Many who finish the NH48 go on to do the NE67 Some go for the 115 or the NE100, maybe the NH100 or some other list(s). I know the appeal of the 67 (haven’t been to NY). But here’s my question: What is the appeal of some of these other peaks especially when some are long drives to logging roads then short bushwhacks to viewless peaks (at least that is what it appears to me)? I like bushwhacking (doing one this weekend) but I haven’t found a reason to pursue these other lists? To those who have done or are doing them I’d be interested in why. To others why not?
'Grabbing' more peaks?
- Thread starter carole
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For my attitude, see Peakbagging: A Personal Perspective (why I used to bag peaks but no longer do so).
bobandgeri
Well-known member
We started hiking as a form of exercise. We started the NH48 as a way to motivate ourselves to hike differant peaks. When we finsihed that we started in on the NEHH, once again as a motivator to hike differant peaks in differant states. We would never have driven all the way to Maine if not for this.
Some of the remote peaks have great views and we want to go back. The bushwacks to viewless peaks - we enjoy them as well. They challenge our ability to read the terrain and find the best route to the peak, in theory better preparing us for potential emergencies.
You never know what you find and may have some fun suprises. This past weekend we had our first encounter with a rabbit on a hike. It was a highlite for us. On a differant day we discovered a memorial for the crew of a B-17 that crashed in the area in 1944 - something we never would have known if not for the long drive on the logging roads. We also met some very friendly hunters as we were exploring the logging roads who gave us a history of the area.
Some of the remote peaks have great views and we want to go back. The bushwacks to viewless peaks - we enjoy them as well. They challenge our ability to read the terrain and find the best route to the peak, in theory better preparing us for potential emergencies.
You never know what you find and may have some fun suprises. This past weekend we had our first encounter with a rabbit on a hike. It was a highlite for us. On a differant day we discovered a memorial for the crew of a B-17 that crashed in the area in 1944 - something we never would have known if not for the long drive on the logging roads. We also met some very friendly hunters as we were exploring the logging roads who gave us a history of the area.
ken
Member
>>haven’t been to NY).<<
>>some are long drives to logging roads<<
>>I haven’t found a reason to pursue these other lists?<<
you shold try n.y. - we need more new englanders in the 111ers - almost half are new yorkers with the others being from everywhere else (n.h. has 40 something) - new york isnt that far - it only takes 3 hours from the adirondacks to the whites (the whites and adirondacks are 5 hour trip for me) .
only drives along a logging road was to abraham, the crockers & reddington in maine (and the roads were in pretty good shape, not a washboard like the park's road to north brother in baxter).
the reason to persue other lists (within traveling distance at least) is to see more of the world - it gives you a reason to go to other places that you didnt even think of going - i never would have seen as much that i have without the lists - now i am trying to do nice ones off the lists (the baldfaces in the whites are really nice). go for the lists, n.y. isnt that far for a weekend.
>>some are long drives to logging roads<<
>>I haven’t found a reason to pursue these other lists?<<
you shold try n.y. - we need more new englanders in the 111ers - almost half are new yorkers with the others being from everywhere else (n.h. has 40 something) - new york isnt that far - it only takes 3 hours from the adirondacks to the whites (the whites and adirondacks are 5 hour trip for me) .
only drives along a logging road was to abraham, the crockers & reddington in maine (and the roads were in pretty good shape, not a washboard like the park's road to north brother in baxter).
the reason to persue other lists (within traveling distance at least) is to see more of the world - it gives you a reason to go to other places that you didnt even think of going - i never would have seen as much that i have without the lists - now i am trying to do nice ones off the lists (the baldfaces in the whites are really nice). go for the lists, n.y. isnt that far for a weekend.
John H Swanson
Active member
A new list offers the opportunity to go to new places.
I enjoy the excitement of going to a place that I have not been, and also seeing a place seldom visited by others. Of course, if you find a place that no one has visited, there might be a good reason for it. Or it might just have been overlooked. A few of the 3000 footers are really great. Finding that nice one by surprize in a pleasant reward. If I grab a topo for the middle of Maine and start looking at contours streams and lake, I can't help but imagine what the place is like. Something in me draws me to learn what it's like.
I also enjoy the challenge of the logistics to find the new place. Spending a week driving around on logging roads and not having your tires touch asphalt can change ones perspective on life. I remember a week in the cupsuptic area where I was better equiped for a natural disaster than most families in their home.
Then there is the navgational challenge. Much less so these days with GPSes. But starting off the road into the woods and knowing how to go exactly where you want to gives an enormous sence of satisfaction.
JHS
I enjoy the excitement of going to a place that I have not been, and also seeing a place seldom visited by others. Of course, if you find a place that no one has visited, there might be a good reason for it. Or it might just have been overlooked. A few of the 3000 footers are really great. Finding that nice one by surprize in a pleasant reward. If I grab a topo for the middle of Maine and start looking at contours streams and lake, I can't help but imagine what the place is like. Something in me draws me to learn what it's like.
I also enjoy the challenge of the logistics to find the new place. Spending a week driving around on logging roads and not having your tires touch asphalt can change ones perspective on life. I remember a week in the cupsuptic area where I was better equiped for a natural disaster than most families in their home.
Then there is the navgational challenge. Much less so these days with GPSes. But starting off the road into the woods and knowing how to go exactly where you want to gives an enormous sence of satisfaction.
JHS
Dennis C.
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In 2004, I'm celebrating 40 years (yikes!) of climbing mountains in the Northeast. When I first started out, I'd have said something like, "Why would anyone want to go off trail?” when someone mentioned bushwhacking. As time went on, I began to meet climbers who saw the pursuit of peaks as more than just a pastime, and that included many mountains off trail. John Swanson once described bushwhacking as an "acquired taste". The more you do it, the better "fine tuned" (skilled) you become. Not all trail less peaks have wooded summits either. Some have outlooks and/or open summits. I have written articles and posted on VFTT some lists of these "best kept secrets". What I've enjoyed the most of all is the people I've met while thoroughly enjoying this sport.
Interesting thoughts everyone and I agree with most of what is said. Bushwhacking is fun and a great skill to fine tune. Lists take you to places you may not have considered before. I love the variety of many different places and different perspectives. I enjoy the people I meet along the way and I like adventure. I am able to hike often but unlike some I am limited (because of work and family) to usually one-day hikes therefore I want to spend that time hiking/bushwhacking in greater amounts than the drive. I’m finding some very nice places to go and am always interested in new ones so I read with interest when people report on more than the common hike.
stoopid
New member
Kevin said:
Been a month since I posted that and I've stuck to my word. I haven't even started on my short re-do list which only exists because a few peaks were socked in with clouds when I first climbed them.
At the same time I'm glad I DID do the 46r list:
Kevin said:
When I first started I was motivated by the exercise and the view. Those are still motivators, but not my primary motivation. Today I find peace in the wilderness, and have started to enjoy 'flat lander' hikes to remote spots, setting up camp, and soaking it in for a day or two.
I think this makes me an "Achiever", right Mohammed?
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spaddock
New member
I agree with what most people said about giving them motivation to get out more.
I'm a pretty goal oriented person and love checking things off of a list. I also really enjoy all the logistics of planning the routes to summit the most peaks. Lots of times I'll "grab" another peak because it is close by, without the list I'd probably just do a more traditional loop.
Working on a list also gives all of us something to talk about. If we were all climbing random peaks we wouldn't be able to relate to each other's experiences as well.
-Shayne
I'm a pretty goal oriented person and love checking things off of a list. I also really enjoy all the logistics of planning the routes to summit the most peaks. Lots of times I'll "grab" another peak because it is close by, without the list I'd probably just do a more traditional loop.
Working on a list also gives all of us something to talk about. If we were all climbing random peaks we wouldn't be able to relate to each other's experiences as well.
-Shayne
Jim lombard
New member
post'r boy
Maybe I'm not a peakbagger then because I've re-visited some mountains many times in different seasons and have never seen the same thing twice. I do enjoy visiting new mountains but not so much in the pursuit of a list. I believe I was a peakbagger until a year or two ago. Of all the mountains I've climbed I can only think of a few that I'd never want to re-visit. I will eventually finish the NE67 but am in no hurry.......
Maybe I'm not a peakbagger then because I've re-visited some mountains many times in different seasons and have never seen the same thing twice. I do enjoy visiting new mountains but not so much in the pursuit of a list. I believe I was a peakbagger until a year or two ago. Of all the mountains I've climbed I can only think of a few that I'd never want to re-visit. I will eventually finish the NE67 but am in no hurry.......
alpinista
Active member
I'm personally glad there are "lists" out there. If I hadn't been driven to notch 'em off, I wouldn't have ended up on some of these mountains -- and I found that the ones I dreaded the most beforehand, ended up being the ones I relished the most at the end of the day. That said, having finished the NH48 this year, I never want to be so driven by "the list" that I end up turning it into a chore.
rondak46
New member
before and after
I Hiked Marcy when I was 16 to climb the tallest Mt in NY.
I hiked Mountais a few more times over the next few years because I thought that hikers would be cool, positive people to meet and get to know.
I found that summitting peaks was an excercise in perfection; something that I find myself peculiarly unfamiliar with. In short, no matter how it went, how long it took, I made it to the top. It really is an isuperable feat, Lance Armstrong or Superman can't do it any better; the top is the top, if it is done safely, it is done perfectly.
I did the 46 because I was inspired by a big fat hiker who I met on the trail and he told me he had done the 46; and explained what it was. I was a big kid (still am) and I said if he can do it, I can do it.
I have found that my real attraction to the Mts is to become intimately familiar with the land, my state, the history ect.
I have taken up hunting, and found that it really piques my interest because you move much slower and get to know the land and the forest much better.
I am working on the NY100 now, mainly so that I can become familiar with much more of the ADK park than just the high peaks area. I may find that the difficlties of reaching the lesser peaks are more than I bargained for but I still can't see myself ever giving that goal up.
To answer the direct question, though, I will climb the lesser peaks so that I can feel that I KNOW the land.
I Hiked Marcy when I was 16 to climb the tallest Mt in NY.
I hiked Mountais a few more times over the next few years because I thought that hikers would be cool, positive people to meet and get to know.
I found that summitting peaks was an excercise in perfection; something that I find myself peculiarly unfamiliar with. In short, no matter how it went, how long it took, I made it to the top. It really is an isuperable feat, Lance Armstrong or Superman can't do it any better; the top is the top, if it is done safely, it is done perfectly.
I did the 46 because I was inspired by a big fat hiker who I met on the trail and he told me he had done the 46; and explained what it was. I was a big kid (still am) and I said if he can do it, I can do it.
I have found that my real attraction to the Mts is to become intimately familiar with the land, my state, the history ect.
I have taken up hunting, and found that it really piques my interest because you move much slower and get to know the land and the forest much better.
I am working on the NY100 now, mainly so that I can become familiar with much more of the ADK park than just the high peaks area. I may find that the difficlties of reaching the lesser peaks are more than I bargained for but I still can't see myself ever giving that goal up.
To answer the direct question, though, I will climb the lesser peaks so that I can feel that I KNOW the land.
Jim lombard
New member
No worries Postr'boy
Thanks goodness everyone is different or these trails would be mighty crowded! Hope to see you on the trail someday.
Thanks goodness everyone is different or these trails would be mighty crowded! Hope to see you on the trail someday.
trailbiscuit
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Like many have said, the lists are a great way to see places you "normally" wouldn't visit.
We've started redlining our maps, which is a real eye-opener. Talk about the need to get out and explore! Even though we've completed the NH 48, there are still so many trails we haven't seen.
We've started redlining our maps, which is a real eye-opener. Talk about the need to get out and explore! Even though we've completed the NH 48, there are still so many trails we haven't seen.
RoySwkr
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I will probably never do the Adk46 because they are a long drive to a place full of people and regulations. I will probably never do the NEHH in winter because it requires more energy to deal with the Baxter rules than to actually climb the peaks. Exploring a logging road has more appeal to me than hiking up an overused trail.carole said:
And if you do a bushwhack to some offbeat place there is no telling what you might find. I climbed several "peaks" in Farmington NH this spring and many of them had rock ledges with views, on one we were circled by an increasing number of vultures.
stoopid
New member
RoySwkr said:
In defense of the Adirondacks, I would estimate that half of the peaks on the 46r list are remote and if you see a few people that day you're probably hiking it during the busy season. I don't know the foot-traffic numbers on how the adks compare to the other NE mountain ranges, but it isn't as bad as I think you've either experienced first hand or heard from others. Algonquin, Marcy, and Phelps are a highway of people for about 4 months (June-Sept). That's only 33% of the year, which means 66% of the time it's relatively quiet (especially during the winter months).
I managed to steer clear of the highest traffic zones when climbing the 46, avoiding the busiest seasons and such. I've found a lot of solitude in those mountains. There's also some really cool people hiking the d'acks, and it's been a pleasure hiking and chatting with them on the trail. Sometimes I don't need to be alone because of surprise company (met many people on the trail early into a hike I ended up spending the rest of the day's hike with).
I have doubts there's any established parks (within a 2 hour drive of any metropolitan area), with a list or 12 assigned to its peaks, that doesn't see its fair share of traffic any time of the year.
As for bushwacking, I've done little of this as the spruce near the summits in the d'acks gets pretty thick, so unless I really had a desire to trample, cut, and bleed it doesn't make much sense to me to whack my way up if there's a trail heading there anyway. In the valleys it's a different story, as it's much more open and scenic versus standing in a thick of eye level spruce on the side of the typical ADK mountain.
My next challenge in the d'acks are the various slides. Colden has several, and I would also like to try the trap dyke. This way I get a nice view on the way up, don't have to push my way through the tangled spruce, and I get a view from the top (of most slide-climbs).
Raymond
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Why?
Because they're there.
Because they're there.
Thunder Dan
New member
Goal Oriented People
I consider my self to be one of these goal-oriented people who are working on a list or lists. I just have a competitive instinct and in hiking I enjoy working towards a goal. Having this goal also takes me to some mountains that I might not ever go to otherwise.
I used to live in New York and I successfully climbed the 46 Adirondack Peaks. Then I started on the Catskills, completed about 9 peaks and lost interest(I just did not think they were as interesting as the ADKs plus the one total bushwhack just about half killed me). I continued to hike some of the rock slides in the ADKs for a year and then moved to Maine. I must say I over did some of my ADK hikes, trying to climb 3,4, or 5 peaks in a day. I am now working on the New England 4000 footers and maybe the hundred highest, but I am not trying to hike that many peaks at once. I will try to enjoy the hikes I do more and make them shorter, by only climbing one or two peaks per hike. That way, the goal will be there for me for a longer time. I am also trying to change my attitude and make hiking a more spiritual experience. Being out in nature really shows me the God of love who intelligently designed all of creation. I was recently inspired with the overwhelming beauty of Mt. Abraham and the wilderness around it.
In summary, I enjoy working towards a peakbagging goal in hiking, but I enjoy and individual hike most when I am so inspired that I forget that I am working towards a hiking goal.
I consider my self to be one of these goal-oriented people who are working on a list or lists. I just have a competitive instinct and in hiking I enjoy working towards a goal. Having this goal also takes me to some mountains that I might not ever go to otherwise.
I used to live in New York and I successfully climbed the 46 Adirondack Peaks. Then I started on the Catskills, completed about 9 peaks and lost interest(I just did not think they were as interesting as the ADKs plus the one total bushwhack just about half killed me). I continued to hike some of the rock slides in the ADKs for a year and then moved to Maine. I must say I over did some of my ADK hikes, trying to climb 3,4, or 5 peaks in a day. I am now working on the New England 4000 footers and maybe the hundred highest, but I am not trying to hike that many peaks at once. I will try to enjoy the hikes I do more and make them shorter, by only climbing one or two peaks per hike. That way, the goal will be there for me for a longer time. I am also trying to change my attitude and make hiking a more spiritual experience. Being out in nature really shows me the God of love who intelligently designed all of creation. I was recently inspired with the overwhelming beauty of Mt. Abraham and the wilderness around it.
In summary, I enjoy working towards a peakbagging goal in hiking, but I enjoy and individual hike most when I am so inspired that I forget that I am working towards a hiking goal.
Periwinkle
Active member
carole said:
I started the NH48 to motivate myself to get out of my valley and see what else was out there simply because I wanted to do it for myself. I've done the majority of the list by myself.
The adventure has pushed my mental and physical limits. It has been a unique challenge, a tremendous experience, a journey of body and soul. I have learned to trust in myself, to fear less, to enjoy my own company, appreciate my own ability. Even more importantly, I've learned to appreciate the beauty around me -- to be in the moment and enjoy it for what it is, not how it relates to me. The adventure will end this week, but I'll remember every mountain.
I will not be starting another list because I am moving away. But, I'm already trying to make up a "list" for myself. Maybe peakbagging is an incurable disease!
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SherpaKroto
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In truth, I honestly don't know. I do know that I feel real good when I get out there. Each hike has it's special moment(s), and when I get back I feel a little closer to sane. Maybe it's being able to recapture the wonder of discovery I felt as a child, and now having the wisdom of age to appreciate it. Or maybe I'm just nuckin' futs
