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Sunday, October 6, 2002
Pursuit of the patch
Copyright © 2002 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. | ||
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Also on this page: 4,000-FOOTERS | |
CARTER DOME — Ten miles up and down a mountain is a long way to go with a group of people. It's the kind of experience that makes strangers friends, couples teammates and view-seekers happy. In northern New England, it's also a journey made by more and more hikers seeking a coveted patch that celebrates a climbed collection of hikes. John Simoneau was leading a hike up Carter Dome last weekend for a random group made up mostly of Maine Outdoor Adventure Club members. After three miles, Betsy Gowell, who is pursuing that patch, started to feel weak. The trek up Carter Dome - four miles of steady climbing - was not difficult. But when Gowell started to feel unusually tired after three miles, there was a lot of hiking left to do. "I'm going to summit and then turn around," Gowell said within reach of the mountain's peak, the ninth highest in New Hampshire's White Mountains. It's just east of Mount Washington. Once there, Gowell sat silently grinning as she ate lunch. It wasn't until she was back in the warmth of the parking lot that she let out a whoop and cheered: "Summit!" The small victory that was wrapped around Gowell's outing was the kind shared by the hundreds of novice and experienced hikers looking to join the Four Thousand Footer Club, that group of hikers who have climbed all the 48 peaks in New Hampshire's White Mountains that are at least 4,000 feet high. A volunteer branch of the Appalachian Mountain Club issues a patch to successful hikers who apply. As groups like the Portland-based adventure club recruit and educate beginner hikers, more and more of those hikers are attempting to conquer the Four Thousand Footer list. The trend results in more human traffic on the region's pristine mountains, but those involved in encouraging hikers to get "The Patch" say this is not a problem, not with the environmental messages that groups like the Maine Outdoor Adventure Club preach. Gene Daniell, a longtime Appalachian Mountain Club volunteer and a co-author of its hiking guide, said there's nothing wrong with this, not when newcomers are trained and participate in maintaining the trails. "The mountains belong to everyone. I constantly hear people complain of crowds at some of the mountains. Those people have as much right to be there," Daniell said. "If you're complaining how many people there are, well, you're part of the problem, too. . . . None of us should have the power to say half the people going to the mountains now should just stay home." Daniell said one of the offshoots of the Four Thousand Footer Club, a volunteer organization founded in 1957, is that it educates people of the need to protect the environment and the "leave no trace" ethic. At the same time, he said the fad of climbing all the region's Four Thousand Footers has gained momentum since a group in the Appalachian Mountain Club started the activity almost 50 years ago. There also are clubs for climbing New England's Four Thousand Footers, which includes the 14 in Maine and five in Vermont, climbing all of them in the winter, and climbing New England's 100 highest peaks. Daniell, the Four Thousand Footer Club's secretary of 18 years, said this spring there were 7,100 members, but he believes there are more than 3,000 who have climbed all Four Thousand Footers and not applied for the patch. He said the fad peaked in the 1970s when there were 200 a year applying, and seems to be gaining in popularity again. Daniell said the result of the collective effort by these expert hikers and newcomers is that the human traffic in the White Mountains has spread out across more trails and lessened the impact on the popular climbs. Daniell also believes the rush of people who cause a greater impact on the mountains also result in more hikers helping to care for them as well. "My feeling was that the amount of litter we saw in 1970 has declined greatly," Daniell said. "Now we're trying to leave as few footprints as possible. It's impossible to have no impact, but we can have low impact. It's not rocket science. The Four Thousand Footers try to make people aware of that fact." In the application form for the Four Thousand Footer Club patch that Daniell wrote, he points out that "neither the (White Mountain National Forest) nor the (Appalachian Mountain Club) has ever had the funds to adequately maintain the existing trail network with paid professional crews..." In Maine, according to Andi Bartlett, vice president of the roughly 1,000-member Maine Outdoor Adventure Club, the trendy hiking pursuit is a positive outlet that spreads education more than harmful human traffic. About a year ago, the 13-year-old club began a continuing series of hikes in the spring, summer and fall that concluded each month with a Four Thousand Footer. The progressive series was introduced to its members to encourage slow and wary hikers to challenge themselves. Gowell said many found they were capable of scaling a 4,000-footer, but would never try to do so on their own. The result, Bartlett said, is more hikers in the club have started going after the Four Thousand Footer Club patch. "You want to have that patch, too," Bartlett said. "Like a Girl Scout or Boy Scout getting a patch. You instinctively respect them." Bartlett got the patch two years ago, but values the achievement more for the perspective it has provided. "I got a chance to see a lot of different areas. I'm not a fast hiker," she said. "I thought it was totally out of reach. Nothing in the book says you have to do them a certain speed. When I was 48, I finished the 48, that was two years after I started hiking." The pursuit turned her life into one that now revolves around mountains. "Now I hike every weekend," said Bartlett, who is now helping her husband, Jeffrey, finish all 48 peaks. While the goal of "bagging" all of the region's 4,000-foot peaks has become a commonplace fad in New England, it's not for everyone, and not viewed by everyone with awe, as those on Saturday's hike proved. In fact, if the random gathering of hikers who met at 19-mile brook trail Saturday was any indication, avid hikers in Maine are not all interested in the patch. Of the six others out hiking with Simoneau and Gowell, most had been hiking all their lives. Yet despite the years of experience among those in the group of eight, just Simoneau, Gowell and Bill McDougall were casually going after the 48 peaks. "It's a goal to go after. If you're goal-oriented, it's something you want to do," said Simoneau, who is also an active winter hiker, whitewater kayker, sea kayaker, fisherman and canoeist. On the other hand, Simoneau had climbed Carter Dome before and the group leader still chose the hike to share with other adventure club members. "I'm not like the average 4,000-footer. Some hike almost exclusively 4,000 footers. I'll hike anything," said Simoneau, who grew up hiking in the Rangeley Lakes mountains of western Maine. "If my friends want to hike a 3,000-footer, I won't blow them off." Gowell said she's no active "peak bagger" either. At the same time, in the mist and pine trees that surrounded them, both wanted to see Gowell reach the top so she could add Carter Dome to her list. McDougall of Massachusetts is in fact on his second time around climbing New England's 48 peaks. He said the first time was a random, meandering journey based on whim. The second time is not much different. "It's only half my diet," he said. Others in the group were by no means strangers to outdoor exploration, but they were solely interested in the scenery and bonding with other hikers, some of whom were strangers. Susy Kist, who's hiked in Europe, was the most veteran member of the Maine Outdoor Adventure Club, and she was not after the patch. Allen Hebert, a new member of the Maine club, was one of the strongest hikers in the group. And he was not going after the patch. And Foster Stroup, a member of the adventure club for two years, has climbed other 4,000-footers, but she doesn't keep track. The climb Saturday was Stroup's first up Carter Dome, but she didn't revel in the summit. It wasn't until after Stroup hiked some 30 minutes downhill out of the peak's clouds and mist that she looked fully satisfied with her journey. Like a cat finding a slice of sunlight, Stroup stepped out on a rocky plateau and put her face up to the sun. She looked around at the first shades of fall on the mountains and closed her eyes. This, Stroup said, is why she climbs New England's highest peaks - for the views. Deep down, this is what many peak baggers are after: fewer crowds, more space, dramatic scenery. In fact, the view is not just the reward to the 4,000-footers, it's their proof. "It's done on the honor system," Daniell said. "What would happen if someone said they climbed them all and someone asked. . . . They'd start bragging about it and sooner or later they'd get caught. Why would you? Most people think you're nuts for doing it anyway. You get caught for fraud by people like that, it's embarrassing. It's self-enforcing." One thing Simoneau makes sure of as a group leader is that everyone joining the adventure club on one of its leader-led 4,000-foot climbs has enough hiking experience to tackle the trek. That includes them being well dressed, well equipped with food and water and fit enough to be comfortable. Bartlett said some people who show up are amazingly ill-equipped, wearing cotton T-shirts that stay wet and carrying little water. Climbing 4,000-foot mountains where the weather can and does take extreme turns is not for the novice, and so those who do so with the local adventure club need to be well-versed in these potential dangers, Simoneau said. While Saturday's trip was a slow-going, gradual trek, he said other mountains can be more difficult. Among those hikers going after The Patch, the attitude is to get it done. "You just needed to chop wood," Simoneau said to Gowell after she came down from Carter Dome. "Growing up, my father would have a tree waiting for us when we'd get home from football practice. Even when we were tired, we had to chop wood." Staff Writer Deirdre Fleming can be contacted at 791-6452 or at:
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