Stealing the header from Ronnie (
Zer0-G
), who achieved this status a number of years back. I remember following his journey on this forum and thinking that this is such a crazy feat, despite him helping his boys achieve a regular and then a winter round along the way. I also remember noticing the coolest avatar of them all,
Hermit
's grid patch with his name (Ralph). And of course, hearing about legendary
mudhook
and Jim's many rounds of the grid (crazy!!!).
At the time, I was an three season Adirondack hiker and probably, if it wasn't for the Adirondack Fire Tower Challenge (which includes the five Catskill mountains), I would not have set foot in the Catskills for a very long time. But the challenge brought me here, and I am going to be honest, I was not impressed. I disliked the jeep roads masquerading as trails, tons of unprepared people, I was (and still am) terrified of snakes and the meanest NE serpents were meant to hide behind each rock on Overlook and Tremper. For full disclosure, I did love BLM from the Beaverkill side, and having hiked Hunter in December, had a much more favorable view of the area at the end of that round of the AFTC.
But then I went after the winter rocker, and always looking for different ways to try something, climbed all that I could from different routes/trailheads and started to appreciate Catskills a lot more. Winter also exposed mountain beauty to me that was less noticeable in the summer/fall, with less people on the trials and the summits meant I could absorb more. I also embraced winter hiking then. It was on Tremper that I met a couple who had lots of patches on their packs, including the 3500 Club. I asked them about the bushwhacks and they told me that the Club has guided hikes all the time.
I went home, signed up for the first spring hike that worked for my schedule (Vly and Bearpen) and met another gridder (
catdacker
) who was a hike co-leader. I loved the hike, the views, the history, the canister, the spring flowers, and the ramps. And so my love affair with the Catskills began. Soon thereafter, I met my trail sister, Marina, and we decided to join forces to get our 3500 patch. I had to do a few peaks solo to catch up in the meantime, and that's then I met
Sporty Spice
and the rest of the TDG gang on Panther. Along the way, I met many other inspirational hikers, all they were all incredibly helpful and supportive.
I never set out to the grid from the start, which now seems to be popular with some hikers. My journey was a gradual one. I did not even think to start working on the winter round until I had my regular patch. Then I was mainly focused on NE111, but kept the four season patch in mind as well, while joining friends on hikes, exploring new trails and helping other friends with traverses and whacks. By the time the pandemic restrictions started to lift off, my usual out of state travel was cancelled, we got ourselves a place in the Catskills and then it became so much easier to hike more often.
That is not to say that it was all hiking. I firmly believe in giving back more than you take. I adopted a trail to maintain, joined the board, served in many committees (and continue to do so!), joined adopt a highway and adopt a trailhead initiatives, and while it may be a stretch, some years it felt that I spent as many hours on these endeavors as I did on the hiking itself. It became especially important to me in 2020 when the culture of trespassing, overuse, competitive hiking and treating mountains like a commodity was unleashed. Just before that, the Rips passed on the torch to CMC, and I was glad that the original patch and the challenge were taken over by a conservation minded and environmentally conscious organization.
Some, of course would, say that it is a hypocritical thing to do, to hike the same mountains over and over, even if you are doing it over the years like I did (7 years for those wondering, since my first ascent of BLM) while preaching conservation and overuse. Everyone is of course entitled to have an opinion, but to me, there is a difference between responsible hiking, being a steward of land, educating others along the way and leaving the woods in better shape then you found them, and just being a user. I firmly believe that I was a steward during these years, and will continue to be.
I was not a very efficient griddiot, nor did I ever aspire to be one. I was more important for me to learn the mountains from all of their ridges, to see and smell all the flowers, to hug all the yellow birches, to find the elusive ledges with killer views, find the bogs and study their flora, listen to all the boreal songbirds and to spot the even more elusive Bicknell Thrush. My journey was also rich as I met many amazing friends with whom I shared many long days in the woods, conversations, and most unforgettable experiences. Sometimes those deep great conversations lead to taking down the wrong ridge, which would cause side-hilling or fighting with hobblebush as we tried to correct the course. There were many glorious late starts, walkouts in the dark, sunsets, (no sunrises!), swimming through the nettles, the balsam firs and cold stream water, adventures with lost mules and brant geese, flushing out grouse and a bear, running into friends in the most unexpected places, and then having some "friends" scare the bejusus out of you when you were minding your own business on a summit.
My only regret is not to have seen the area between the Tunis Pond that leads to the Doubletop/Graham col. Before we lost access, I found all of the viewpoints there, and had 8 unforgettable visits to each, one of which included a sketchy, sketchy descent via the Drury Hollow (incidentally, I learned about this option here from @TFR).
Anyway, last Sunday, I got to climb my favorite mountain, via my favorite route, with an amazing group of friends. My long suffering spouse (just kidding!) also made an appearance, as he does for the special occasions. The sun was shining, the nettles were mostly dead, the mud was non-existent, and the bugs were hiding.
I wish many friends who were a huge part of the journey over the years and a source of support were also able to join but this is August, the month of vacations, so I feel so incredibly lucky that so many were able to join, and on a short notice. I had a lot of work to do in August to pull this off, and family and social obligations made it pretty stress-inducing.
mudhook
and
MargaretM
delivered a surprise, but I had the final chuckle as I pre-emptied the summit scare by accidentally intersecting them enroute to the trailhead.
Another surprise was running into
ajtiv
along the snowmobile trail and the congratulatory message by a friend who was 23 hours and 45 min early to the party and could not make it the next day.
Cheers, and see you on the trials, YanaLG
PS - what's next? The Canister Fall 2022 edition! Have a story to share? please get in touch!!!