NORTH CONWAY — I didn’t know in 1996 when a buddy asked me to join him and his young son on a hike up cloudy Mount Isolation that as they completed their five-year White Mountain journey, I was starting mine.
Steve Finch’s words to 10-year-old Brian as they climbed the last of the state’s forty-eight 4,000-foot mountains, and gained entrance into the Four Thousand Footer Club, still ring true: “That’s what you do, Bri. You set some goals and plug away.’’
Nearly 14 years later I’ve climbed 28.
I’m an accidental Four Thousand Footer Club wannabe. Instead of keeping a journal from the start, like many of the approximately 300 people admitted into the club annually, I searched my computer in 2008 and discovered I had hiked 18 of the 48 in pursuit of stories. Might as well finish up, I figured.
Administered by Appalachian Mountain Club volunteers called the Four Thousand Footer Committee, the club was formed in 1957 to encourage hikers to venture away from familiar peaks in the Franconia and Presidential ranges and explore other White Mountain climbs from outside Sandwich to the North Country. Today the club has more than 9,400 members.
While working on my list, I’ve come face-to-face with a moose up remote Mount Cabot near Berlin and been passed numerous times by energetic ax-wielding trail crews doing maintenance. In 2002, I hiked Mount Moosilauke with Mike Myers, an electrician from Marshfield, Mass. That was his second 4,000-footer and he has since added 43 more. He plans to make the club this summer.
Following are some of the hikes I’ve completed.
1.Mount Washington, 6,288 feet, Pinkham Notch. The highest peak in the Northeast is an enigma with all kinds of tourists and, at the summit, a cafeteria for them and the hikers. The well-trodden Tuckerman Ravine Trail is a strenuous and scenic 8.4 mile round-trip trek up the mountain’s east side from the AMC Pinkham Notch visitors center on Route 16. I’ve tackled the Rockpile many times. Stay and eat: Joe Dodge Lodge, Route 16, Pinkham Notch, 603-466-2727, www.outdoors.org.Nonmember lodging, seasonal, per person with dinner and breakfast, $62-$96; dinner only, $22.
2.Mount Tom, 4,051 feet, Crawford Notch. The moderate 5.8 mile round-trip hike on the Avalon, A-Z, and Mount Tom Spur trails is on the harder edge of easy. Leaving from Route 302 near the AMC’s Highland Center, Mount Tom provides some outstanding Crawford Notch and Mount Washington vistas. Highland Center, Route 302, Crawford Notch, 603-278-4453, www.outdoors.org.Nonmember lodging, seasonal, double occupancy per person with dinner and breakfast, $80-$174; dinner only$27.
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