Are you a List-a-Holic? If you are. What do you think makes you one?
http://backpackingroutes.com/explor...2Mn930KSvqbpoqceEdcgE7DX2acqYsdrdKdWSKYldBLyQ
http://backpackingroutes.com/explor...2Mn930KSvqbpoqceEdcgE7DX2acqYsdrdKdWSKYldBLyQ
Are you a List-O-Holic?
- Thread starter skiguy
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Mike P.
Well-known member
I don't do it in other facets of my life so I would say no. I've picked and chosen my own list of which peaks i might do in all 12 months, not all 48. I keep going back to favorites and not finishing the few I have left for NH48 in all four seasons. (Spring, Fall, Solo & the only few left are not the same in Summer & winter so a 3rd time in either summer or winter) I've been slowly working on the last few in the ADK but it will wait until next year. I'm looking at doing a couple new ones this year and old favorites again, new in the months I'm going but down 4-15 x already, warm up in Southern New England on places I've been even more.
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Tom Rankin
Well-known member
I'm a spread-sheet-o-holic, is that close enough? 
Yes. Keep telling myself I’m done with lists after each list completion and yet I just keep on doing it. Hic.
Current project: Northeast P2Ks. Seven to go, all in Maine, with a weeklong post Labor Day trip on the docket.
Current project: Northeast P2Ks. Seven to go, all in Maine, with a weeklong post Labor Day trip on the docket.
Rhody Seth
Active member
I like keeping track of peaks and trails for grid and redlining purposes. I find it very satisfying and it's fun to plan each trip up north. A couple decades from now when I finally finish I can wade off into the ocean and let the fish eat me.
A long drive. When I was hiking in NY, I spent more time in the car than on the trail. I suppose I could have just done them all in 3 or 4 days, but that was never in the cards.
TCD
Well-known member
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We completed two rounds of the 46 (1986, 2001) and that was it. The only list I am pursuing now is the list of cliffs I want to visit that have potential for previously unexplored climbing. That "fun destination" list is endless, so I always have an option of someplace new to go on a free day.
A long drive. When I was hiking in NY, I spent more time in the car than on the trail. I suppose I could have just done them all in 3 or 4 days, but that was never in the cards.
Long drive indeed. Fortunately, most of my remaining P2Ks are in the general neighborhood of Greenville so I’m gonna set up shop on the shores of Moosehead Lake for four nights or so and then head up to Baxter for Doubletop. Probably won’t grab all of my remaining peaks on this trip even though I could if I pushed it a bit.
Daniel Eagan
Active member
Question about Doubletop: do you start from the south or the north?
Point to point would be ideal for me, but I'd need another car. Thanks.
Point to point would be ideal for me, but I'd need another car. Thanks.
^^^
My current plan is to start from the south.
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/maine/doubletop-mountain-trail
Would be interested to read experiences others have had.
My current plan is to start from the south.
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/maine/doubletop-mountain-trail
Would be interested to read experiences others have had.
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Doubletop is done in style from either side as an out and back IMO. The summit ridge which is rather unique IMO is not that long so the traverse over and back is easily done in short order. The trail from the South is way steeper than the North. Not that the North side is mellow but if you don't like steep downhills go in and out from the North. I've done pretty much everything in Baxter and Doubletop rates right up there in the top three hikes which ever way you do it.
peakbagger
In Rembrance , July 2024
IMHO, if you have a car spot, the north to south hike is the way to go but that means a steep down climb from the summit to the saddle with the politically incorrectly named mountain to the west. The last 2.5 miles or so from the saddle south to Kidney Pond is a pleasant woods walk down old logging roads with a mostly full canopy above for shade.
If an out and back I would do it from the North from Nesowadnehunk Campground as it skips the climb up from the saddle. Depending on what campground you are staying, the swimming area along the road on the way back south on the park road is fine place to swim without the leeches that may visit you on a swim in the local ponds and can be tad bit warmer due to the warming from the ledges it runs over. With respect to the stretch from the saddle to the summit on the south approach, its a steep, miserable rooty rocky eroded darn close to chimney in spots, IMHO in need a complete rerouting and rebuild. There is thankfully nothing similar on the north approach which is very well graded. There is some minimal scrambling along the summit ridge near the north outlook.
As other mentioned its a favorite in the park that the weekend listers may skip while they are furiously trying to fill in the boxes on the lists. It sad for them as the view at the south end of the ridge is hard to beat. The ledge drops offs steeply in three directions like the prow of a large granite ship. The south end of the Chocorua summit is a pale imitation of it, but nothing else matches it in the whites. Bring your map since its sets off a bit from the primary mass of the mountains, it has great views of Katahdin and the northern peaks in the park plus the long views to the north and west. Definitely not one to do on an iffy weather day (I would probably pick the Brothers and Coe loop for a cloudy day compared to Doubletop).
If an out and back I would do it from the North from Nesowadnehunk Campground as it skips the climb up from the saddle. Depending on what campground you are staying, the swimming area along the road on the way back south on the park road is fine place to swim without the leeches that may visit you on a swim in the local ponds and can be tad bit warmer due to the warming from the ledges it runs over. With respect to the stretch from the saddle to the summit on the south approach, its a steep, miserable rooty rocky eroded darn close to chimney in spots, IMHO in need a complete rerouting and rebuild. There is thankfully nothing similar on the north approach which is very well graded. There is some minimal scrambling along the summit ridge near the north outlook.
As other mentioned its a favorite in the park that the weekend listers may skip while they are furiously trying to fill in the boxes on the lists. It sad for them as the view at the south end of the ridge is hard to beat. The ledge drops offs steeply in three directions like the prow of a large granite ship. The south end of the Chocorua summit is a pale imitation of it, but nothing else matches it in the whites. Bring your map since its sets off a bit from the primary mass of the mountains, it has great views of Katahdin and the northern peaks in the park plus the long views to the north and west. Definitely not one to do on an iffy weather day (I would probably pick the Brothers and Coe loop for a cloudy day compared to Doubletop).
ChrisB
Well-known member
And note the touching memorial at the summit from a wife to her husband. Love lasts forever on Doubletop.
And don’t get suckered in thinking the north approach is a stroll. You got 1500 feet of very steep and rocky scrambling in that last mile.
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So what makes you one? Back on Topic.
Mike P.
Well-known member
On a very rainy day, (they closed the park and water was coming over the perimeter road) I attempted Doubletop from the South in the 2000's. The walk over the beaver dam was under calf deep water and as other's mentioned it was steep. I go stopped when, what should have been a simple brook crossing was a raging torrent that would have required a step onto a rock I could make out under a few inches of quick moving water. (To put this in perspective this was in roughly the same time I did Owl's Head when the 2007 NH flooding occurred and the crossing was thigh deep and dumb to do.) The water moving quickly, in part due to the amount and steepness of the terrain.
Doubletop and The Owl remain as my needs to do also on a BSP trip yet to be planned.
I don't think I'm a list-o-holic although I was pretty determined to finish the NH48 list and pursued it over a long period of time. I don't keep lists in any other realm than hiking and the other lists that I keep track of are all NH based. I don't think one qualifies as a list-o-holic if you have no intention of finishing a list which was always my intention with the Trailwrights for instance. I enjoyed going on additional hikes to get peaks like Boott Spur and Adams 5, for instance, but I was content to stop at 66/72 and skip the bushwhacks. I have used the Eric Savage T134 list to discover some NH 4K hikes not listed elsewhere like the Howks and a multitude of 3K hikes, but I won't finish that list either, 117/134. I've done about half the 52 with a View, but I'm saving most of those for when I get older (inisde joke). So the lists have been an imporatnt resource for me especially with regard to NH hiking, but I don't think I qualify as a list-o-holic. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
(inisde joke). So the lists have been an imporatnt resource for me especially with regard to NH hiking, but I don't think I qualify as a list-o-holic. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
I'll bite.
I am for sure a data junky, and a type A. I can be competitive, and while hiking is not a competitive sport, I do like repeating routes and seeing how my times compare to other efforts. I have the usual spreadsheets but being a software engineer I also have all the hiking data in a SQL database and I can run queries like "How many miles, hikes, feet of elevation, ... did I hike per year? per month?"
For reference, I've completed
NH48 (+ winter, 2X SSW48)
NE67 (+ winter)
NEHH (+ winter)
TW72 (+ winter)
I should finish The Grid in September. I am casually working on the 52WAV and the NH3Ks. I don't dare start the ADK46 until I am retired
Tim
p.s. here's the data
2012 / 2014 I was laid off and did the SSW48
Code:
Year Hikes TotalDist TotalElev AvgDist AvgElev TotalTime AvgTime
2006 8 81.8 25200 10.2 3150.0 48:45:00 06:05:37.5000
2007 11 115.4 36150 10.5 3286.4 79:45:00 07:15:00.0000
2008 17 162.0 57560 9.5 3385.9 114:40:00 06:44:42.3529
2009 22 248.3 81504 11.3 3704.7 172:15:00 07:49:46.3636
2010 30 303.5 97185 10.1 3239.5 184:55:00 06:09:50.0000
2011 16 139.1 51405 8.7 3212.8 95:15:00 05:57:11.2500
2012 45 408.4 147850 9.1 3285.6 269:35:00 05:59:26.6667
2013 22 245.8 93835 11.2 4265.2 176:05:00 08:00:13.6364
2014 54 546.1 190880 10.1 3534.8 318:05:00 05:53:25.5556
2015 35 428.4 133920 12.2 3826.3 241:30:00 06:54:00.0000
2016 39 417.7 147895 10.7 3792.2 251:25:00 06:26:47.6923
2017 38 433.7 137424 11.4 3616.4 243:30:00 06:24:28.4211
2018 32 288.0 97500 9.0 3046.9 177:45:00 05:33:16.8750
2019 34 350.5 113810 10.3 3347.4 212:15:00 06:14:33.5294
2020 24 255.9 85780 10.7 3574.2 150:45:00 06:16:52.5000
2021 28 316.7 104290 11.3 3724.6 180:30:00 06:26:47.1429Somewhere in the space/time continuum, what used to be peakbagging became list-bagging and peakbagging became just summiting any old mountain whether it is on a list or not.
I say that only as a preface to what I continue to think is the best essay on the psychology of Northeast “peakbaggers” that I’ve ever come across. Appears on pages 9-15 of “High Peaks of the Northeast” by Bruce Scofield.
A couple of gems from the essay that still continue to sum it up for me almost 30 years after I first read it:
“Peakbagging is the activity (some would call it a sport, others a religion) that involves climbing all the peaks over a certain elevation in a specific area. It’s a type of superhiking: goal-oriented like hiking the entire Appalachian Trail, but also a lot like collecting. It motivates people to do some things that they might not otherwise do, and it gives them a sense of accomplishment and reward. There are few rules to follow and plenty of room for individual choice. The challenge is not to defeat another person, but to meet the demands of the mountains themselves. It is also addicting. Upon completing a list, many hikers just can’t wait to take on the next peakbagging arena.” (page 9)
“The psychology of many peakbaggers is such that upon completion of one list, they look for another one, or for a variation of the first. In other words, the activity is just too satisfying to give up — the process has become the goal.” (page 11)
For me, one list has naturally bled into each new list as the years have gone by such that the only list I ever attempted/completed where I truly started at zero was the Adirondack 46Rs (1993-1995) during which time I decided to go after the Northeast 111. By the time I finished the 111, I had my first two Catskill 3500 Club peaks to go along with four state highpoints and 65 of the New England Hundred Highest (67 nowadays). And it has just branched out from there.
Great responses on Doubletop, BTW. Will definitely take that all into consideration.
I say that only as a preface to what I continue to think is the best essay on the psychology of Northeast “peakbaggers” that I’ve ever come across. Appears on pages 9-15 of “High Peaks of the Northeast” by Bruce Scofield.
A couple of gems from the essay that still continue to sum it up for me almost 30 years after I first read it:
“Peakbagging is the activity (some would call it a sport, others a religion) that involves climbing all the peaks over a certain elevation in a specific area. It’s a type of superhiking: goal-oriented like hiking the entire Appalachian Trail, but also a lot like collecting. It motivates people to do some things that they might not otherwise do, and it gives them a sense of accomplishment and reward. There are few rules to follow and plenty of room for individual choice. The challenge is not to defeat another person, but to meet the demands of the mountains themselves. It is also addicting. Upon completing a list, many hikers just can’t wait to take on the next peakbagging arena.” (page 9)
“The psychology of many peakbaggers is such that upon completion of one list, they look for another one, or for a variation of the first. In other words, the activity is just too satisfying to give up — the process has become the goal.” (page 11)
For me, one list has naturally bled into each new list as the years have gone by such that the only list I ever attempted/completed where I truly started at zero was the Adirondack 46Rs (1993-1995) during which time I decided to go after the Northeast 111. By the time I finished the 111, I had my first two Catskill 3500 Club peaks to go along with four state highpoints and 65 of the New England Hundred Highest (67 nowadays). And it has just branched out from there.
Great responses on Doubletop, BTW. Will definitely take that all into consideration.
And this, Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, is why the NH 48 is lovingly referred to (during the 4000-Footer Awards) as the "Gateway Drug".
Tim
