One of my favorite chapters in my book, Continental Quotient
is Confessions of a Former Peak Bagger.
I wrote this story while living in Colorado.
One of the best aspects of being a writer is reliving all
these stories as I write them. I was first introduced to hiking by my boyfriend
in 1988. I had never hiked a mountain and I didn’t have hiking boots. I bought
boots for the hike to Mount Lafayette.
I’ve always been goal driven and always had a need to look
forward to something. When I started hiking in the White Mountains of NewHampshire I had a goal to finish all the 4,000 footers. When I moved to
Colorado I only had two mountains left to hike to be a member of the club.
I will hike these mountains. I will finish them by 2015. How’s
that for a goal?!
Here is an excerpt of one my favorite stories in my book, Continental Quotient:
That summer, I would read the White Mountain Guide, looked at the map, and planned my day or overnight trip, and bagged every peak I could. The best part was seeing all the checks next to the peaks in the back of the AMC Guide. I spent almost every weekend hiking and backpacking; it was my escape.My high school friends were in college, and I climbed peaks on the weekend. Nothing in my life was going right, I checked of another peak. I took a college class and dropped out because I didn’t like the teacher or the subject matter and would drive north to climb Mount Jefferson and felt a sense of accomplishment. I spent almost every weekend in the mountains while living in southern New Hampshire; either going up for a day hike or overnight backpacking adventure. I hiked alone. I backpacked overnight alone. I wasn’t scared of anything I loved the solitude of being in the mountains.
Have a great day. Hope you are out hiking in the Whites.
