The Year in Review - Peakbragging 2015!

[Lost Dad]

Traveler Loop is awesome. The North gate is not too much further in my mind. I think that it is mostly due to the lack of driving thru East Millinocket & Millinocket. More time on the Highway to the North Gate but less time on the backroads. A big consideration is the driving time within BSP; trying to reach the Traveler Loop from the South Gate is a long & tedious drive. Do not underestimate driving speed within the park; it is nearly impossible to drive any faster than suggested in the park guidelines. Personally, I would enjoy basing a trip out of Shin Pond for the northern portion of the park. Of course, if you want the big K, and the other 4Ks, access from the south gate is preferred.

 

[sierra]

It was quite an amazing year for me. Last fall I had decided that I would make a goal to push to finish up my Grid, which I started in January of 2011. In the calendar year 2015, I hiked 41% of my remaining grid peaks, knocking off everything I needed each month for 12 months straight.

284 total summits - 245 4,000-footers - 1,219 miles - 423,355 feet of elevation gain - 574 hours on the trail - 71 total solo hikes

Highlights:
Saw the 1st sunrise of the year from Mt. Moosilauke
Completed my 3rd ssw48 on Mt. Carrigain.
Completed 3 rounds of the 48, 7 peaks shy of round 4, and reached several peaks 6 times in 2015.
Completed my 6th solo round, making 50% of my grid completed solo, and 50% with companions.
Finally finished #48 at night. I've been to all 48 summits at night at least once (on the summit between sunset and sunrise)
Completed a Moriah to Jackson Traverse in October in 26 hours. 41.6 miles, 18,824 feet of elevation, (14) 4,000-footers, with 12 counting toward my grid.
32 4Ks in the month of April including Owl's Head, Isolation, and Presidentials, including a weekend trip in the middle of the month to Clingman's Dome in TN.

Along with a full time job and all that night hiking....
-Purchased my first home (a 5 month short sale process)
-Went to Disney World
To ring in the New Year, I'm off to Aruba

After twelve straight months of full-on dedication to a schedule, I'm looking forward to spending more time with family, enjoying my new home, and planning fun hikes to take on, and slowly work on the NE100 and maybe ADK 4Ks.

Nice to read others' accomplishments! Thanks for a place to brag - haha

Very impressive year, well done. You definitely deserved to go to Disney world after that year.

 

[Stan]

Traveler Loop is awesome. The North gate is not too much further in my mind. I think that it is mostly due to the lack of driving thru East Millinocket & Millinocket. More time on the Highway to the North Gate but less time on the backroads. A big consideration is the driving time within BSP; trying to reach the Traveler Loop from the South Gate is a long & tedious drive. Do not underestimate driving speed within the park; it is nearly impossible to drive any faster than suggested in the park guidelines. Personally, I would enjoy basing a trip out of Shin Pond for the northern portion of the park. Of course, if you want the big K, and the other 4Ks, access from the south gate is preferred.

Seems further than that to me but maybe I'm so accustomed to the South Gate it just seems closer but additional 20 minutes may be fairly realistic. Passed through Shin Pond several times but never tempted to stay there. South Branch Pond is the place to be for the Travelers; you can get an early start and when you're back you're back at camp ready to enjoy whatever your reward without driving again. Some great waterfront leantos and the bunkhouse has always served us well.

 

[Ed'n Lauky]

I know that most of these reports concern New England and the Whites, and even though Lauky and I had done quite a bit of hiking in the Whites and elsewhere during his early years, in 2013 when he was six we moved to North Georgia. After dabbling in a number of hikes in Georgia and NC I decided to take a spin on the AT and we hiked it from the beginning at Amicalola Falls and Springer to the Smokies. That was our initial goal as Lauky wasn't allowed in the Park. I had thoughts of continuing on north of the park in the spring but it was not going to happen. In late spring of 2014 Lauky was diagnosed with lung cancer. He had a lung taken out and went through several months of chemo which meant weekly trips to Atlanta. They told me to keep him hiking as the more he exercised the better the chemo would work so we set off again from Amicalola to hike the Benton Mackaye trail to the Smokies. The two hikes totaled over 400 miles. He seemed to be doing well but in January of 2015 when he went in for a checkup they found the cancer had returned. Another round of chemo was started and we were told to keep on hiking so for 2015 we hiked the Bartram trail which runs some 125 miles from North Carolina through North Georgia and into South Carolina. We did that while making weekly trips to Atlanta for the chemo. The trail roughly follows the path of William Bartram the great naturalist as he studied the flora of the southeast. As we reached South Carolina I could tell he was slowing down a bit but was still covering quite a few miles. When June came along we were still hiking but the hikes were gradually getting shorter. He died in my arms on July 8. Those hikes, all solo, were a very, very special experience, something I'll never forget. Barely two weeks later another dog came into our lives. Welsh Terrier Rescue had a dog who had been in four different homes in two months. They felt that he might finally make it if he could get more exercise. So Aska came into our lives and the hiking has continued. It's been a mutually beneficial experience that has brought healing to both our lives.



Aska on a day of bagging four 6000 footers in the Black Mts. of North Carolina.

 

[Espy]

It was quite an amazing year for me. Last fall I had decided that I would make a goal to push to finish up my Grid, which I started in January of 2011. In the calendar year 2015, I hiked 41% of my remaining grid peaks, knocking off everything I needed each month for 12 months straight.

284 total summits - 245 4,000-footers - 1,219 miles - 423,355 feet of elevation gain - 574 hours on the trail - 71 total solo hikes

Highlights:
Saw the 1st sunrise of the year from Mt. Moosilauke
Completed my 3rd ssw48 on Mt. Carrigain.
Completed 3 rounds of the 48, 7 peaks shy of round 4, and reached several peaks 6 times in 2015.
Completed my 6th solo round, making 50% of my grid completed solo, and 50% with companions.
Finally finished #48 at night. I've been to all 48 summits at night at least once (on the summit between sunset and sunrise)
Completed a Moriah to Jackson Traverse in October in 26 hours. 41.6 miles, 18,824 feet of elevation, (14) 4,000-footers, with 12 counting toward my grid.
32 4Ks in the month of April including Owl's Head, Isolation, and Presidentials, including a weekend trip in the middle of the month to Clingman's Dome in TN.

Along with a full time job and all that night hiking....
-Purchased my first home (a 5 month short sale process)
-Went to Disney World
To ring in the New Year, I'm off to Aruba

After twelve straight months of full-on dedication to a schedule, I'm looking forward to spending more time with family, enjoying my new home, and planning fun hikes to take on, and slowly work on the NE100 and maybe ADK 4Ks.

Nice to read others' accomplishments! Thanks for a place to brag - haha

WOW!! Congrats!!

 

[sdways01]

What are some of your personal goals there? I've hiked that mountain dozens of times (my favorite hike is Spellman Trail). I've set some time goals for myself on some trails. I (if I remember correctly) completed the White Dot to Cascade to Spellman trip to the top in 75 minutes. That was pushing it for me but it was great hike. I managed the White Dot in 54 minutes once. I've never timed myself on Dublin Or Marlboro or White Cross or White Arrow (my favorite winter hike). I did set another goal in October while training for a hike in the Whites of ascending 3 times in one go. I ended up doing that 3 or 4 times and twice on the other occasions leading up to that November hike. Not sure how much more there is left to do for me up there. I did a predawn hike up Marlboro earlier this year to watch the sun rise and snowshoed/crampon'd my way up Spellman near the end of February in -50 degree wind chills (near the peak). It was definitely an eventful year.
If you're interested - here is a link to my Monadnock photo album on Facebook (please, feel free to share some of yours).
https://www.facebook.com/Monadnockphotoalbum/?ref=hl

I've already hiked all the trails on the map from the lower end to the higher end, but am doing that again. Remapping them for myself with my newer GPS. I also keep track of the trails I have hiked up in winter conditions (not just by date) and at night by headlamp. I'm also working on hiking the mountain on each calendar day of the year (74 of 366 so far). I've got some more abandoned trails to explore and also other places off trail I want to visit. I like hiking the mountain in all weather conditions and have a couple more to check off the list.

I don't normally keep track of my time during my hikes of Monadnock since I just try to hike at my own pace and enjoy the day. I rarely try to see how fast I hike any trail there. My personal best time from base to summit though is 53 minutes after work one day with co-workers. That is about the only time I ever tried hiking it quickly.

All of my hike photos can be seen here.

 

[Raven]

Great stuff here.

I had a good year on the trails, injury free and happy.

In a year where I hiked fewer 4,000 footers than usual (maybe 32 this year), I added new hikes to places like Mount Jasper, some Shelburne Trails, and kept going back to Madison and Adams which call me back a few times a year.

Some highlights included:

-Breaking trail solo on Kinsman during a day that may not have gotten above zero and I felt good about it. -7 in the lot. It's been a few years since I even had the chance at breaking trail for the whole route of a 4K.

-Ran the MT. Washington Road Race. Did not win. Very happy with time.

-A May hike of Mount Washington that was one of the most physically challenging I've done with lots of rotten snow, decaying snow bridges, and use of every traction I had along with barefooting across a couple swollen parts of the Ammo.

-Did the Mount Adams Challenge for the second year and ran the Randolph Ramble over the Crescent Range in a year filled with more more trail running and less peak bagging.

-Found some of the largest trees in NH along the trails and had a number of good hikes with my daughter.

All in all, 2015 was great - wishing everyone a happy 2016.

 

[DayTrip]

-Did the Mount Adams Challenge for the second year and ran the Randolph Ramble over the Crescent Range in a year filled with more more trail running and less peak bagging.

Is this some sort of trail running event (Mount Adams challenge)? Haven't heard of this before.

 

[Raven]

Is this some sort of trail running event (Mount Adams challenge)? Haven't heard of this before.

Yes, but a self timed one and done individually. Reach the summit of Mount Adams by a designated route in under 2:10 and get a free coffee at WMC, free drink at Saalt, and a certificate. One of Doug Mayer's creations (Doug is an accomplished writer, trail runner, and has volunteered for PVSART...all around good guy.)

The route is about 5.8 miles and about 4800 feet of gain or some such. The 23% grade on the Airline mile plus stretch is a bear, but the rest is "reasonable." It's more gain than the Mount W road race but is just under 2 miles shorter. I stumbled in both times within 10 minutes of the limit, some of these guys and girls are gazelles out there..I'm not often trying to come in first in things like this, just trying to keep moving and keep physiologically young.

 

[Daniel Eagan]

Two NEHH finishes, congratulations. How many are on that list now?

My main achievement was surviving another year with little damage, just a broken wrist during a Harriman traverse.

 

[Steve-o]

Finished the NEHH in March.
Got a DUI trying to complete the views and brews list..

 

[cooperhill]

Lots of chopping / trailwork all over the WMNF

Beeline

Hale Brook trail

north twin trail

downes brook trail

royce trail early in the spring

oh and a VolunteerNH volunteer service award and making the conway daily sun.

http://www.conwaydailysun.com/6071-community/general/123468-spirit-of-nh-awards
a good year.