I started county highpointing after several years of peakbagging in New England, during which I had done the New England 100 Highest peaks, as well as some miscellaneous non peak oriented hiking. I was curious to see how many counties those years of peakbagging had netted me.
New Hampshire
To my amazement I discovered that the 48 New Hampshire 4,000 footers were all concentrated in just two counties (Mount Washington in Coos County and Mount Lafayette in Grafton County). The remaining 11 sub-4000 footer peaks on the New England 100 Highest list did not add any further counties. The highpoint of Sullivan County is close to the summit of Sandwich Dome, a peak on the New England 100 Highest list, but it is a short bushwhack to the county line that nobody would do unless they were county highpointers.
Of the remaining peaks only Mount Monadnock (Cheshire County) is generally hiked by those whose interests are mainly in the higher summits. Mount Belknap (Belknap County) and Mount Kearsarge (Merrimack County) are moderately popular peaks among those who hike in central New Hampshire, while Pack Monadnock (Hillsborough County) is more popular with those living in Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire.
I had, for various reasons, hiked Mounts Monadnock, Belknap and Kearsarge before starting my quest for the county highpoints, but still, several years of regular hiking in New Hampshire had only netted me five county highpoints!
Maine
While the 48 New Hampshire 4,000 footers are concentrated in only two counties, the fourteen Maine ones are spread out over four counties (Sugarloaf Mountain in Franklin County, Old Speck Mountain in Oxford County, Katahdin in Piscataquis County and the West Peak of Bigelow Mountain in Somerset County). While several other Maine county highpoints seem to be interesting small hikes none seem likely to be done by those who are not specifically looking for county highpoints.
So I started off with four county highpoints in Maine, only one less than in New Hampshire, where I probably do over 80% of all my hiking.
Vermont
All five of the Vermont 4,000 footers are county highpoints (Mount Abraham in Addison County, Mount Mansfield in Chittenden County, Killington Peak in Rutland County, and Mount Ellen and Camel's Hump in Washington County). The five peaks only cover four counties, as Camel's Hump and Mount Ellen have the same elevation (4,083 feet) and so both must be climbed to claim Washington County.
Four other peaks on the New England 100 Highest list are county highpoints: Equinox Mountain (Bennington County), Big Jay (Franklin County), Jay Peak (Orleans County) and Stratton Mountain (Windham Mountain).
This is the most unexpected result of the lot, I had netted no fewer than eight highpoints in a state which I rarely visit.
| State | 4,000 footers | 100 highest |
|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | 2 of 48 | 2 of 59 |
| Maine | 4 of 14 | 4 of 27 |
| Vermont | 5 of 5* | 9 of 14* |
*One fewer COHP than peaks, as Camels' Hump and Mount Ellen (Washington County) have the same elevation.