52 With A View

Me on Jennings Peak last week. Jennings Peak is on the
"52 with a View" list as is the mountain behind me,Sandwich Dome

If you are an avid reader to this blog, you may have noticed that I have been trying to become a member of the 4000 footers club. There are 48 mountains in New Hampshire over four thousand feet. For the last ten years I have been trying to summit them all with my son. It has been tough to make the time to go to New Hampshire exclusively to hike. We obviously wanted to go on other vacations. Sometimes we'd plan a day and it would rain. now that DJ is an adult and has a job, it is almost impossible for us to get time off at the same time.

For that last reason, I hiked Tripyramid by myself three weeks ago. This week I was going to hike Kinsman, but rainy weather foiled that plan. Hiking Trtipyramid, I felt like I was betraying everything we had worked for. We have about ten hikes left to be in the club. However, the only chance either of us have of finishing all forty eight is to start doing them separately.

There are other challenges for New Englanders that have hiked all forty eight. There is a New England 4000 footer club that includes mountains in Maine and Vermont. There is a New England Hundred Highest. This is a tough one, because not all hundred have trails so there is some bushwacking involved. Also the Adirondacks have 46 mountains over 4000 feet.

To be honest none of these clubs interest me. I've told DJ before that once I'm done with the 4000
footers, I just want to hike for fun. If I feel like hiking Franconia Ridge once a year, I'm going to. It is a great hike with amazing views. I'm not going to worry that I'm wasting time not doing a mountain on some list.

Then just last week I found this list called "52 with a View" Some hikers put a list together back in 1990 for people that got bored hiking the same 4000 footers over and again. So they put a list together of fifty two mountains in New Hampshire UNDER 4000 feet that have views. To be honest, I have no idea how I had never heard of this list before. I read a lot of guide books and study maps. I check out hiking blogs, so how the phrase "52 with a View" escaped me for the last fifteen years amazes me. The best analogy I can give is; I listen to classic rock radio. Every day I hear the same songs. When they do the top 500 countdown its just the same songs I've listened to for years but in some order. However once a year or so I'll hear a song that I've never heard before. It will be great and it will blow me away ( the last song I can remember this happening with is "Never Been to Spain" by Three Dog Night) . That is the best way I can explain how I felt when I learned about this club.

Anyway, I got kind of excited when I found the list. To think that there are fifty two mountains with views that are already listed is awesome. No research needs to be done, just find the trailhead and go. I guess one requirement of joining the club, is you have to have hiked all the NH 4000 first AND the fifty two smaller mountains. So I have my work cut out for me, but I'm gonna go for it. It may take another two or three years before I become a member of the NH 4000 footers club, but after that I'm going after this club also. If for no other reason, I like hiking mountains with the reward of a view on top.

Post script: I didn't know it at the time, but I have hiked eleven of the fifty two so far.