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Finishing the Trailwright’s 72

Trailwright's 72 Finish on Mt Guyot
Trailwright’s 72 Finish on Mt Guyot (4580′)

I finished the Trailwrights 72 peakbagging list last week on Mt Guyot, one of my favorite 4,000 footers in the White Mountains. I still have 36 hours of trail work to complete to get the Trailwright’s patch (72 hours are required), but I’ll finish that next spring when trail work season starts up again.

I am really going to miss the challenge of hiking the peaks on the Trailwrights list (see below), which include the 48 White Mountain 4000 footers, plus 24 other 4000 footers in the White Mountains which are mainly subpeaks of the bigger mountains: peaks like Slide Mountain, Boot Spur, Southwest Twin, Adams 4, Adams 5, Sam Adams, Mt Hight and many others that you’d probably never climb.

But the thing that makes this list so challenging is that you need to climb each peak on a separate hike. On the other hand, that gives you the opportunity to hike many different trails in each region of the Whites, if you prefer to avoid using the same routes over and over again. That’s what I tried to do and it really expanded my appreciation of the vast 1500 mile+ White Mountain trail system.

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Here are a few photos from some of my favorite peaks on the Trailwright’s 72 list and some of the friends that accompanied me (I’m happy to go and hike these peaks again to help you finish your lists off!)

Bushwhacking on Northwest Hancock
Bushwhacking on Northwest Hancock
Mount Bootspur, a subsidiary peak of Mount Washington (rear)
On Mount Boot Spur, a subsidiary peak of Mount Washington (rear)
Mount Moosilauke from the South Peak
Mount Moosilauke from the South Peak
West Osceola (4114')
West Osceola (4114′)
The Southwest Twin Summit
The Southwest Twin Summit

In addition to broadening my knowledge of the White Mountain trail system, pursuing the Trailwright’s 72 caused me to polish up my off-trail navigation skills and embrace bushwhacking, which I’ve come to enjoy tremendously. I also became an active trail maintainer, completing 36 hours of the required 72 trail work hours (for the patch), maintaining the lower section of the Jewell Trail on Mt Washington over the past few years.

If you are looking for a challenge and something you can really sink your teeth into, I recommend you expand your horizons by tackling the Trailwright’s 72 list. It will take you to places you’ve never been and where few others will ever go.

15 comments

  1. Philip,
    Well Done, my friend! It sort-of gets into your blood, doing peaks, that is. It is hard to say you are finished with them when there is always room for one more.

    Again Well Done!

  2. Congrats! This is on my hiking To Do list.

  3. Very impressive. Congrats. What’s next?

  4. Congrats, that is quite an accomplishment.

  5. Quite an accomplishment. Maybe I should do more of my NH 4000′ list individually as a head start to the Trailwrights 72. How many of these are bushwacks? I am a trail maintainer and certified sawyer on the Fingerlakes Trail in central NY, and when I retire some day hope to volunteer in the WMNF or thereabouts.

  6. Congratulations! And very cool that you finished on a favorite in Guyot. I bet you passed over it several times before you counted it for your list! I’m not looking to complete this list in any time period, but I’m looking forward to doing some of the trail-less peaks (off popular peaks) in spring/summer/fall. I have 13 total left and 4 bushwhacks (2 Osceola sub peaks, NW Hancock, and that elusive SW Twin). Ever since I did that Pemi Bushwhack, I was thinking of going the hard way up the ridge from 13 Falls area.

  7. Well done and I was there I think on one of them?

  8. Congratulations! What’s next? Northeast 115? Northeast 770? New England Highest Hundred? Something else?

  9. Well done.

  10. Congrats on finishing!

  11. Congrats, Philip!! That is a lot of hiking…..Now if I could only find the time!!

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