New Hampshire 52 With A View – Created by the Over the Hill Hikers (OTHH) of Sandwich, NH, the New Hampshire 52 with a view is a hiking list consisting of fifty-two mountains under 4,000 feet that have awesome views; until the most recent revision of the list in spring 2020, a mountain also had to be over 2,500 feet, but this requirement seems to have been relaxed. Hikers can apply for a patch through the Over the Hill Hikers after completing the list.
Over the Hill Hikers came to be in 1979; it started off as just a group of friends hiking together. Then, a few years later, Elizabeth "Lib" Bates and her husband Charles Crooker organized the group. And the popularity of the group continued to grow throughout the years. In the early 1990s (1991), members of the hiking group got tired of hiking the 4,000 footer hiking list, which consists of 48 mountains, so they created the 52 with a view list. The group believed that the combination of the two hiking lists offered the best 100 hikes. Today, this group hikes on a regular schedule and the hiking list is more popular than ever.
For 16 years, "Lib" Bates was the Den Mother of the Over the Hill Hikers. She passed away on October 11, 2011, at the age of 92. Her father was Milton “Red Mac” MacGregor (1884-1976), the first caretaker of Carter Notch Hut. He was also the first manager of the Appalachian Mountain Club's hut system, overseeing Carter, Lakes of the Clouds, and Madison Spring huts from 1921 to 1927. Some believe that his ghost visits Carter Notch Hut from time to time.
One of the requirements for a mountain to be on the list is that it must have a view. Because views change for various reasons, such as tree growth, the list has been revised a few times over the years. And it may need to be revised again in the future.
Revisions:
- Carr Mountain was removed in 2001 and replaced with Black Mountain (Jackson).
- Mount Wolf was removed in 2010 and replaced with Mount Roberts.
- In May 2020, five mountains: Black Mountain in Jackson, Iron Mountain, Square Ledge, Hibbard Mountain, and West Royce Mountain were removed from the hiking list, and five mountains: Morgan, Percival, Pine Mountain, Roger's Ledge, and Table Mountain were added to this hiking list.
If hiking for the patch, hikers can hike any combination of the current peaks and delisted peaks, it just needs to total 52. Many hikers hike them all.
When it comes to researching these hikes, New Hampshire maps are the best resource. And in the 21st century, internet-savvy hikers will find an abundance of information about these hikes online. However, maps are always the best option.
Keeping track of these hikes can be done with the New Hampshire 52 With a View Passport. A book was also published in 2011 about this group: Over the Hill Hikers: And How They Grew…and Grew…and Grew by Shirley Elder Lyons.
The mountains on this list are rich with history. Below are the 52 current mountains (as of September 2022), and the 7 delisted ones, on the New Hampshire 52 with a View list. Included are random tidbits of history about each mountain.
New Hampshire 52 With A View
(Current List, September 2022)
The landscape of New Hampshire is breathtaking, and incredible places can be found in every corner of New Hampshire; this hiking list is a great way to explore some of the state.
The information included here was first published in another area of this website in 2014. And the above list, up to date as of September 2022, shows the current mountains on the 52 With A View hiking list.
Happy image making..
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Bibliography:
Appalachian Mountain Club. Appalachia Vol. I, June 1876: The Journal of the The Appalachian Mountain Club. Boston, MA: Houghton Osgood and Company, 1876.
Baird, Iris, Kelley, Jack. New Hampshire Fire Towers. [online] Firelookout.org. Available at: http://www.firelookout.org/lookouts/nh/nh.htm. n.d.
Beals, Charles Edward, Jr. Passaconaway in the White Mountains. Boston, MA: The Gorham Press, 1916.
Department of the Interior. United States Board of Geographic Names: Decisions on names in the Untied States Alaska and Hawaii. Washington D.C.: Department of the Interior, 1957.
Donovan, Erin Paul. “52 With A View, New Hampshire.” ScenicNH Photography LLC, 17 Aug 2014, https://www.scenicnh.com/new-hampshire-52-with-a-view/.
Donovan, Erin Paul. “Mount Success, Douglas DC-3 Plane Crash.” ScenicNH Photography LLC, 17 Aug 2010, https://www.scenicnh.com/blog/2010/08/mount-success-douglas-dc-3-plane-crash/.
Gannett, Henry. The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States, Second Edition. Washington, D.C: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1905.
Goodale, Christine L. “Fire in the White Mountains: A Historical Perspective.” Appalachia, December 2003, pp. 60-75.
Hadley, Jarvis B., Chapman, Carleton A. The Geology of Mt. Cube and Mascoma Quadrangles New Hampshire. Concord, NH: State Planning and Development Commission, 1939.
Legacy.com. “Elizabeth Bates Obituary (2011) – Sandwich, NH – the Citizen.” Legacy.com, 28 Oct. 2011, https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/citizen/obituary.aspx?n=elizabeth-bates-lib&pid=154287642 .
Lyons, Shirley Elder. Over the Hill Hikers: And How They Grew and Grew and Grew. Portsmouth, NH: Peter E. Randall Publisher, 2011.
Merrill, Georgia Drew. History of Carroll County, New Hampshire. Boston, MA: W.A. Fergusson and Company, 1889.
Mudge, John T. B. The White Mountains: Names, Places & Legends. Etna, NH: Durand Press, 1992.
Sweetser, Moses Foster. The White Mountains: A Handbook for Travellers. Boston, MA: James R. Osgood and Company, 1876.
Sweetser, Moses Foster. The White Mountains: A Handbook for Travellers, Eleventh Edition. Boston, MA: James R. Osgood and Company, 1891.
The Town Register: Ashland, Plymouth, Sandwich, Campton, Holderness, Center Harbor, Moultonboro. Augusta, ME: The Mitchell-Cony Co., Inc., 1908.
Waterman, Laura, Waterman, Guy. Forest and Crag: A History of Hiking, Trail Blazing, and Adventure in the Northeast Mountains, Thirtieth Anniversary Edition. Albany, NY: Excelsior Editions, 2019.
Workers of the Federal Writers' Project. American Guide Series, New Hampshire: A Guide To The Granite State. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1938.
Owner of ScenicNH Photography LLC
Erin Paul is a professional photographer, writer, and author who specializes in environmental conservation and historic preservation photography mainly in the New Hampshire White Mountains. His work is published worldwide, and publication credits include: Appalachian Mountain Club, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Backpacker Magazine, and The Wilderness Society. He has written two photo history books about the White Mountains: the East Branch & Lincoln Railroad (2018) and Franconia Notch (2024).
ScenicNH Photography LLC
Specializing in environmental conservation and historic preservation photography mainly in the White Mountains region of New Hampshire, Erin Paul’s photography and writing focuses on the history of the White Mountains, and telling the story of abandoned places and forgotten historical sites.