Trips are taking shape...

So today I got my AMC member number, allowing me to register for their online trail maps at the (slightly) discounted price. And I've been looking at potential groupings of mountains to climb that would be logical to do in a trip, whether it be a day trip or a several day trip (because I want to do at least one of those).

Here are some thoughts...

Mt. Moosilauke, Mt. Carrigan, Mt. Tecumseh, Mt. Hale, North Twin, Mt. Cannon, Mt. Jackson, Mt. Cabot and Mt. Waumbek will probably be done individually. The first three just aren't easily reachable by trails that go to other mountains, and the others are close enough to trail heads that though they could be combined, I'll probably do them separately unless I get pressed for time. That way there will be several relatively easy short trips for weekends (some are probably very long days, though, and I would likely camp the night before at the trailhead to get an early start). I may also climb Mt. Washington all by itself so that anyone that wanted to "Climb Mt. Washington!" could come with me.

Similarly, Mt. Osceola and East Osceola, Mt. Hancock and South Hancock, North and Middle Tripyramids, and North and South Kinsman will be done in their respective pairs, as they're logical hikes.

Mt. Passaconaway and Mt. Whiteface will be easily done together. Mt. Willey, Mt. Field and Mt. Tom are a logical threesome, short-ish. Mt. Adams, Madison and Jefferson are a logical threesome, though much higher and further into the wilderness; longer. Mt. Pierce, Mt. Eisenhower, Mt. Monroe and Mt. Isolation; even longer.

Long trips. Mt. Moriah to Wildcat D (including Middle Carter, South Carter, Carter Dome and Wildcat A) is a logical one; if someone comes with me and we have two cars, that will save on backtracking. But if nobody wants to come for that one, I can certainly do it alone (maybe I could hitchhike back to my car? or just suck it up and hike the long loop).

I am very sorely tempted to do one very long loop: Mt. Flume, Mt. Liberty, Mt. Lincoln, Mt. Lafayette, Mt. Garfield, Galehead Mountain, South Twin Mountain, Zealand Mountain, West Bond Mountain, Mt. Bond, and Bondcliff. They go around one big bowl, with Owl's Head sitting in the middle (which I would do on a separate trip). There are also ways I could rearrange those hikes to make two longish hikes, and I may. But I'm kind of intrigued by the 4 day long loop. The hard thing about it would probably be that it's ridge walking much of the time, meaning there's very little chance to get down into the trees and shelter if weather turns, or when I want to sleep. Also possible would be to break it up into two trips: Mt. Flume, Mt. Liberty, Mt. Lincoln, Mt. Lafayette, Mt. Garfield, Galehead Mountain and Owl's Head, and then North Twin, South Twin, Zealand Mountain, West Bond, Mt. Bond and Bondcliff in another (that latter part would either involve a lot of backtracking or two cars, but oh well).

All told (if I do the long loop) that's 21 different hikes. Two a month is probably manageable, especially if I get more done in the spring and fall. And there are some I can combine if I find I'm having difficulty getting away. Some will probably be done mid-week.

Next post will give estimated times for all of these hikes :). But first, I'm going for a walk with my dog!

Oh, the technology...

It's amazing to me how smart people are, and how they develop things that are so useful!

One of the considerations I've had when thinking about this is not being entirely certain if I'm going to have hiking buddies on these trips. Some of the people I've already told about this have expressed an interest in coming along sometimes, but I doubt I'll have someone with me all the time. And the survivalist in me has learned that going out all by yourself into the woods can have disastrous results (see Aron Ralston), compounded by the fact that nobody knows where you are or expects you back again within time enough to do anything about your disastrous circumstances.

Enter GPS beacons (for example, the SPOT models; thanks to Toby for the link). These are hand held devices about the size of a walkie talkie that communicate with satellites both to figure out where you are, and then to tell people about it. On the fun side, this should be cool for real-time tracking of where I am when I'm hiking; I can come home and look at the map from Google Earth and marvel at how my "herculean achievement" is really miniscule in the grand scheme of things.

On the safety side, if I ever get into trouble, I can hit the "911" button and hopefully somebody can find me and chase the bear away from the tree I'm in.

And you can integrate it all with Google Maps. Nifty :).

So, I may be getting myself one of these in the near future. Wonderful toys!

The list

Here it is:

View Four Thousand Footers in a larger map

Kind of daunting to look at!

Some of the mountains are so close together that they're listed together and only get one dot on the map (like North and South Kinsman). They'll be done together, obviously. Now I'm going to start breaking it up into manageably sized hiking chunks.

I think it's time.

I've had several journals and blogs in my life. One of them still exists online; I haven't updated it in quite some time. That one is more for recording of stresses at this point; it has figured in heavily to a couple of unfortunate times in my life, and going there now feels somewhat like I'm disturbing it, as though stirring it up might release things below the surface.

I had an idea today while I was walking. I told a friend not that long ago that it seemed like it might be time for me to start doing some hiking. After all, I've done all this survival and minimalist training; it seems kind of silly to have done all of that if I'm not going to use it for something.

To that end, I've started making plans for a spring trip to Sweden, to hang out with Toby. I'll be going right after the spring solstice so I'll miss the 24 hour midnight, but that's just the way it works out with timing; another year I'll get there in midwinter.

I'm also developing an idea in my head having to do with the Appalachian Mountain Club.

The AMC got its start in 1876, presumably by a bunch of people who liked being outdoors; it's not hard to imagine a bunch of Victorian era explorer types charging up mountains puffing on pipes. They've been working towards encouraging people to get outdoors and experience nature ever since; they also try to preserve land, increase education, etc. They sound like a lovely bunch of people.

In 1957 some members decided that they were going to form a club within their club for people who had climbed "all" the 4000+ ft peaks within their purview. This has developed into a few different lists over the years, but the main one seems to be the White Mountains list, which includes 48 peaks higher than 4000 ft within the White Mountains in New Hampshire. (This is important: there's one peak in the White Mountains in Maine, but it's not included on the list).

48 seems like a good, round number. It seems like an attainable number. Attainable, say, in a year.

If I do this, it will take a fair amount of planning. All of these peaks are at least 2 hours drive from where I live, and some are 3. They're clustered together in such a way that it makes sense to do some at the same time and others alone; some are probably summitable in winter and some are probably much more difficult. To do some clusters, it might be nice to stay overnight. And, if at all possible, I want to bring Zoe along (dogs can be recognized as part of the 4000 club too!).

And if I do it, I'll blog about it. Write down my thoughts and experiences for posterity. Everyone else has a blog... I just haven't had anything interesting to blog about yet.

My start date will be March 21, 2012, the spring equinox. Within the year following that date I will summit all 48 New Hampshire 4000+ mountains on the AMC's list. Time between then and now will be spent planning and preparing. I may even climb a few peaks to get ready- Katahdin in Maine, or some others, just to get ready; but the list will be done within that time frame. I should be able to work around my schedule at work; I don't think I'll be able to keep up an actual "one mountain per week" schedule, but I'll try to stay close to it, to keep an even pace as much as I can.

I think it's a good plan, and a good goal. :)