtn
3	1689.7	VT	405	30.7	NOBO ascent from Clarendon Gorge
4	1219.4	PA	400	30.3	SOBO ascent from Port Clinton
5	1387.2	NY	399	30.2	SOBO ascent of Agony Grind
6	99.4	NC	383	29.0	NOBO ascent of Albert Mtn
7	1517.6	MA	378	28.6	NOBO ascent of Mt Everett
8	1596.5	MA	366	27.7	SOBO ascent of Mt Greylock
9	1776.9	NH	365	27.7	NOBO ascent of Smarts Mtn
10	151.8	NC	355	26.9	NOBO ascent from Sweetwater Gap
11	1409.4	NY	347	26.3	NOBO ascent from the Hudson River
12	1261.5	PA	343	26.0	NOBO ascent from Lehigh Gap
13	187.6	NC/TN	338	25.6	SOBO ascent of Brier Knob
14	791.8	VA	335	25.4	NOBO ascent of Big Rocky Row
15	1616.8	VT	327	24.8	SOBO ascent from Bennington/Rt. 9

By State:

State	AT Mile	Change (ft)	Grade (%)	Location
GA	37.3	296	22.4	NOBO ascent from Tesnatee Gap
NC	99.4	383	29.0	NOBO ascent of Albert Mtn
NC/TN	187.6	338	25.6	SOBO ascent of Brier Knob
TN	421.1	323	24.5	SOBO ascent from Laurel Falls
VA/WV	791.8	335	25.4	NOBO ascent of Big Rocky Row
MD	1064.3	321	24.3	SOBO ascent to High Rock
PA	1219.4	400	30.3	SOBO ascent from Port Clinton
NJ	1354.5	274	20.8	NOBO ascent of Pochuck Mtn
NY	1378.2	399	30.2	SOBO ascent of Agony Grind
CT (tie)	1476.8	417	31.6	SOBO ascent to St. John's Ledges
CT (tie)	1512.2	417	31.6	SOBO ascent of Bear Mtn
MA	1517.6	378	28.6	NOBO ascent of Mt Everett
VT	1689.7	405	30.7	NOBO ascent from Clarendon Gorge
NH	1878.0	537	40.7	NOBO ascent from Pinkham Notch
ME	2194.7	516	39.1	Ascending Mt Katahdin

[Odd Man Out]

Here it is in a table:

Half Mile Sections	from MP	to MP	elevation	grade
Pinkham Notch to Wildcat E	1865.5	1866	1017	38.5%
Asquam Ridge Trail to Kinsman Notch	1794.3	1794.8	934	35.4%
Galehead to South Twin	1824.2	1824.7	896	33.9%
Northbound from Mt Garfield	1821.2	1821.7	875	33.1%
O Joy Brook to The Gateway	2182.1	2182.6	860	32.6%
Mahoosuc Arm	1908.2	1908.7	850	32.2%
Carter Notch to Carter Dome	1869.9	1870.4	846	32.0%
South Arm Rd to Old Blue	1934.5	1935	812	30.8%
South Peak Moosilauke	1790.4	1790.9	801	30.3%
Sawyer Notch to Moody Mtn	1932.2	1932.7	799	30.3%
south side of Mt Success	1897.4	1897.9	792	30.0%
Crocker Cirque to South Crocker	1985.3	1985.8	792	30.0%
North from East Peak Baldpate	1918.8	1919.3	778	29.5%
Fulling Mill Mtn to Mahoosuc Notch	1906.1	1906.6	759	28.8%
Hall Mtn Lean-to to Sawyer Notch	1930.8	1931.3	754	28.6%
South from Carabassett River	1983.4	1983.9	749	28.4%
North Carter to Imp	1875.4	1875.9	742	28.1%
north of Mt Moriah to Rattle River	1880.2	1880.7	742	28.1%
The Horn to Redington Stream Campsite	1968.1	1968.6	734	27.8%
Baldpate Lean-to to West Baldpate	1916.7	1917.2	732	27.7%
Liberty Brook to Franconia Ridge Trail	1813.4	1813.9	719	27.2%
Mt Prospect to stream at base of Greylock	1585.7	1586.2	698	26.4%
Lafayette to Garfield Notch	1818.4	1818.9	695	26.3%
Eliza Brook to South Kinsman	1804.5	1805	687	26.0%
White Cap to Logan Brook Lean-to	2110.6	2111.1	682	25.8%
Poplar Ridge to spring before Orbeton Canyon	1971.7	1972.2	678	25.7%
Northbound into Port Clinton	1210.8	1211.3	677	25.6%
Northbound to Smarts Mountain	1765.2	1765.7	677	25.6%
Moose & Deer Stream to Saddleback	1964.9	1965.4	661	25.0%
Zeacliff to Zealand Falls Hut	1830	1830.5	658	24.9%
Northbound into Woodford Hollow / VT Rte 9	1605.5	1606	656	24.8%
North from Lehigh Gap	1252.1	1252.6	639	24.2%
Crawford Notch to Mt Webster	1840.4	1840.9	637	24.1%
Sydney Tappan Campsite to West Peak	2106.5	2107	633	24.0%
The Eyebrow to Grafton Notch	1913.5	1914	629	23.8%
Pleasant Pond Lean-to to Pleasant Pond Mtn	2036.9	2037.4	628	23.8%
Kinsman Notch north	1795.6	1796.1	622	23.6%
Race Brook Falls to Mt Everett	1507.6	1508.1	620	23.5%
Carl Newhall Lean-to to Gulf Hagas Mtn	2104.9	2105.4	618	23.4%
Northbound to Bemis Stream	1945.8	1946.3	617	23.4%
Perham Stream to Lone Mountain	1976.4	1976.9	615	23.3%
Beaver Bog to View before Horns Pond View	1997.6	1998.1	608	23.0%
Little Rocky Row to Big Rocky Row	783.3	783.8	597	22.6%
Thundering Falls Rd to Quimby Mtn	1701.1	1701.6	597	22.6%
Ethan Pond Trail to Crawford Notch	1838.1	1838.6	596	22.6%
St John's Ledges to River Rd	1466.9	1467.4	592	22.4%
Lakes of the Clouds to Mt Washington	1850.7	1851.2	587	22.2%
Northbound into Starkey Gap	187	187.5	584	22.1%
Moxie Bald North Peak side trail to Bald Mtn Lean-to	2048.5	2049	584	22.1%
Northbound from Fourth Chairback	2090	2090.5	582	22.0%
Northbound to Saddleback Junior	1969.3	1969.8	579	21.9%
Avery Peak to Safford Notch	2001	2001.5	578	21.9%
North Kinsman to stream before Lonesome Lake Hut	1806.6	1807.1	575	21.8%
Mt Cube to Brackett Brook	1772.9	1773.4	574	21.7%
Between Imp Campsite and Mt Moriah	1877.6	1878.1	574	21.7%
Ash Gap to Roan Mtn	374.7	375.2	568	21.5%
Jump Up to Swim Bald	142.1	142.6	566	21.4%
Northbound to Sinking Creek Mtn	672.3	672.8	563	21.3%
Mt Williams	1584.1	1584.6	562	21.3%
Bear Mtn to Sage's Ravine	1502.4	1502.9	561	21.3%
North from Wilbur Dam Rd	429.5	430	555	21.0%
Sweetwater Gap north	152	152.5	552	20.9%
Perkins Memorial Drive to Bear Mtn Rec Area	1397.3	1397.8	552	20.9%
Stage Road to Suicide Six View	1722.5	1723	552	20.9%
Northbound into Trident Col	1891.1	1891.6	552	20.9%
Northbound to Shaker Campsite	1534.3	1534.8	551	20.9%
Kelley Knob to Laurel Creek Shelter	667.3	667.8	549	20.8%
Northbound from Clarendon Gorge	1678	1678.5	549	20.8%
Hughes Gap Rd to Ash Gap	372.8	373.3	548	20.8%
Agony Grind to NY 17	1378.5	1379	545	20.6%
US 9D to Anthony's Nose side trail	1399.4	1399.9	544	20.6%
Southbound from Katahdin Ironworks Road	2097.7	2098.2	542	20.5%
Angels Rest to Pearisburg	627.8	628.3	540	20.5%
Northbound to Pinwheels Vista & Wawayanda Vista	1352.8	1353.3	540	20.5%
Lye-Dorchester Rd to Lambert Ridge	1762.3	1762.8	540	20.5%

[HankIV]

Very cool, and some fond memories. And a few not so fond. Several of the sections I recall really huffing and puffing and thinking how come you don’t hear about this beforehand?

[RockDoc]

I think 0.1 mile is too long a sample interval for accurate results. The GPS will shortcut the switchbacks, drawing straight lines between points. This is not a good way to measure steepness of trails and will always give an abnormally high number. Misleading to the point of uselessness. IMO. Go back to rolling a wheel-based scale, or go home.

[peakbagger]

Switchbacks are rarely an issue in Maine and NH

[LoneStranger]

OK, I re-did the calculations with a 0.25 mile distance increment instead of 0.1 mile. Here goes:

Overall:

Rank	AT mile	State	Elev. Change (ft)	Grade (%)	Location
1	1878.0	NH	537	40.7	NOBO ascent from Pinkham Notch
2	2194.7	ME	516	39.1	Ascending Mt Katahdin
3	1882.8	NH	503	38.1	NOBO ascent from Carter Notch
4	1884.9	NH	489	37.0	SOBO ascent from Zeta Pass
5	1947.2	ME	488	37.0	NOBO ascent of Moody Mtn
6	2001.0	ME	487	36.9	NOBO ascent of South Crocker Mtn
7	1871.1	NH	475	36.0	SOBO ascent of Mt Madison
8	1920.7	ME	465	35.2	SOBO ascent from Mahoosuc Notch
9	1949.5	ME	456	34.6	NOBO ascent from South Arm Rd
10	1888.5	NH	450	34.1	SOBO ascent of North Carter Mtn
11	1852.4	NH	443	33.6	NOBO ascent of Webster Cliffs
12 (tie)	1801.8	NH	442	33.5	NOBO ascent of Mt Moosilauke
12 (tie)	1805.6	NH	442	33.5	SOBO ascent of Mt Moosilauke
14	1836.5	NH	438	33.2	NOBO ascent of South Twin Mtn
15	1833.4	NH	431	32.7	SOBO ascent of Mt Garfield

Thanks for humoring me. I feel much better now! I was pretty sure that was hard

[LittleRock]

I think 0.1 mile is too long a sample interval for accurate results. The GPS will shortcut the switchbacks, drawing straight lines between points. This is not a good way to measure steepness of trails and will always give an abnormally high number. Misleading to the point of uselessness. IMO. Go back to rolling a wheel-based scale, or go home.

Sure, a measuring wheel will give more accurate distance measurements. I don't dispute that (though I don't see how anyone could get accurate distance measurements over some of the boulder scrambles on the AT). But it would also be very hard to geolocate measuring wheel data and get accurate elevation measurements for a 2000+ mile trail in a way that can be crunched through using a computer program like I and others have done. This is why we use GPS.

I agree the 0.1 mile interval was too short, which is why I went back and did 0.25 mile intervals. I'm in the process of crunching the data for 0.5 mile intervals so I can compare with guthook's table. Now that the program is written I could do this fairly easily for any interval. It just takes about an hour of computer time, plus the effort to translate the mile markers into specific locations.

[Daybreak]

I think 0.1 mile is too long a sample interval for accurate results. The GPS will shortcut the switchbacks, drawing straight lines between points. This is not a good way to measure steepness of trails and will always give an abnormally high number. Misleading to the point of uselessness. IMO. Go back to rolling a wheel-based scale, or go home.

In New England you have the issues of roots, rock steps and rocky paths along with the PA rocks. On the IAT in Quebec in '99, they used a string measuring device where they tied one end to a tree (or stood on it) and ran out string. Sadly they left the string on the trail. I walked through that stuff for several days. This was standard in their logging industry. The ATC was also documenting GPS coordinates using a backpack sized unit that year but of course the accuracy was lower then.

I found this article that describes the methods of determining trail length, their associated problems and how GPS is used today. Perhaps the ATC has or will write an article precisely describing their measuring methods.

https://www.wta.org/news/magazine/fe...l-measurements

[Daybreak]

SOBO ascent out of NOC

I climbed NOBO out there twice.

[Daybreak]

I would define grade as rise/horizontal run. This is the standard in engineering, roads, railroads, and construction. It also gives a slightly larger number especially when looking at the steeper grades. If you think of a right triangle, the trail length is the hypotneuse. The horizontal run is the base which would be the distance as measured on a flat map. Fanny Pack describes this well in

https://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/sho...Carolina/page2

Unfortunately after all their discussion, I don't think anyone backed out the horizontal run to do an actual trail calculation. The base or horizontal run = square root (square of trail length - square of the elevation change).

This gives a description and graph of various grades we encounter.

http://sonorannews.com/archives/2011...cent%20or%20so.

[LittleRock]

Here's what I got using 0.5 mile intervals. Very similar to guthook's list.

Overall:

Rank	AT Mile	State	Elev. Change (ft)	Grade (%)	Location
1	1877.9	NH	945	35.8	NOBO ascent from Pinkham Notch
2	1870.9	NH	874	33.1	SOBO ascent of Mt Madison
3	1805.6	NH	843	31.9	SOBO ascent of Mt Moosilauke
4 (tie)	1882.8	NH	836	31.7	NOBO ascent from Carter Notch
4 (tie)	1949.5	ME	836	31.7	NOBO ascent from South Arm Rd
6	1836.4	NH	821	31.1	NOBO ascent of South Twin Mtn
7	2194.4	ME	813	30.8	Ascending Mt Katahdin
8	1947.0	ME	810	30.7	NOBO ascent of Moody Mtn
9	1833.2	NH	806	30.5	SOBO ascent of Mt Garfield
10	1801.5	NH	764	29.0	NOBO ascent of Mt Moosilauke
11	1920.4	ME	758	28.7	SOBO ascent from Mahoosuc Notch
12 (tie)	1881.9	NH	755	28.6	SOBO ascent from Carter Notch
12 (tie)	2000.8	ME	755	28.6	NOBO ascent of South Crocker Mtn
14	1922.7	ME	734	27.8	NOBO ascent of Mahoosuc Arm
15	1888.5	NH	723	27.4	SOBO ascent of North Carter Mtn
16	1884.8	NH	720	27.3	SOBO ascent from Zeta Pass
17	1933.6	ME	716	27.1	SOBO ascent of Baldplate East Peak
18	1911.2	NH	704	26.7	NOBO ascent of Mt Success
19	1931.5	ME	696	26.4	NOBO ascent of Baldplate West Peak
20	1998.8	ME	691	26.2	SOBO ascent of Sugarloaf Mtn
21	1219.2	PA	678	25.7	SOBO ascent from Port Clinton
22	1816.2	NH	665	25.2	NOBO ascent of South Kinsman Mtn
23	1983.4	ME	662	25.1	SOBO ascent of The Horn
24 (tie)	1825.4	NH	660	25.0	NOBO ascent from Franconia Notch
24 (tie)	1945.6	ME	660	25.0	SOBO ascent from Sawyer Notch

South of Glencliff, NH:

Rank	AT Mile	State	Elev. Change (ft)	Grade (%)	Location
1	1219.2	PA	678	25.7	SOBO ascent from Port Clinton
2	1776.9	NH	649	24.6	NOBO ascent of Smarts Mtn
3 (tie)	1517.4	MA	635	24.0	NOBO ascent of Mt Everett
3 (tie)	1616.6	VT	635	24.0	SOBO ascent from Bennington/Rt 9
5	1596.2	MA	625	23.7	SOBO ascent from North Adams
6	187.5	NC/TN	607	23.0	SOBO ascent of Brier Knob
7	1689.6	VT	602	22.8	NOBO ascent from Clarendon Gorge
8	791.5	VA	594	22.5	NOBO ascent of Big Rocky Row
9 (tie)	151.6	NC	583	22.1	NOBO ascent from Sweetwater Gap
9 (tie)	1476.8	CT	583	22.1	SOBO ascent to St. John's Ledges
11	674.5	VA	569	21.6	SOBO ascent of Kelly Knob
12	1261.2	PA	564	21.4	NOBO ascent from Lehigh Gap
13	1594.8	MA	563	21.3	SOBO ascent of Mt Williams
14	1735.6	VT	562	21.3	NOBO ascent from South Pomfret Rd
15	1713.8	VT	551	20.9	NOBO ascent of Quimby Mtn
16	667.0	VA	550	20.8	SOBO ascent from War Spur Shelter
17	1784.6	NH	548	20.7	SOBO ascent of Mt Cube
18	1690.6	VT	543	20.6	NOBO ascent from Clarendon Shelter
19	1387.0	NY	541	20.5	SOBO ascent of Agony Grind
20	1064.2	MD	535	20.3	SOBO ascent to High Rock

By State:

State	AT Mile	Elev. Change (ft)	Grade (%)	Location
GA	37.3	488	18.5	NOBO ascent from Tesnatee Gap
NC	151.6	582	22.1	NOBO ascent from Sweetwater Gap
NC/TN	187.5	607	23.0	SOBO ascent of Brier Knob
TN	433.5	453	17.2	NOBO ascent from Wilbur Dam Rd
VA/WV	791.5	594	22.5	NOBO ascent of Big Rocky Row
MD	1064.2	535	20.3	SOBO ascent to High Rock
PA	1219.2	678	25.7	SOBO ascent from Port Clinton
NJ	1361.3	503	19.1	NOBO ascent of Wawayanda Mtn
NY	1387.0	541	20.5	SOBO ascent of Agony Grind
CT	1476.8	583	22.1	SOBO ascent of St. John's Ledges
MA	1517.4	635	24.0	NOBO ascent of Mt Everett
VT	1616.6	635	24.0	SOBO ascent from Bennington/Rt 9
NH	1877.9	945	35.8	NOBO ascent from Pinkham Notch
ME	1949.5	836	31.7	NOBO ascent from South Arm Rd

[JPritch]

The long slogs are the ones that stick in my mind. Not so much very steep but very short segments.

I've done GA to PA, and SOBO Priest, NOBO Three Ridges, NOBO out of the NOC, and NOBO up Albert Mountain I remember as extra tough. I descended into Port Clinton, but I swear that was the steepest descent I'd done up to that point. It would be a tough climb!

[gpburdelljr]

Since many people hike from shelter to shelter, an average of the grades of all the 0.1 mile ups and downs in each of the shelter to shelter segments might give a good idea of the difficulty of the sections. This, of course, wouldn’t factor in other difficulties like rocks in Pennsylvania.

[illabelle]

In preparation for a section hike that included some of these steep climbs/descents, I copied pages from AWOL and marked those steep areas with a highlighter. Because of the scale of AWOL's elevation profile, it was often hard to distinguish the truly steep places from the generally steepish terrain around them. Helped with mental preparedness if nothing else.

[peakbagger]

There is also the subjective aspect of steep climbs. Talk to many thru hikers and they will get attuned to certain daily elevation change and when a big ascent pops up, they seem to feel it much more. Western NH is not flat but in line with what was encoutered in VT but talk to many thru hikers and that climb up out of Glencliff to the summit of Moosilaukee and the trail down to Kinsman Notch really knocks it out of them. Many come into the whites overly optimistic about daily mileage and they end up several miles short (usually coming out near dark at Kinsman Notch whne they were planning for Kinsman Pond of Eliza Brook shelters, having to resupply for shorter days. I would expect the same from folks doing the climb up Katahdin after the relatively flat eastern 100 Mile Wilderness but expect adrenaline carries them up the Hunt Trail.

[HankIV]

There is also the subjective aspect of steep climbs. Talk to many thru hikers and they will get attuned to certain daily elevation change and when a big ascent pops up, they seem to feel it much more. Western NH is not flat but in line with what was encoutered in VT but talk to many thru hikers and that climb up out of Glencliff to the summit of Moosilaukee and the trail down to Kinsman Notch really knocks it out of them. Many come into the whites overly optimistic about daily mileage and they end up several miles short (usually coming out near dark at Kinsman Notch whne they were planning for Kinsman Pond of Eliza Brook shelters, having to resupply for shorter days. I would expect the same from folks doing the climb up Katahdin after the relatively flat eastern 100 Mile Wilderness but expect adrenaline carries them up the Hunt Trail.

I think that leads to a couple of benefits of going SOBO:

1. By the time you come down Moosilaukee, you are pretty well physically conditioned.

2. Psychologically, the easier days with longer miles pump you up.

Disadvantage is of course, that you have to pass the gauntlet of Maine and the Whites first.

[wyclif]

I'm a former land surveyor and I was actually thinking about compiling this info for my own personal use. But now since you've crunched the numbers for me, I don't have to! Thanks!

And yes, almost a 50% grade (Webster Cliffs) sounds extreme but I'm sure it happens in places.

[peakbagger]

Webster Cliffs may be steep but its well built trail with lots of steps and mini switchbacks. Its near the road and an AMC facility so its gets a lot of attention with respect to trail construction. Compare it Mahoosuc Arm with its eroded out trailbed in spots where a hiker needs to climb up roots and I will take Webster Cliffs anytime.

I missed out on the non closed Fire Wardens trail up the east side of Mt Speck in Grafton Notch, it was a long route of the AT, it was a eroded trench, in spots reportedly 10 feet deep that became a drainage further accelerating the erosion. The reroute that has been in place for 40 plus years is a great piece of work, mostly stone staircases and switchbacks.