Is it possible to be a long-term hiker without resorting to lists?

TJsName said:

Most of the trails are empty at night.

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Two or three years ago I led an AMC night traverse of the Presidential Ridge. I was stunned to see how many other folks we saw up there at night! I suspect TJs Name is correct that most trails are empty, and if there's one exception, especially on a weekend in the summer, it's the Presidential Ridge. Not a lot of people, to be certain, but there will be someone, somewhere, hiking deep into the night, if not the next morning.

Brian

B the Hiker said:

Two or three years ago I led an AMC night traverse of the Presidential Ridge. I was stunned to see how many other folks we saw up there at night! I suspect TJs Name is correct that most trails are empty, and if there's one exception, especially on a weekend in the summer, it's the Presidential Ridge. Not a lot of people, to be certain, but there will be someone, somewhere, hiking deep into the night, if not the next morning.

Brian

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I suspect that that full moon on a weekend would also bring a lot of people out above treeline. In my many miles of night hiking I have run into very few people, but I have generally been on less popular trails. Oddest one was running into a guy in Bunnel Notch around 8:30pm in mid march March a couple years ago. I ran into a snowmobiler at the Bennet Street trail head at 3am a couple winters ago, which was a fun encounter (he was wondering where he was). Other than that, it has been pretty empty for me.

TJsName said:

Most of the trails are empty at night.

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I am surprised sometimes at night....not often. Coming off Bondcliff's summit last summer at near midnight, I had just descended the boulder scramble when I nearly ran into a hammock strung across the trail. After another 20 minutes or so, a hiker ascending the trail passed me and was going to run into the same hammock.

Raven said:

I am surprised sometimes at night....not often. Coming off Bondcliff's summit last summer at near midnight, I had just descended the boulder scramble when I nearly ran into a hammock strung across the trail. After another 20 minutes or so, a hiker ascending the trail passed me and was going to run into the same hammock.

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Haha - that's great. I'm surprised someone set up a hammock blocking the trail, but I bet they thought they'd be the last asleep/first up. When I slept on the summit of Flume this spring there was still room to walk by (and someone ran by at 6am). That was a 3am arrival at the summit and we saw no one on the hike. The trails and summits at nighttime are very nice, but I suspect the nighttime 48 won't become a big list, but there are ways to make things more interesting that result in some kind of list, such as if someone made a list of spots for sunrise or sunset. It would need a snazzy name, and of course some of those would be dependent on the time of year! I think the 52 WAV list in interesting because it's more subjective - so one might look at the list and say 'let me see what all the fuss is about'. The 48, using elevation for inclusion, are less subjective (but not 100% so, I know).

I've rested for a while on quite a few summits and/or open ridges, and never seen someone come by. It's possible they went by unnoticed.

B the Hiker said:

Some years ago now, going up to New Hampshire started to lose some of the magic. So my friend who goes by HikesWithKat and I section hiked the Long Trail over the course of the next three years. We went up once a month, and Hurricane Irene caused us a great deal of delay, but I have to say, it was incredibly fun hiking somewhere I hadn't been before. Each trip was a new adventure, and it really wasn't all that much farther.

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I used to hike in the same places over and over again. A transformative moment came to me when I started geocaching and became motivated to discover and explore new trails and places every time I was going out. I use geocaching map as a guide - if there is a geocache somewhere then most likely there is some reasonable way to get to it. I search for trail maps and if I don't find them I go out anyways and explore without a map. It's often a lot of fun to venture into a little bit of unknown!