Crazy Adventure

Blog-tember

Thursday, Sept. 15: What is the craziest adventure you’ve ever been on?

It would have to be my current quest of hiking the 4000-foot mountains (as classified by the Appalachian Mountain Club) in New Hampshire. There are 48 of them ranging from 4003 feet in elevation to 6288.  The tallest is Mt Washington.  I had been hiking for a few years with my friend, Carol.  After reading the book Following Atticus, I decided we too should climb the 4k’s in NH.  That was 3 years ago. We have 8 left.

There have been challenges along the way.  Our first mountain was Tecumseh.  It’s tied for the lowest at 4003.  Most start with Tecumseh.  It’s only 2.2 miles, one way.  But the day we hiked it, I did not realize I was coming down with a cold.  I couldn’t figure out why I was having such a hard time.  The next day I realized what was going on when the cold really hit me.  So I don’t remember Tecumseh very fondly.

That first year we decided to hike one of Carol’s all time dream hikes, The Franconia Ridge. This includes two mountains on the list plus an additional one thrown in for good measure.  Some of the mountains in New Hampshire do not make the list due to their proximity to other mountains.  You can read all about why here.  So we hiked Little Haystacks(not on the list), Lincoln and Lafayette.  Book time (a calculation used as a guide) is a little over 6 hours.  It took us 11 hours. We got back to the trail head just as the sun was setting. But it was a glorious hike!

The second year ended sooner than we had hoped.  On the way down South Carter, I severely sprained my right ankle.  The choice at that point was to hike out the 5 miles or call for assistance and make the Search and Rescue come and get me. I hiked out the 5 miles. Drove half of the 2+ hour drive home. Had it x-rayed the next day.  It wasn’t broken.  But I sure did have a story to tell.

This is our third year.  We left all the tough ones to the end. Big mistake!  We should have broken them up as we went along.  Oh well.  We have 4 hikes left. One will encompass 4 mountains, Bond, Bond Cliff, West Bond and Zealand (and Guyot, not on the list).  We plan to do this over 3 days.  Another are the Twin’s, which will be done as a day hike.  Owl’s Head will be an overnight.  We have yet to overnight it a tent.  We have stayed at the AMC huts.  A hut stay makes it easier because you don’t have to carry a tent and they feed you.  But you still carry more than you would for a day hike.

We are saving Cannon for last.  There is a tram you can take to get you to the top.  We want to let those who can’t or won’t hike to join us in celebrating the completion of our goal.  They can take the tram.  We still need to climb up and down for it to count.

You can find all the mountains we have climbed that are on the 4000-foot list, and also the 52 with a view, here.  Looking back, it’s been a great adventure.  Some mountains I want to climb again and again.  Others, not so much.

So tell me about your crazy adventure. Does it include mountains like mine did?

C