Life after 46...

Is there life after 46?
I'm talking about peaks here, not middle-aged hikers. As I near the date of my next hike that will make me an Adirondack 46-R, I wonder how it will feel to reach the goal that I have pursued for over 3 years. 29 of my 44 peaks have been hiked in the past 14 months, with great effort, as I live 300-350 miles from those mountains. Is there a letdown?

When you reach your goal of 46 (ADK's) or 48 (Whites) 4000+ footers, what's it like? I have no aspirations of going for the ADK100 or NE115, or whatever. I might want to do more winter hiking and go for my Winter 46, but I'm undecided. So if you don't become obsessed (or continue to be obsessed), with more lists, what did you fine folks out there do after getting your patch? Does the "long leash" that your spouse had on you suddenly shorten up? My wife has been VERY patient with me (usually) over the past couple years, but if I continue at my current pace, that may... WILL change.

For example, "markandkelly" just became 46-Rs together and got engaged on peak #46 (Haystack) last weekend. What are you guys going to do next (besides that)? Will you continue to hike the peaks?

I guess that I can just wait a couple more weeks and find out for myself. Thanks for your input. -ALG

Your mileage will vary!

I, for one, basically enjoy hiking. The lists were fun while I was chasing them, but I made no changes in my hiking when I finished as many lists as I cared to do.

Even while doing the lists I would very much prefer going with friends to a peak I had already done than doing a peak I "needed" alone. I also made it a point to do some of the peaks I enjoyed most every year.

I suppose all this means that I never was a "real peakbagger", and so my answer may not be very relevant to your question

don't stop at 46 you still have 69 4000 footers to go... and many of the rest are even more impressive.

Lists are lists and mountains are mountains - I'm sure there are lots of ADK peaks worth doing that aren't 4,000'. You also might want to red line ADK trails or start hiking in Vermont, NH, or Maine as well. If you like to hike then you might want to start going after other things - like ponds, slides, waterfalls, ghost towns, plane crashes, etc. Lot of things out there in the woods waiting to be explored.

In case you are primarily interested in 4,000 footers, let me recommend the Slide, Cornell, Wittenberg hike in the Catskills, Camel's Hump in Vermont, Saddleback, Abraham, Bigelow, North Brother and Katahdin in Maine, and of course anything on the AT in NH from Moosilauke through the Carters. All of these are worth repeated climbs in IMHO.

For me life after the lists has been a liberating experience. I did two lists, the Catskill 3500 and Adk 46. The first mountain I climbed after finishing the 46 was Noonmark - I never had time for it while working on the 46. Noonmark has become my favorite Adk mountain, and I have now reclimbed it more often than any of the 46. I like the freedom to reclimb favorites. And I like to seek out new mountains that are on no list in particular, but have a great view, cliff, waterfall, steep climb, or something else that appeals to me.

There is nothing wrong with lists. I would probably do more lists if I lived closer to the mountains on the list. I have climbed some mountains in the Maine, Vermont, the Whites, and I will climb some more. But I can't see myself completing any more lists. I like hiking much more than long drives. Hiking can be very good without a list, or with a list of your own making.

Do them over again. Do them from different routes. Do the 100 highest. Throw the lists away, and just go. There was no letdown for me.

I was glad I did them, because I think my family was the type that the 4,000-footers had in mind when it was started...a goal to help spread the hikers away from the few most popular peaks. I never would have gone to Isolation, for example, if it wasn't just over 4,000 feet. I am very glad I did.

When heading north now, I usually don't have a clue where I'm going. My partner and I will read on the way up, see how we are feeling, see how the weather is, and pick a peak. Sometimes it's a 4,000' mountain, sometimes it's 3,000' ...sometimes it may only be a pond or something.

There are plenty of things to see and do in the mountains besides standing on the highest peak (of course, hypocritically, I can say that as the list is done...I wouldn't have said that until I did finish them).

After I finished the NE 100, I still had the peakbagging fever and was feeling sort of let down. The very next day, (Cranberry Peak in Maine), we met a couple descending whose legs were all scratched up, easily recognizable as bushwhackers. Stopping to chat, they waved their arms all around and said, "We've only got 20 of the New England 3000 footers to go!" It was like a Pandora's box opened up and now I've got possibilities all over the map. With 270 of the 452 done, the fever has cooled, but I can chip away whenever I please.

With only 6 ADK 4K's to go, I'll probably go for the 100 next.

Then there's the Catskills, with only Hunter under my belt.

And I have to repeat the NE100, to spread our beloved dog's ashes on each of them. So little time!

Give something back?

After completing the 46, you can joni the 46ers, help with thier volunteer efforts. For instance, you could become a 'regular' with the trail crew.

Lists are a way to gain the information that you need to go on to what is next. Someone went out and did a lot of research for you to make it easier to go to some interesting places flung across a region that you are interested in. When you are done, you are really just beginning. Try to go a few months (or weeks, in my case) without hiking, and you'll see what I mean. It's great to have climbed many peaks so that I can decide on the spur of the moment to get out and hike. Every mountain that you climb, every hike that you take is part of YOUR list.

When I completed the 48, I knew it was on to the winter 48 and all season 67 (I had already started both, but have finished neither). Then it was the NE100, but until I was nearing the 67, I was not serious about it. I felt "unfinished" when I finished the 48 (Wildcats soured the feeling), contented when I finished the 67, and elated on the NE100. This year, it's been fun to tag along with whoever is doing what, and it's helped my recovery from a winter injury. I'm also looking at many of the peaks with a different eye for a new route, or a sunny day. I'm also looking at other peaks that I missed while chasing the lists. Somehow, I keep putting those on a list though I looked at my spreadsheet, and added 12 columns for each peak (not serious about completing that, but I would like to have one month where I've climbed all from any list (August is leading with 29). One thing I've found: I keep looking and hiking, and my interest has not waned. The ADK's are really calling me, and I can't wait until I can savor 46 (and more) of their flavors. So far, Catskills haven't been calling loudly, but who knows? Western Peaks are also making a lot of noise in the background (but $$$ is keeping them at bay for now).

As others have said, try New England. It's a bit different, but has as much to offer as the High Peaks.

dug: I'm coming around to your way of doing things when in the Whites

When Danielle and I finished our NH 48 I thought I'd never have to go hiking again...j/k
We used the NH 48 as way to go places we never would have gone otherwise, i.e. Kilkenny Ridge. Now we're working on the NE100...after that...who knows?
We've also started redlining our NH maps. That is really an interesting exercise. "Look we've done the NH 48, but only 5% of the trails in the Whites!" So, we have our work cut out for us. I think the key is to enjoy your hike whatever your goal may be.

I've done a bunch of the lists.
Of them all, finishing the 46, which was my first, definitely caused a period of reflection. I missed all the intense planning that went into completing.
Then got involved in helping others with their lists and doing my own variations.

PB

I'll never give up lists.

Like you, the 46Rs were my first list. Then I went on to the 111/115. Got done with that and did the Catskill 3500. Wanted to do more in Vermont so I did the NEHH in Vermont and then had started to move towards finishing the NEHH when a car wreck ended that quest at 86/100. Went back home to the Adirondacks and bagged the Fire Tower list and now have moved on to State Highpointing (20/50 complete). I suppose I'm a textbook peakbagger insofar as I rarely climb a mountain more than once. I've definitely followed a pattern of outward expansion and depending how old I am when I do McKinley (I'm 34 now), I may start playing around with the 7 summits. Of course, that is more or less of a pipe dream at this point but I never say never.

Anyway there is no end to wandering in this life ... it's just a matter of choosing which direction you want to wander. For some of us, lists give us something concrete to work on.

Mark Schaefer said:

...The first mountain I climbed after finishing the 46 was Noonmark - I never had time for it while working on the 46. Noonmark has become my favorite Adk mountain, and I have now reclimbed it more often than any of the 46...

Click to expand...

I agree with Mark about Noonmark - I ignored it for many years, but it's an awesome mountain. If pursuing lists and numbers gets you out in the mountains, that's great, but in the end the numbers are meaningless. It's the experience that makes climbing worthwhile, not the patch.

I'll be relieved

Almost feel pressure to finish as I get closer to the 46. Very strange, I know.

In a way, I'm looking forward to hiking some of them again without the thought of having to "bag" it. A few, like Skylight and Nippletop, I have yet to see a view because of fog, clouds and rain. Plus, I'm looking forward to helping others find their way up.

Life after the 46

I felt like a great adventure had ended, when I completed my 46's. I had started to hike them in the winter before I finished my summer round, but after they were all done I expected some kind of of a depression, so... I started making plans to do my 4k's in the northeast, the high points of the US, etc.

Hurrah! Keep those lists coming!

We have taken our sweet time doing the 46, and some we have already done several times over. But as we get closer to finishing (this summer, on Haystack), I confess that I'm starting to let the list rule my hiking as it has not in the past. I'm now starting to think "we can't do that one, we've already done it" or "it's not one of the 46." We hiked Ampersand last summer for the first time. I don't know why we never got around to it before, but it was a glorious mountain! By the way, there must be an interesting story about the construction of that incredible "staircase" on Ampersand. In any case, I'm not anticipating that finishing the 46 will be a letdown at all. We'll hike some of them again, do some "lesser" peaks, do more in other states, do other hikes that aren't mountains. Too much to do to feel letdown! After all, the 46 peaks aren't the be-all and the end-all of hiking.

No place to go but up!!!

Like you Bob, I have 1 peak to go; although I was stupid enough to leave Allen for last.

I'm looking forward to hiking what I'd like to hike and not what I have to hike.

I spend winters ice climbing vice hiking now and plan to do more "high altitude" climbing out west. Standing on an 11,600 ft summit was quite a rush. Ranier is the next target and perhaps Denali if Ranier goes well.

Himalayas???? Maybe a trekking visit, but I have no desire nor the resources to attempt an 8000 meter peak.

make a list w/o an end in sight

After finishing the Adk 100, I realized that I don't really find any thrill in completing a list.

Lists are just to entertain me while I am not hiking!!

Sooooooooo, I have created so many variations of the 46 list that I don't see myself finishing any of these lists anytime soon and I have lots of fun planning my upcoming trips. The options are limitless! ( solo, winter solo, bushwhack routes, slide routes, 4 season 46, 12 month 46, etc. )

Even with all these options, some hikes just don't fit a list .........
and that is a list too!

Speaking of lists...

The alternate lists remind me of a discussion in an exhausted, giddy state on top of Seymour about the possibility of an offshoot group called the Forty-sexer's. But we could not fathom a winter version.

Seeing that AIG has started this thread and he is from Tonawanda (which for those of you that don't know) which is in the buffalo area, it is very far just to get to the Adk Mtns nevertheless, Whites, Maine or other places you mention, so here are several more reasonable recommendations to hike once you finish your Adirondack Peaks:

1. Highpoint the New York High Points by county starting with Erie and work your way out and around.

2. Follow the Bruce Trail in its entrirety all the way north to Tobermory.

3. Follow the Finger Lakes Trail in its entirety.

4. If you want to hike more in the Adirondacks, hike the Northville-Lake Placid Trail or start redlining the trails in the Adirondacks.

5. Make a list of all the state parks in New york and hike and visit all of them. Some have short gems of trails definitely worth seeing.

6. Walk, bicycle or kayak the entire Erie Canal.

Now that should keep you busy for another few years and keep you out of peakbagging withdrawal depression.