Are 3k's becoming trendy?

[albee]

IMO I think there are actually more subgroups out there than many realize.

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. There probably are other subgroups to the general hiking community - could you elaborate on that?

As Amicus has pointed out there are many who do these hikes and never sign the register.

Are you speaking from experience(?), because I disagree. Many is an awfully strong word in this case. I have seen AMC entries in a *few* registers. One person usually signs everybody's name in. There may be people that bushwhack these peaks and never sign in, but if you do enough of them you will start to feel a kindred with the other people that sign in, and I would bet you would eventually begin adding your name to the registers. It takes a certain amount of modesty to not seek recognition in the bushwhacking community. If you have done more than a handful of bushwhacks and found the cannisters, but not signed in for one reason or another, I would be highly impressed and confused at the same time.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

IMO I think there are actually more subgroups out there than many realize

Of course there are! Ever notice how you will see a trip report which includes a handful of characters known to most, which there was never a post inviting the world? That's a subgroup. And those are ones which are easy-ish to spot.

I, for one, am still working on the NH 48... 20 down, 28 to go. I intend to knock off at least one more this weekend for FOT48.

I think the BW crowd is pretty cool, and since it is "the next level", I don't expect that information to be quite as available as the NH48. When I first embarked on that mission, I was super-prepared, and have now learned it's just not that necessary... Experience supplements information.

Tim

 

[Amicus]

It takes a certain amount of modesty to not seek recognition in the bushwhacking community.

So true! My point was that people who started bushwhacking to NE3k peaks say, two years ago, shouldn't imagine that they invented or have a monopoly on this innocent if strange pastime, even though it might be natural for them to think so, from seeing the same few names in registers that often don't go back very far (thanks to nature's rigors, canister vandals. etc.)

I think the great thing about the NE3K list is that is it accessible to almost any reasonably fit nature-lover who is willing to devote the enormous amount of time and effort required to complete it (and there will never be many of those). This distinguishes it from achievements like running a 4-minute mile, hitting 60 home runs or scaling the world's 20K peaks, which most of us could never do even if we quit our jobs and made that our full-time objective.

So, my hat is off to those gamers who are racking these up, but they should resist any temptation to try making this a private club. (I hope it goes without saying that I don't expect anyone to share details of any hike, especially those to locations they would prefer to keep relatively unpopular.)

 

[jmegillon149]

Clarification:

I was only kidding. (Should have used an emoticon)

But if enough people want to go and start up another forum then they shall. I like the mix as it is right now though.

I hope they don't go breaking it up too much more, the reason I don't like ROT as much is that there are too many damn forum subdivisions and navigation doesn't go that smoothly.

 

[David Metsky]

I hope they don't go breaking it up too much more

I don't think there's much danger of that.

-dave-

 

[dms]

What ever happened to the Romanos? They'd always have a witty saying or poem to make us laugh.

My old buddies, Doug & Jeff Romano are now both married with small children. In fact Jeff has written a couple of New England hiking guides for the Mountaineers.

 

[skiguy]

Are you speaking from experience(?), because I disagree.

I could elaborate and tell you that...but then I would have to kill you...

 

[Michelle]

A "Certain Someone" says, " If so, should I start buyin' trendy whackin' duds"?
He said," I was gonna buy a vanity plate that had N.E.- 3KER on it, but I didn't want it to be confused with the hooded sub-humaniod types".

 

[ColdRiverRun]

Based on that field study what can you conclude?

Sawtooth two is infinitely trendier than one.

I'm trying to decide which is the best comment of the day. That one or PinPin's on the nature blessed girl in broken english.

I mean for those of you that don't know Albee does it for the chicks! Why do you think he is always out there in his Larry Bird short shorts. And Neil does it to wear the cammo thong and stretch his legs. Crazy French Canadian, he told me he actually wasn't French Canadian and I told him he is from Canada and speaks French- that is way more criteria than a New Yorker needs.

I guess I would agree with Motabobo on the "why" question as well as throwing in the idea that some would feel it would become a totalally different accomplishment if the untamed mountain they took on had herd paths.

 

[--M.]

Whackers and the Wacked

What exactly was the nature of his concern?

I avoid the term "concern," because who wants to be a worrier?

On the other hand, there are peculiarities to bushwhacking that lend it to exclusivity. Most relevant on this list would be the likelihood of herd-path creation. It seems to me that a bushwhack remains a bushwhack only if each ascent excludes trail-walking, and that, once herd-paths are worn into the terrain, it's no longer a bushwhack. If I were a bushwhacker, which really takes too much concentration for me, I'd be aware of the freshness dating or half-life of a 'trailless' peak and would want to climb it without the aid of those who went before.

Do actual bushwhackers feel this way? Was the Holy Roman Empire holy, or an empire? Discuss.

 

[Neil]

Most relevant on this list would be the likelihood of herd-path creation. It seems to me that a bushwhack remains a bushwhack only if each ascent excludes trail-walking, and that, once herd-paths are worn into the terrain, it's no longer a bushwhack.

Discuss.

This is the nub as far as I'm concerned. Once a herd trail is set then a lot of wilderness has gone out the window. Oh sure, if you're as sick as Cold River Run you can whack Tabletop in the Dacks which will give you a wilderness experience of sorts. But when the group of 5 you meet at the top asks you to take a picture of them before you re-enter the woods then you realize you aren't really in the wilderness.

My take: it's all about herd paths and further erosion of wilderness.

 

[dms]

trendy?

Perfect, it takes me 25 years to finish the damn list, and the year after I finally get it done, it becomes "trendy"!

 

[albee]

My take: it's all about herd paths and further erosion of wilderness.

Does this mean it would diminish the accomplishment or eventually erode the wilderness if a number of people were to bushwhack, say, the ADKHH using routes suggested in a book?

(Note: I did buy said book, and I found it to be quite interesting.)

Actually, if people are writing books about 'whacking, maybe it IS getting trendy.

And ColdRiverRun - I only wear the short shorts on trails so I can impress the ladies with the battle scars on my legs... chicks never see me in my trendy spandex-blend 'whackin pants.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Perfect, it takes me 25 years to finish the damn list, and the year after I finally get it done, it becomes "trendy"!

That makes you a "trendsetter", and "ahead of your time"

Tim

 

[Neil]

Does this mean it would diminish the accomplishment or eventually erode the wilderness if a number of people were to bushwhack, say, the ADKHH using routes suggested in a book?

It's not about the accomplishment, it's about the experience, the trip. The very personal trip. That is first and foremost. Our "accomplishments" are fly<----> on flypaper.

I havn't read the book yet but if it suggests specific routes and people follow them and form herd trails then that would be one great big pity due to the loss of wilderness. The accomplishments of those of us who put one foot in front of the other, following a compass bearing or a gps, is nothing compared to the grandeur of the wild and chaotic lands we visit (but do not remain in).

 

[dr_wu002]

If you have done more than a handful of bushwhacks and found the cannisters, but not signed in for one reason or another, I would be highly impressed and confused at the same time.

I don't always sign in. What's the point? Sometimes it's just not worth it. Sometimes it's annoying to have to look for the cannister too or it could be a false one when you find it. I'm always afraid that a bug is going to jump out when I open the jar and gross me out too much. Eric and I discussed putting a terd in one cannister but in the end we just signed it (with ink). I might have put a fake name or no name at all though.

There have been times that I was convinced that I wasn't even there so I couldn't justify signing in. When I went to Jeffers there was no pencil to sign in. Then recently I had a dream that I went back and signed in. It seemed real enough that I'm not sure if I was there or not. Has anyone seen my name in that register recently?

-Dr. Wu

 

[cushetunk]

That makes you a "trendsetter", and "ahead of your time"

Tim

Kind of like knowing about the band before they "got popular" and "sold out."

On a serious note, maybe another way of framing the question is, are some 3k peaks becoming used enough that the character that originally made them attractive is being eroded (ha!) away? Not to say the experience will be ruined; in fact they will still be wonderful hikes, I'm sure. They just won't be the same truly trailless hikes. That drives the people who want trailless hikes to other peaks, and the cycle repeats. Advertising the new mountains on VFTT helps spread the word and attract people looking for new challenges. Unless we have another mountain building event in the northeast (not anticipated anytime soon) we could, over time, run out of trailless 3k peaks.

That's my take, anyway. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[Pig Pen]

Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded. <Yogi Berra>

 

[timmus]

My opinion is that we think many are out there bushwhacking the 3k's, but I don't think there's much more people than 20 years ago.

The new generation is just more computer oriented, so we have access to all info on what they do. We all agree that vftt is a great place to brag.

A 451 completer recently expressed to me his concern that bushwhacking in general may be becoming a bit too popular!

You know when the old man says that when he was young the storms he was confronting were bigger than today. And when 46r #143 says that the Seward were SOoooo much more difficult than today... They want to keep the souvenir of their accomplishment as good as they can, adding a coat of varnish on it every year so it still can shine.

I know all this doesn't have anything to do with the title, but that was probably the 451 completer's concern...

... Albee does it for the chicks!

... I know another b'whacker (also French Canadian) who can definitely say that it actually worked

 

[Neil]

I knew 3kers were getting trendy when Timmus asked me to carry her makeup case to the top of Lewey. Phew, was that thing heavy! The cripple bush sure made a mess of her cocktail dress though.