I am looking at Bear Peak right now..definitely not a three hour drive. 🙂 OTOH, I could not see Mt. Lafayette or Greylock from my sub-urban home in Coventry, RI. Nice to be a lot closer to the hiking than in the past!

I can see Mt Washington from my deck, but that doesn’t mean its still not a three hour drive 🙂 As Another Kevin said, Peakbagging is valid reason to get out and hike and it doesn’t take a huge time commitment. I’m hoping to wrap up Maine’s 4k’ers this year and start in on NH’s list. New trails, more multi-day hikes. It will be fun!

Indeed. The closest major hiking area was a good 3 hrs away. Now? 8400′ peaks (if crowded!) can be seen from our deck .

The Hiking lifestyle has never appealed to me. I’ve never been in a situation where I could just walk away from my life for months on end. But I do enjoy hiking. And even making my own route, although here in the wet East I don’t want to do that for many miles at a go.

Peakbagging is at least something that gets recognized, and gets things like patches and car stickers, if you’re into that sort of thing. I’ve been known to do that from time to time.

I think it helps that you and I are both fortunate to live where we can jump over the fence and go. Then again, isn’t that why you moved from the Eastern Seaboard?