Who got you started?

[Mark_Goodearl]

My family

I have very few pictures in my album of my family inside a building - most are gathered around a campfire, on the top of a mountain or smiling from the seat of a canoe.

Amen to that! My first 4K was Cannon at age 7 with my parents but I'd been on the smaller hikes (Cardigan, Red Hill, etc.) before that. My grandfather was a hiker and introduced many to the joys of hiking through boyscout trips, etc. - he was my biggest inspiration. Now I'm trying to do the same for my boys and I get them out as much as possible. It's the best "quality time" I know - at home there are too many other distractions.

 

[Mad Townie]

My dad gave me the start at walking in the woods, carrying a fish pole or a rifle or just nothing, depending on the season. Boy Scouts, I'm sad to say, didn't really add anything to my hiking resume.

Since the closest 4K was over 4 hours away, I didn't do any climbing as a young lad. My first wife and I started day hiking and backpacking when I was 25--our second backpack trip included my first 4Ks, the Bigelows. Although I haven't been out a whole lot in any one year (compared to the folks around here, that is), I haven't stopped in 30 years. And you couldn't make me, either!

 

[Pat T]

Early outdoor adventures...

My mother sent me to Girl Scout camp when I was 7. I stayed active in scouting through college and had many, many wonderful adventures. When I was growing up, girls just did not do outdoor adventure stuff but scouting offered me the chance to be outside, to learn new skills, and, later, to pass them along to other young people. I met some amazing female adult role models there, too.

Neil's post made me laugh. We did some of those things, too--although our only "enhancement" was caffeine and cigarettes.

Pat T

 

[Michelle]

I'd have to say my dad is to blame.

We started our annual Tuckerman's hike to watch the spring skiiers when I was 11 yrs old and have gone every year since..........except this year, I couldn't make it, and they never ended up going. Hmmm, now that I think about it.........the year isn't over yet!!!
Eventually, we started hiking Washington and Lafayette annually, and that was all it took to get me hooked! I found the 4K list in the back of that guide book and that was that! Now my dad says, "what's next?"

 

[Warren]

Two things started me off. Since being a wee little kid I would fish most days through summer with my grandfather in between catching bait and snorkeling for lost lures I would walk the scrub and dunes of the beach for hours on end. That was my first taste of wilderness.

Then in the 4th grade I remember hearing or reading about the AT being completed or achieving some sort of benchmark and then talking wiht my mates about someday walking the whole thing. I was hooked. Though I wouldn't manage to make any progress towards hiking until post college years and I decided the AT was not my cup of tea it's where it all started.

 

[Rick]

Growing up around farms, we always threw a blanket over a clothesline to go camping, or nailed a sheet of plywood to a tree in the woods to make a shelter. I then got started in scouts, though I remember no serious backpacking trips other than a few 200 yard long hikes into central camping area with all sorts of gear festooned on our old external frame packs, carrying old aluminum coolers and wooden cots. The tents were the old cotton canvas A-frames that daddy long legs loved to hang out in.

Anyway, after the army and college (and spending 8 years as a night club disc jockey in Buffalo & Niagara Falls) I realized something was missing in my life and that the corporate life and golf wasn't really my style. I sued to spend all my free time fishing, but had been thinking about venturing further into the woods.

I had a week of vacation coming up with nothing to do and I saw a DEC brochure on the Northville Placid Trail and thought I'll give it a twirl. That was it - I was hooked.

I still remember my first time walking on corduroy and thinking, this seems like way too much work, why don't they just bring some helicopters in and dump some stone here in these muddy spots.

That week, I met the caretaker of the Cold River Lean-To's (Hint: He is also the person who has the monthly quiz questions in the Adirondac) whos was brushing out trails and working on his lean-to's. I had a conversation with him and was absolutely amazed someone would hike 11 MILES TO DO LAWNWORK!!!

Anyways, I ended up hooked and even adopted my own lean-to's for a few years. I also joined the ADK and a few other clubs and The rest is history.
(Oh yeah, I found Rec.BC in the mid-90's and used to see Pete Hickey posting ther all the time, and though I didn't know I had already met in in the 'daks once, I knew he was one of the more knowledgeable and trusting ADK folks out there.)

As long as we are at it, does anyone know how to find our old posts on Darren's original VFTT site? I can go back to Dejanews and find my old posts by my old email addresses, but I dont know it there is a log for Darren's site from th mid-90's through the late 90's

 

[vegematic]

My hiking habit is largely self-inflicted but the kernel originated when I was quite small.

Where I grew up in suburban Massachusetts, which by today's standards was actuallly quite rural, we were surrounded by woods and field. Many square miles of it thanks to a couple of large landowners. We (whole family, though not always all at the same time) used to frequently tromp around, explore, pick wild blueberries...just generally play in the woods. We never actually "hiked" in the sense of using a maintained hiking trail to go to some recognized summit, and we always slept inside at night but I grew up wanting to go camping and climb the mountains we would see from I93 when we would pass through on family vacations.

Had to wait untill college, out in western Mass, where I discovered...maintained trails! Trails to the tops of hills with firetowers and views! My first trail guide was "50 Hikes in Massachusetts" which included a lot of local geology. I was definitely hooked. A few years later I got into backpacking. Most of this has been solo but I've also gotten a couple sisters and several of my nephews and nieces out on dayhikes and overnights. They're not addicted, but all look forward to our annual Baxter trips.
-vegematic

 

[dug]

I think I've told this story on this board before....

In 1972, my parents had five kids ranging from 8 years old to a few months. They were looking for something cheap to do to entertain us for a day. After hiking to Monadnock, we purchased a White Mountain Guide and started exploring. We found "The List", and every year we'd pick off a few.

By the time High School rolled around, sports took over and a few of us dropped off. We all still maintain our love for the mountains. When we started as kids, it was a different time. You could go out for 10 hours with some Timberland work boots, jeans, and a sweatshirt. It wasn't a competition, it was all about the views. My mom and I stayed with it, but as mentioned all my siblings still get to the mountains in one capacity or another.

A love that started when I was four has lasted 34 years...and doesn't appear to be waning. This is a love I hope to pass to my daughter.

 

[MEB]

who got me started???

I have to give all credit to the husband. After coming home form boot camp he took me on my first real hike....17 miles round trip on Mt Washington! I loved every minute of it and have been hooked ever since.

-MEB

 

[snowshoe]

Great thread. It is neat to hear how everyone got started. For me it started with my local friends as a kid. I grew up with the AT behind my house and woods all around. Ever since I was very young the local kids and me would build forts, explore the ridge to the AT, ride our bikes to the local general store where we would by fishing line and hookes and fish one of the brooks along our route to the store. It was just over a mile bike ride but back then it took us all day. We also did a lot of backyard campouts. I also lived in an area where everything was far so our only choice was the woods and fields.

This is going to sound corny but I also remember when i got my first tent and gear. It was called my first backyard camping set. From Jamesway. Talk about old school. I thought it was the coolest thing. This is what realy got me going. I still have that tent. Once I got a drivers license I started venturing out more.

 

[JackH]

starting out

I'd have to thank my Dad and my dog. Dad was a fisherman and he first introduced me to the woods near our home taught me to love the outdoors. But it was chasing old Duke around that got me intersted in what was over the next hill. Then it became trips to the local trails in Connecticut and then the Green Mountains while in school and then the Whites and on and on never looking back.

 

[Grumpy]

I related how I got started hiking in a longish post in that other thread somebody linked us to, above. So won't repeat.

As to who got me started, I'd guess is was me. Something I sort of took up on my own as a kid. My parents didn't discourage it, thankfully. Later on, my greatest hiking mentor probably was my old Scoutmaster, with whom I continued to hike through my college years.

And then, I can't overlook my dear old Mom. She always made sure I was well fed and cared for upon arriving back home after a hike, especially in my college days. The only price she demanded was that I shower, shave and put on clean clothes before coming to her table.

G.

 

[KayakDan]

When I was a kid of 5 or 6,my grandfather would take us on short hikes to his "secret" blueberry picking places. I loved it. About 11 years old in Boy Scouts,we camped at Blue Hills Res. and woke up to snow in the morning-hey! we're winter campers! really cool!!
Fast forward 35 years,and I have a new wife,and a new life. The hiking thing came back to me,and I was blessed to have a wife who was willing to go with me. As much as I like the hiking,it's the camping that I really enjoy,and so does she.
So,here we are 8 years,and hundreds of trail miles later,and we've set up camp in the Whites in every season,Alaska,Nova Scotia,Bahamas,and the islands on the Maine coast.And our newest "tent" has a sail on it!
(Outdoor) Life is Good!
__________________
life is short...play hard...eat dessert first!!!

 

[carole]

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..."

I never wanted to be an astronaut, so...

 

[DougPaul]

As long as we are at it, does anyone know how to find our old posts on Darren's original VFTT site?

Check out the Internet Archive (also known as the Wayback Machine):
http://www.archive.org

Doug

 

[slowandsteady]

My Dad got my three sisters and brother out hiking for something to do, that cost only a little gas to get there. We grew up in Great Barrington Mass, so we would hike up Race Falls, Everett, Greylock, Monument Mountain, etc. after church/Sunday dinner. Greylock was always a family destination (instead of the mall) on the Friday after Thanksgiving. My high school was in the shadow of Squaw Peak on Monument Mountain and climbing the peak was a great thing to do on the half school days. I'm the only one of my siblings who stayed with hiking though.

When we met, Tim, my husband of 24 years and I discovered a mutual interest in hiking, XC skiing and outdoors in general. Our son Dennis is now 12, and has been hiking with us since he was a toddler. I have to admit it was pure patience and bribery to get him to go in those early years (but the hikes gradually got longer with plenty of m and m’s and skittles). He's a NH 4000 footer, but the other lists will have to wait as he also plays hockey, skis, and mountain bikes. But he does have a solid interest in the outdoors. I hope it stays with him.

 

[Rick]

A nice big green rep point is coming your way, my friend!!!!

Check out the Internet Archive (also known as the Wayback Machine):
http://www.archive.org

Doug

 

[Stan]

I think it might have been an old girl friend that told to me take a hike.

Or, my outdoor activities might be related to my mother's admonition to get outside ... or was it get out? She did say how I always preferred to sleep outside in my stroller ... until last week when the wheels broke.

Maybe it was just the fact that most of my family and friends were very much interested in outdoor activities like hunting, fishing and moonlighting.

Even in the service I found myself hiking a lot, often with a rifle on my shoulder. Silly people, they called it discipline.

Hiking, boating, playing in the snow ... I can't remember when they weren't a big part of my life.

 

[erugs]

Our family has a tradition of the love for being outside. When we were kids, our parents took my brother and me hiking the NH 4000 footers while on vacation in Twin Mountain for two weeks each summer. We wore sneakers or work boots on our feet, with cotton socks, and each carried a small pack, probably with a cotton sweatshirt, and each had a small metal "army" canteen. We refilled those jugs along the trail if the dogs hadn't made the water too muddy by bathing in it beforehand. It's odd, but I don't remember ever taking a "bio break" during those hikes -- I was probably too shy/modest to consider it. Another thing I remember is that our two collies would run back and forth on the trail between us kids up ahead and my parents, who were always trailing behind us.

I got back into hiking about 8 years ago after not hiking for about 20 years. The empty nest syndrome was beginning and my whole life needed revamping. I remembered hiking as a fun thing I had done earlier in my life and thought I'd try it again. I've missed very few weekends since then and have met many wonderful friends. My mother and daughter and I hiked Moosilauke and East Osceola when my mom was 78. Mom and I also hiked the entire Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway in sections around that same time. Today, my brother doesn't hike, and neither does my daughter, but my son has a degree in "Outdoor Recreation Leadership" from Colorado Mountain College. Hiking has improved my life tremendously and I'm very grateful to my parents' for the introduction so many years ago.

 

[Cath]

Two co-workers are to "blame"

After graduating from college in 1981, I started working up in Waterville Valley, NH. There, I began running & x-country skiing, after work, for fitness sake. I carried on with those 2 activities for quite a few years, before another young gal, came to work there straight out of college, and needed to find an activity for fitness sake. I didn't mtn bike & she didn't run, so we agreed to give hiking a try. A few times a week we'd hit the local trails together. Neither of us knew anything about the AMC Guide or the 4 Thousand Footer lists.

Then there is Winter hiking. After finishing the NH 4's in August of 1993, Waterville Company Inc was in the process of disintergrating, so I took a new job up in Lincoln NH. There, I found Steven D Smith. We worked in the same office I believe the very first conversation we had in the office lobby was "So, what do you like to do for recreation? I really like to hike. Have you hiked the 4000'ers? I just finished this past August on Owl's Head (couldn't believe he asked this question.........of course I had NO idea who he was) Do you Winter hike? No. You should give it a try That Winter, under Steve's quidance & sometimes company, I got started with Winter hiking.