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Seeing Boston from 80 miles away

By adamg on Sun, 01/05/2025 - 12:30pm

Trying to See Boston From Ridiculously Far Away

A guy who goes by Terrible Ideas is on a quest to find the farthest point from Boston where he can stand and still see the city. In this video, he shows us his four, count 'em, four, treks to the top of Mt. Kearsarge, up past Concord, NH, to see if he can spot our fair Hub. Foiled by an incoming storm and haze, he fails on the first three tries, but finally, he succeeds at sunrise and gets to see, if barely, the taller buildings downtown and in the Back Bay.

H/t Angry Dan.

Neighborhoods: 
Boston
Back Bay
Downtown
Free tagging: 
New Hampshire


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Comments

By Ron Newman on Sun, 01/05/2025 - 1:05pm.

so I presume you can see the top of the Pru from the top of Monadnock, too. Ditto for Mount Wachusett.

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By THE_WIZ on Sun, 01/05/2025 - 1:34pm.

Boston a handful of times from the ‘Nock, (Hancock and reflection of harbor, airport) also visible are Wachusset, Stratton and Washington.

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By Jeff F on Sun, 01/05/2025 - 2:54pm.

Boston is not visible from either Mt Washington or Stratton Mountain. This can be shown mathematically - www.heywhatsthat.com is an excellent free-use tool for this purpose.

Also, wrt Washington, it has been practically tested on multiple occasions by setting up bright beacon lights at the summit and the Hancock antenna. No go.

Mts. Wachusset and Monadnock are both significantly closer to Boston than Stratton Mtn.

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By Ari O on Sun, 01/05/2025 - 7:35pm.

Seen it several times. Mountain skiing, minutes away, and only 43 miles.

Monadnock is 63 miles, Kearsarge is 83 miles (and a few feet shorter).

Mount Washington is 133 miles from Downtown Boston. The furthest distanct
\done the math and if Boston had a 4000' building then it would be visible from Mount Washington, but then again that's 1300' higher than the tallest building in the world. But if you sit on the correct side of an aircraft leaving Boston (especially taking off on 22 or 33) seeing Washington on a clear day is often easy, since you will often be at 10000 feet over Lowell or Nashua.

You can see the Atlantic from the Summit of Washington but it's only about 70 miles from Portland, likewise you can easily see Washington from the Western Proms in Portland on a clear day. (At 106 miles, Stratton-to-Boston would be a no-go; there's nothing high enough far enough southeast in Vermont to outdo Monadnock.) And clouds on the horizon are often further than they seem; I once watched a thunderstorm from Madison Spring Hut (elevation 4800) which may have been over central Quebec (maybe even Quebec City, although it may have been too hazy for that).

That's a cool webtool, thanks for sharing.

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By Angry Dan on Sun, 01/05/2025 - 8:26pm.

From the youtube comments:

@KtVogtF
3 days ago
According to the Earth Curvature Calculator, at 2937ft (height of Mount Kearsarge) the distance to horizon is ~66 miles and at 83 miles the bottom 56 Meters (184 Feet) will be obscured by the curvature of the earth.

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By merlinmurph on Mon, 01/06/2025 - 9:09am.

Funny you mention those as we were on both in the last week. I don't think I have ever noticed Boston from Monadnock. Probably haven't looked hard enough???? I'll take a better look next time.

By anon on Sun, 01/05/2025 - 2:17pm.

I have been confused about this before, maybe I am still confused. Are there two Mount Kearsarge's in N.H. Seems crazy, I know. I believe the North Mount Kearsarge (North of Conway) has a look out tower on top. There is also a Mount Kearsarhe in Warren, N.H. I don't see a look out tower on this Mount Kearsarge

By merlinmurph on Mon, 01/06/2025 - 9:05am.

Your confusion is understood.

Yes, there is a Kearsage North in the N. Conway area which is the one I am familiar with and have been up many times. It's a great 'bang for the buck hike'. Highly recommend it.

Later, I had learned of the Kearsage kinda off I-89 near Andover when I did a gravel ride in the area called the Kearsage Klassic. Haven't climbed the mountain, though.

By Sator on Sun, 01/05/2025 - 2:48pm.

From the Maine coast. On a -very- clear day.

By Tim Mc. on Sun, 01/05/2025 - 5:10pm.

and that's when I realized just how small Massachusetts is -- the main body of the state is only 50 miles from north to south. Of *course* I could see a bright aerial nighttime display from another state!

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By Unemployed Northeastern on Sun, 01/05/2025 - 10:26pm.

If you are at the right point on the water underneath the Mt. Hope Bridge, you can look one way and see a sliver of the open Atlantic between Newport and Jamestown, and in the other direction you can see Fall River. In other words, you can see clear across the state at sea level. Granted it's not Rhode Island at its greatest north-to-south height, but still.

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By Lee on Mon, 01/06/2025 - 11:16am.

… where Boston is almost always visible in the distance. I usually feel a bit ambivalent about the phenomenon. For the most part, it’s very cool to see the city skyline. But it’s also a bit discouraging as I get out of Boston to get away from it and there it is, following me.
I love city life but sometimes you need a break.

By cybah on Mon, 01/06/2025 - 1:59pm.

So this picture confirms that I should be able to get WMUR if I point an antenna in that direction. Mt Kearsarge is further away than WMUR's transmitter in Goffstown.

Full Disclosure: Currently writing up plans to put an antenna on my roof. AntennaWeb says I will get Boston AND Providence Stations, but not WMUR.

Providence TV Stations (WJAR) is 45 miles from me.
WMUR's transmitter is 45 miles from me also.

If my calculations are correct, WMUR's transmitter sits higher than the Pru, and even higher above sea level when you include the mountain it sits on. Other than signal strength, there should be no reason why I can't if my antenna is high enough.

This picture just.. makes me want to believe it.