‘List’less hiking

[dudley]

Speaking as a relative outsider around here I've gotta say I've never understood how hiking became a goal oriented sport. As I understand it,the "list" was first compiled just to show people that there were other mountains to hike besides the Presidentials and Franconia ridge. To me, I view the "lists" in much the same way as I see tournament fishing . Somehow a day spent communing with nature has turned into a competition (even if it's just a competition with yourself)
I probably spend more of my time outdoors fly fishing than hiking so I guess I look at things differently than the majority here.
I did the first of my NH 4Ks in 1963 or '64, but since then I've never kept track.
I'm sure I've done nearly all of the 4K but I know I've never done Owl's Head for one and I probably never will. Not a problem
I just like spending time outdoors

 

[albee]

I'm not a list person, but many of the mountains I really want to climb happen to be on the same list...

Actually, it baffles me when people say they have been hiking for so many years and will probably never finish a list and have no desire to. Does that mean you are intentionally *not* hking a peak so you don't finish the list? (In that case, you are still putting a constraint on your hiking.)

Don't you have to admit there is some modicum of curiosity to see what that hike would be like? Don't you feel that doing the same peaks year after year gets old and you would like to see something different? If someone professes to love nature and being in the mountains so much, why would you avoid certain peaks? Why would that exercise and experience be any less worthy of a destination?

If you have finished a list, does that mean you aren't a list person or you aren't a list person *anymore*? I wouldn't say that means you have kicked a habit - more like you have graduated and moved on to do what you enjoy. I feel the only way to figure out what peaks are your favorites is to hike them all so you have something to compare it to. For example, I feel that Shelburne Moriah has a far better view than regular Moriah, but I never would have known that if not for the 52 WAV list. (How many of you non-listers have been there, and don't you think there are other similarly rewarding places that you are missing out on?)

 

[TCD]

We all have limited time (even if you're a "trust funder," you still only have 168 hours per week). So no matter what you do, you're missing out on something else. I enjoyed "listing" when I did the ADK 46 a couple times (after a few of those hikes I probably was tilted to one side or the other). I also enjoy non listing. I'm sure I'm missing out on something cool somewhere on a high point, or in the 48, or the 111, or on the AT, or wherever. But if I committed to one of those things, I'd miss out on something somewhere else. Maybe when I have more time I'll pick another list. Lists are fun! (7 summits would be cool, but I'm too old and don't have enough money...) I'd much rather think about all the great places I am able to go, than think about the places I'm missing.

 

[Pig Pen]

How do I know what I'm supposed to hike if nobody gives me a list?

 

[Trudy]

Carole, this is a really good question.

Personally, lists don't resonant with me. I don't get lists. If people weren't doing hikes they 'had' to do, there would be less wear and tear on the trails, and that would be fine with me.

 

[Neil]

Slide bagging. Didn't Neil write a book on it?

Started to. Then decided against it. I do have my personal list of 50 ADK slides (that I would have included it the book.)

I really enjoy working on 2 lists. The ADK HH-B and the ADK HH-W. What I have found over the years is that my approach to an upcoming hike has evolved greatly going back to my first hike up Marcy to my recent Point Balk to Phelps traverse. Doing these hikes within the quests of completing these lists has unified them for me and tied them all together as part of a much greater whole.

There is so much on these two lists, so many stimulating challenges, new places to go and creative ways to get there, interesting research and logistical planning that they give me all the fulfillment I need and will be doing so for a long, long time to come.

 

[dr_wu002]

Actually, it baffles me when people say they have been hiking for so many years and will probably never finish a list and have no desire to. Does that mean you are intentionally *not* hking a peak so you don't finish the list? (In that case, you are still putting a constraint on your hiking.)

Don't you have to admit there is some modicum of curiosity to see what that hike would be like? Don't you feel that doing the same peaks year after year gets old and you would like to see something different? If someone professes to love nature and being in the mountains so much, why would you avoid certain peaks? Why would that exercise and experience be any less worthy of a destination?

I assume because some of the mountains you're talking about aren't there.

-Dr. Wu

 

[kwc]

I think part of the "pressure" comes from putting a time frame on a list. Like say "i'm going to do the 48 by next fall". Then every time that person goes hiking they feel like they need to progress towards that goal.

I think that this is exactly what happens to some people (not everyone!) when they get hooked on hiking the ADK High Peaks or the 48, etc. ... most, if not all, of their hiking becomes directed at completing those lists. Sometimes they'll decline a hike (with friends) because they've already done that hike or "it's not on my list".

 

[Neil]

I think that this is exactly what happens to some people (not everyone!) when they get hooked on hiking the ADK High Peaks or the 48, etc. ... most, if not all, of their hiking becomes directed at completing those lists. Sometimes they'll decline a hike (with friends) because they've already done that hike or "it's not on my list".

A good question for such folks would be: Do your walls set you free or do they imprison you?

Nothing at all wrong with a list per se. But it could be argued that the "end user" uses the list wrongly. Wrongly might mean in such a way that the list ends up decreasing one's pleasure as opposed to increasing it.

 

[dr_wu002]

A good question for such folks would be: Do your walls set you free or do they imprison you?

Nothing at all wrong with a list per se. But it could be argued that the "end user" uses the list wrongly. Wrongly might mean in such a way that the list ends up decreasing one's pleasure as opposed to increasing it.

Good Post.

Wait till you people see the list that I've just made up. It's gonna blow yer f'ing doors off. The ultimate "list of all lists."

Give me a few days to finalize. Brace yerselvz.

-Dr. Wu

 

[onestep]

I can't wait to start the list of de-listed peaks!

Yesterday I hiked Mt Pisgah in Winthrop, ME
Any idea what list that might be on?

 

[RoySwkr]

All the peaks I hike are on a list - the "Peaks of the Universe" list. DC said it should be called the "Peaks of the Earth" but I said if he went to the moon he would want to climb a peak there and he had to agree.

I have probably finished as many lists as anybody and am working on as many as anybody, but probably half of the peaks I climb are not related to any list not to mention the hikes with no peaks at all but ponds, caves, or simply nowhere.

Some people are goal-oriented and need a list. Some want to be anti-goal-oriented in their spare time and refuse to consider a list. Most are somewhere in between. You meet all types hiking.

 

[Peakbagr]

This is a very interesting discussion and appreciate Carole for starting it and all the good posts along the way.

I started hiking years before I knew there were lists. I started climbing mountains that I discovered were on a few lists and completed them. Also spend a bunch of times hiking things that are not on any lists, or hiking with friends on their lists.

For me, having lists is a wonderful way for others who've been there before to provide me a roadmap to explore places I've never been, or may have never heard of.
Over the last 5 year I began hiking a bunch of mountains on 2 lists. Many of the peaks I'd never climbed or even heard of before. The research, logistics, map reading, travel, and hiking has been the highlight of my last 5 years in the mountains. Thanks to these lists, I've seen terrain, views, flowers, animals and weather in settings I couldn't imagine. And made many new friends along the way.

 

[jmegillon149]

The 48 list (which I still have not quite finished) was a great way to start "really getting into" hiking in the Whites. It made me go to the different general areas of the WMNF. With that said, I was never a total slave to it. I know some people who won't go to Chocurua, Monadnock, or a repeated peak; because they are so locked in to finishing.

At this point, I am no longer that into the list thing. Its more about different trails, places I haven't been to in years, or those non-48 peaks I haven't been to. I don't keep track of anything that is not a first time peak, or anything on a list other than the 4kers.

I told someone once that I was not working on the HH, then later mentioned my Jay Peak hike, and he was all suprised, and actually said something along the lines of "I thought you weren't working on the HH". Answer: "I am not, but I still do hikes that may happen to be on that list" Of course I know that I will not finish that list, since bushwhacking is not my thing.

Most people seem to go one of two directions when they finish/wind down the popular lists - 1. Stop keeping track; or 2. Delve into obscure lists and/or seasons, monthes, etc.

I have chosen option 1. I am glad that I was at one time a peakbagger, but also glad that I never got so into it that I never strayed from it.

 

[RoySwkr]

Yesterday I hiked Mt Pisgah in Winthrop, ME
Any idea what list that might be on?

Fire towers of ME and Fire towers of USA for starters
There are some people woring on the first at least

And strangely enough, I just climbed a Mt Pisgah in CO to increase the # of states I'd climbed a Mt Pisgah in

 

[DougPaul]

*phew* There are others out there .... I swore that Steve and I were the only non-list people on VFTT.

You are not alone.

I started half-heartedly working on the NH48 shortly after I started hiking in the Whites in 1971 and then grew bored with it. As long as I enjoyed myself, it didn't matter: on a list or not, new peak or old. When BC skiing, I usually don't even attempt to reach any peaks. After a friend aggressively tagged the 48 (missing many fine views by doing them in whatever weather), I bothered to check and found that I only had a few left so I finished the 48. (Took 30+ years. Whoopee! Who cares?)

A few years ago, the friend and I hiked up Mt Hight on a bluebird winter day. We just hung around for an hour and drank in the view. Didn't even bother going over to Carter Dome...

I'll admit that I find the emphasis on lists (or "I just did #35...") on this and many other websites tiring. (So I mostly ignore it.)

Some of my favorite peaks in the Whites are sub-4K.

Doug

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

Some of my favorite peaks in the Whites are sub-4K.

One hangover from my list days is that, when all is said and done, I very rarely hike sub-4K mountains. OK, I frequently hike Sandwich Dome: it is almost 4K, has more elevation gain than neighboring Tecumseh or Osceola, and is very close to home. In mud season I hike Mt Pemi and the Squam range looking for snow-free hikes. But other than that I hike 4Ks.

Not completely true: with friends I will hike whatever they want.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

I don't hike too many sub-4 peaks either, except for Kearsarge North and Chocurua because they have great views and are a good workout.

I don't hike sub-4's mainly because they don't provide enough exercise for me, which is, in part, why I like trails like the Glencliff over Gorge Brook as it has 1K more elevation gain. (It's also more accessible in winter.)

I've enjoyed reading people's responses to Carol's question. It seems that, on any given day, nearly all people hike with a goal - not too many admit to wandering aimlessly in the woods. For some, it's enjoying the woods. For others, it's the solitude, or the company of friends, for working on a peakbagging list - the reasons are many. What does strike me is the disdain that some have for other's goals. I wonder why it seems to be OK to hike peak X for the view, but not OK to hike peak X because it's on a list?

 

[Zimmer]

Actually, it baffles me when people say they have been hiking for so many years and will probably never finish a list and have no desire to. Does that mean you are intentionally *not* hking a peak so you don't finish the list? (In that case, you are still putting a constraint on your hiking.)

Don't you have to admit there is some modicum of curiosity to see what that hike would be like? Don't you feel that doing the same peaks year after year gets old and you would like to see something different? If someone professes to love nature and being in the mountains so much, why would you avoid certain peaks? Why would that exercise and experience be any less worthy of a destination?

It's not a matter of "avoiding" them, it's just a matter of not going out of one's way to hike them. I've gone by Zealand on the Twinway a dozen times, but haven't ever bothered summitting. However, at some point when I'm out with the kids -- probably headed for Bond/West Bond -- we'll take the little detour just so we can mark it off their list. That's surely nothing I've ever felt compelled to do on my own. I've also never done Owl's Head, though I know that list or no list I would do it one day because of the curiosity aspect you mention. That same curiosity aspect never made me want to hop off the trail to Zealand, though. I've heard it's a boring, wooded, viewless summit, and I'm happy to take everyone's word for that.

And no, it never gets old, and there's enough out there that I haven't done -- whether it be mountains that are far from home, or routes that I've not taken up a particular mountain because they're not the most convenient route from home, or abandoned trails -- that I don't expect I'll run out of "different" things to do before my age catches up with me. Which hopefully won't be for a very, very long time.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

... That same curiosity aspect never made me want to hop off the trail to Zealand, though. I've heard it's a boring, wooded, viewless summit, and I'm happy to take everyone's word for that.

You don't have to take someone else's word for it - the summit is maybe 5 minutes from the main path. It's not a large investment in effort.

Is it boring? It's a spot in the woods, pretty much like Cabot, Waumbek, Middle Carter, Galehead, Owls Head and Passaconoway. Are they boring? Not to me, particularly - usually see something that I wouldn't have seen otherwise, like a boreal chickadee or maybe a snowshoe hare. We create our own realities, so if we expect it will be boring ... guess what?