Summit Up NH

And Why Winter is the Superior Hiking Season

The 48 New Hampshire 4000-Footers is one of dozens of lists that many hikers strive to complete in New England. There’s The Grid, The New England 67, Red Lining, and the Terrifying 25 to name just a few. Some lists come with achievement patches if one is so inclined to apply for it. Hikers who are working on completing a list are also referred to as “peak-baggers”, meaning you are “bagging” the summits on a particular list.

Last month, my boyfriend and I happened into the shop of a local photographer in the White Mountains. We were making small talk with the photographer about our favorite trails and hikes when I said “That’s on the 52 With a View List, right?” and he said “Oh, I don’t do lists, I have no idea.” There are some in the hiking community who view “peak-bagging” negatively because “you should just hike because you enjoy hiking, not be beholden to a list”. I’m not saying this gentleman felt that way, but his tone and facial expressions seemed to indicate he wasn’t a fan of hiking lists. In my head I heard “I’m not a peak-bagger”. I’m a list person in my every day life. I make lists every day and check things off because it helps me stay on track and also gives me a feeling that I accomplished something. I’ve even made lists of the lists I need to make. If these hiking lists did not already exist, I would still hike, but I’m sure by now I would have created my very own lists. Thankfully someone has done that work for me and even created printable files that I can convert to fillable forms. So, to list or not to list… there’s no judgment from me either way.

Today, along with my dear friend Chantalle, I completed a two-peak hike on NH’s 52 With a View (or 52WAV) list, Dickey Mountain (elev. 2,734′) and Welch Mountain (elev. 2,605′). This is a list of 52 hikes, some with multiple peaks, that are under 4,000 feet in elevation, but have amazing views.

Chantalle and I met over a year ago on my very first Hiking Buddies NH 48 hike as a hike host, on September 11, 2021. We instantly made a connection that day and I am so blessed to have her in my life.

Sometime after our first viewpoint today I turned to Chantalle and expressed how perfect I thought the day was, for the weather and the company. She agreed wholeheartedly and expressed her love for winter hiking. The rest of this post was already in draft form 2 days ago, so I was so excited today when Chantalle agreed with me about the superiority of winter hiking. (I’m not sure that’s really what happened, but for the sake of this post, it is) There is no debating this. Don’t even try. I won’t entertain it. (Just kidding, I do love a healthy debate.) But seriously, it’s true. Winter hiking is superior and here’s why:

People. There are fewer of them on the trails in the winter. Fewer people means more parking, more room on the already reduced trail width, and a higher chance of having the summit view all to yourself. The White Mountain National Forest is a major tourist destination during every season (except mud season maybe). In the summer months the popular trails are often packed with people.

Today there were a few people in the parking lot heading out ahead of us. We caught up to them once just as they were leaving a view point and then never saw them again. We briefly encountered two other solo hikers.

You can avoid the crowds in summer by arriving at the trailhead at 3:00 in the morning or earlier since tourist usually means vacation and who gets up before the sun when they are on vacation? Actually, I do. That’s me. Sunrise hike anyone?

Views. The views in the winter are just better. The snowy winter landscape, twists and swirls in the ice, the solitude, silence, and calm, are just a few of the reasons. There are some 4000-foot peaks in NH that offer no view at the summit. The winter offers an opportunity for at least a view point somewhere along the trail that you would not see when the foliage and fauna are in full bloom. The sun reflects differently on the snow-covered mountains making way for some amazing sunrises and sunsets. Not to mention there are no people in the way when you are trying to take photos.

No bugs. I’m not really sure I have to explain anything here. Blood-sucking, biting bugs are dumb.

Snow-Packed Trails. There are few trails in the White Mountains that offer even footing. Most trails are riddled with large roots and rocks, loose gravel, or fallen trees and limbs requiring careful foot placement and constant stepping up and down. Insert multiple feet of snow pack and you turn that trail into a lovely ramp. Granted, after a fresh snowfall you may have to throw on your snow shoes and break trail, but I still like that better than the constant fear of tripping over a rock or root (I do it a lot, so I might be alone in this sentiment). I also trip and fall in winter, don’t get me wrong, but the other benefit of snow is it is a natural cushion. This cushion makes hiking easier on the joints and limbs while climbing up and down, and on the whole body when I fall.

The descent can be faster in winter as well, depending on trail conditions. As long as there are no dangerous rock ledges and ice areas, there are many trails that allow you to butt slide or boot slide down the trail. For context, in the summer months I am way slower on the down than the up and it’s completely reversed in the winter. Can I get an amen for snow?

Health. I know it’s cold in the winter and our survival instincts tell us to stay inside where it’s nice and warm. Add a fire in the woodstove, some flannel pajamas, and a cup of hot cocoa – why would you leave? It’s so easy to use the weather and cold as an excuse to stay indoors for longer periods of time in the winter. Getting outside and moving your body, even just a little bit, is good for your physical and mental health. But there are health bonuses to winter hiking over summer hiking that go beyond just being outdoors and moving. You actually burn more calories! Your body burns calories just to stay warm and increases your metabolic rate. Plus you make and get some Vitamin D which is severely lacking in our bodies during the winter months.

Less Sweat, Less Water, Lighter Pack. I am not a fan of sweating. I don’t enjoy being too hot. During summer hikes, when the temps are 60 degrees or higher, I sweat a lot. Sweating a lot means you have to drink a lot of water, and on longer hikes that means you have to pack a lot of water. Water is heavy. Sweating is annoying.

Don’t get me wrong. It is entirely possible to sweat a lot on a winter hike, and I have done it. But sweating during winter hikes, especially in the higher elevations, is dangerous. Even with sweat-wicking clothing and layers, sweat will make your clothes wet. As you get higher in elevation, and the temps get colder, that sweat can cause you to get very cold, possibly hypothermic. On hikes when I know I’m going to increase my pace and sweat more than I should, I will bring an entire change of clothes and do a costume change after the first summit. It was 20 degrees when we started out this morning. With the proper layers and a slower pace, sweating was kept to a minimum.

So there you have it, a non-inclusive list (because I love me a list) of reasons why winter hiking is the superior hiking season. But really, hiking is the answer, no matter the question, or the season.

I celebrated my 48th birthday last month. A fact you will need for later.

For those of you outside the New Hampshire hiking community, when you read or hear about “the 48” or “the 4Ks” or any combination thereof, we are talking about the NH 48 peaks that are above 4,000 feet in elevation. 4,000 feet is a lot of feet, yes. We should not, however, confuse total elevation with the elevation gain during a hike. For example, NH’s highest peak, Mt. Washington at 6,288 feet has an elevation gain of between approximately 3,800 and 4,200 feet over a distance of 7-9 miles. To gain all 6,188 one would have to start hiking from Hampton Beach, which would be a lot more than 7-9 miles!

If you read my last post you know that I hiked my first of the 48 4Ks in 1998. I was ill-prepared and irresponsible so if you like hot messes and dumpster fires, feel free to give it a read.

13 years went by before I hiked another NH 4K, Mt. Moosilauke on August 2011. I had hiking boots, a decent backpack, some synthetic fiber on my body, a couple of Nalgene bottles filled with water, and lots of snacks. I had just learned about the list of 48 4Ks, I was going through a rough time in my life, and I thought this would be something I could do for me.

My 2011 hiking journey occurred at a time when my life was in a bit of turmoil. My kids were little, 6 and 4 years old, and their dad and I were getting a divorce. Going from spending every moment of every day with my kids, to spending only 50% of the time with them was gut-wrenching. It was a hurt I had never felt before.

“Making the decision to have a child – it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ”

Elizabeth Stone

I felt this quote with every fiber of my being when I first read it, probably around 2008. I got all those feels just now when I typed it. On the days I didn’t have my kids I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep, and I was completely lost. Years later I joked, and still do sometimes (because humor is sometimes my coping mechanism), that if you truly want some time to yourself, just get a divorce and split custody. Funny stuff. Yep, I had a lot of time to do a lot of hiking, but it always was, and still is, completely gut-wrenching to be separated from my kids for extended periods of time. In different ways now that they are older, of course, but painful nonetheless. So I needed something that I could do that would distract me from my current situation.

My second 4K was also my first solo hike, Mt. Osceola on July 18, 2011. That fall I had hiked solo more than I did in groups. Over the next year I completed sixteen peaks. A year after that I was up to 28, or so, but I’m not sure because I stopped. I stopped blogging, I stopped hiking, I stopped knitting. I stopped doing most of the things that I loved. If you want to know a little more about why, I talk about it briefly here, which brings me to the rest of my story.

I began again. In the summer of 2021, by the grace of God, I found myself in an amazing community in the mountains. Whenever I talk about that summer I say “it saved my life”. I will write about it soon, because it deserves it’s own post or two or 10. To sum it up in a few words, I had found my people and finally felt seen. I was filled with a renewed energy and sense of self-worth. On July 10, 2021 I decided I was going to start over and hike all 48 of NH’s 4000-foot peaks before I turned 48. Because everyone really does deserve a second-chance (or third or fourth in my case).

The reboot started with Mt. Adams (5,774 ft.) and Mt. Madison (5,367 ft.), on July 10, 2021, pictured above. It was a gorgeous day. Breathtaking. I remembered why I started doing this in the first place. It’s one thing to drive past the mountains and take in their stunning and powerful presence, but when you step on that trail and you spend hours among its trees, and rocks, and soil, slowly climbing and quickly sweating, to a wide open summit surrounded by nothing but more mountains as far as you can see, stunning and powerful are not strong enough words anymore. Mountains are magic. They call to me. I know that others feel the same. Maybe it’s a sense of wonder, or danger, or the fact that they make me realize how small I am, and therefore how small my problems are in comparison to the world. The mountains teach me so many things. On this reboot day, the mountains taught me that I definitely overestimated my physical abilities, going from zero hikes in seven years to hiking two of the five highest peaks in the White Mountains in one day. Humbled to say the least. Some conditioning was in order.

Over the next thirteen months I made too many new friends to count, became certified as a Wilderness First Responder, met and fell in love with my most favorite hiking buddy, and (spoiler alert) completed all 48 4Ks with a grand finish on August 11, 2022. Stay tuned and I’ll continue to tell you all about that journey, along with the other things the mountains taught and continue to teach me. First and foremost, it is never too late to begin again.