Identity Discovered +

[Mike P.]

In the next couple of weeks, I'll start the annual, the year in hiking thread (how was your year)

Another topic that comes up from time to time is: Are you a peakbagger, a dayhiker, backpacker, mountaineeer (when are you mountaineering Vs. just hiking uphill) etc.. I've been predominately a day hiker except this time of year when I'm day mountaineering.

Anyway while I keep multiple list & I love views, if I had to call myself a view junkie or peakbagger, it was hard to say. So last Friday on my first trip in the AMR (the Au Sable Club) I ended up not doing Sawteeth. The last couple of hikes (Cabot & Owl's Head) felt like slogs in less than average conditions. On my way to AuSable Lake I had seriously thought about taking some time off. Summits from the lake looked like they were in/out of the clouds & visibility was iffy.

I decided to take the Indian Head Fish Hawks Cliff trail to the Cliffs that were above the AuSable Club's boat house. (This is Indian Head) Glad I did, the walk was not too hard, the view was spectacular (now sorry no camera) Similar to the view from the top of Cannon Cliff with the lake replacing the parkway. The view of Gothics from here is SWEET!

IMO, best views in ADK's have Gothics in them, while the view from Gothics is very good, since you can't see slides on Gothics from the top, views from Pyramid, Big Slide, Indian Head, the ledges on the Brothers, etc. will always be better. I may be part peakbagger but it's under 50%. At the end of the day I was not sad I missed getting up Sawteeth but real happy to get the views from the top of the Indian Head cliffs. (I managed not to take the Gill brook option back which appears to have crossed Indian Head's actual summit but this is definitely a trip to bring the kids back on, I'll summit then.)

Now I have an ambitious summer hike planned for 2008 to get to Blake, Colvin & Sawteeth in a day but will a fanny pack & plenty of water & daylight, it should be doable. (Friday someone had a Blake, Colvin, Nippletop & Dial trip planned. I wonder if he made it)

[uphillklimber]

My wife and I looked at this, and I guess we are view junkies. Nothing better than working for it, and relaxing at the top with cheese and crackers. Sure, we'll hit the 48-4K's and we'll do Tuckermans, and what have you, but we really like it for the view.

[MichaelJ]

I have to put myself at around half and half. I'm a view junkie, but I also aggressively pursued my 48 and 67 and have passively gotten myself to 91 of the 100, and still keep precise count to see what other lists I might be filling in.

I've heard the Scenic Trail up Sawteeth is indeed very scenic - I hope you get back there!

[Mike P.]

The nice thing is that i would not had taken the scenic trail last week & will in the summer. This time of year you get views from down low thanks to the leaves being under the snow. In Summer it's mostly a big green tunnel until you get to the actual viewpoints or above treeline.

[pedxing]

I'm a backpacker. The other stuff (views, dayhikes, peakbagging, etc...) is fun, but backpacking is the thing I love.