North East 115 and the Appalachian Trail: a decade for the century

Ten years ago, after backpacking the Finger Lakes Trail, a friend of mine took me on a hike that would change the course of my life: The McIntyre Range. The mountains in the range are Wright Peak, Algonquin Peak, and Iroquois Peak in the Adirondacks. All three mountains have bald summits with 360° views, which is a first here in the Northeast. We never finished climbing Iroquois that day because the friend who took me up that mountain ended up with heat stroke. It’s up to me to run up Wright Peak to catch a ranger, what a wild first experience!

The adventure really begins

Final view of my ADK46

Mountain after mountain, pack after pack, weekend warrior after weekend warrior, my end for ADK46 was 2020. Four years of truly incredible nature and adventure. My focus on hiking wasn’t just on the ADKs; The Susquehannock Trail System 85, Cranberry Lake 50, and the Catskills section of the Finger Lakes Trail were trails I hiked.

Moving from Western New York to Eastern New York in 2021, with nothing to do, I started looking toward the White Mountains. There I quickly realized that there are 48 further 4000 feet. So when someone told me at the Notch Hostel that there is even further than NH48: NE115. This was it, this was the project I wanted to work on, the Northeast 115 4,000 feet.

The 115 4,000 footers

View south of Mansfield on the LT

It would be easy to drive to all the mountains and use the same methods I used for the Adirondacks. There had to be an even bigger challenge. Here’s the challenge: the only permit to drive on a mountain trail is during the winter. All other attempts must be made on a multi-day adventure. This includes, through hiking, backpacking, or mountain biking. And the final rule is that you can’t hike mountains on the Appalachian Trail until you’ve hiked the Appalachian Trail.

And this is what I’ve been doing for six years. Biking through the mountains of New Hampshire and Maine. Through hiking the Long Trail and backpacking in Maine and smaller weekend backpacks in New Hampshire. I don’t want to overlook those incredible adventures. I actually added an exclusion to the Long Trail where it would allow me to hike the AT South Bound on the Long Trail. Since Killington is not technically on the Appalachian Trail, it falls under the rules of the challenge. I loved the long trail and it really validated that I love hiking. Because the Long Trail is such a challenge, it allowed me to perfect all the gear in my backpack. Carrying a can of bears 273 miles wasn’t my favorite thing to do and I’m not going to do it on the Appalachian Trail, I promise.

You can take a look at all 4,000 footers here on the peak packers website. On the site, it lists all the mountains and their locations on a map for you.

The Appalachian Trail

So here we are the last of the adventure, the Appalachian Trail. Where everything comes to a head after a decade of adventures and logistical challenges. 85 mountains, about 4,000 miles biked and hiked, over a million feet of elevation climbed. The last 30 mountains, half a million feet of elevation gain, and 2,200 miles are staring me down. This time I added a new challenge: maintaining my sobriety from alcohol and marijuana, as well as blogging about finding purpose, especially as a young person on adventures, big or small. So I hope you will join me on this last leg of this absolutely incredible adventure.

Here are some interesting photos from my trips:

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