35 Peaks in 30 Days: St. Patrick's Day 2011

35 Peaks in 30 Days

With retirement quickly approaching, I needed to find something to challenge myself both physically and mentally. Since my first idea of a thru-hike on the Appalachian Trail was out of the question, (sleeping on the ground every night for six months is not a just a challenge, it's slightly suicidal) I decided to attempt to hike all 35 peaks in the New York Catskill Mountains that are over 3500 feet in elevation in 30 days.

The Catskill Mountain 3500 Club awards certificates and patches to those who make all these required climbs.

Almost immediately after retiring, I traveled to New York and did manage to make it to the top of 32 of those mountains in the first 30 days including signing in at 11 cannisters on trail-less summits.

I later continued the quest by coming back after only a month away and finished out the last three "in season" hikes. The unique part of this quest is that in a departure from the requirements of several other such "peak bagger" mountain clubs, you have to return once again and re-climb four select mountains during the winter season.

Three of those winter climbs have been done. Only one remains. It will be completed in December 2011, hopefully with my close family standing on the top of the last mountain with me.

If you happen on this blog and find any of it of interest to you, please understand that each post shows up as most recent first but, the story actually began back in September-2010. Please scroll back and feel free to look at all of it...

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

St. Patrick's Day 2011

One of the unintentional, but added benefits to making the trip back up this weekend was arriving on St. Patrick's Day. People in New York take this day so much more seriously than those in North Carolina. We spent most of the day driving around the Hudson Valley, eating "corned beef and cabbage" for lunch (and later again for dinner) and drinking a couple of green beers. The several different Irish pubs that we stopped at were all filled with green clad revellers and traditional Irish music even though it was "technically" still a work day. We settled in early that night to get some sleep before making the last push up into the mountains early the next morning.

35 Peaks in 30 Days