copyright © 2006 - 2024 Dennis Paul Himes


Hiking Trip Logs

Introduction

Soon after my family moved to Connecticut, which happened in 1963, when I was nine, we started taking camping vacations every summer in the White Mountains. We (my dad, my older brother, and I at first, and later others) would make day trips up into the mountains. I know I summited Washington, Adams, and Jefferson during those days, and I'm pretty sure I summited Monroe. I also, when I was a child, went on a number of long (but not mountainous) hikes as a boy scout.

After I grew up I would still hike occasionally, but not very often. I know I hiked in the Presidentials at least four times in the seventies, eighties, and nineties, including one disasterous hike in which I greatly overestimated my abilities while encountering sleet in August.

In October of 2001, wanting to lose weight, I decided to try to go on a hike every weekend. I hiked on several trails, but the trails of Case Mountain Park in Manchester, Conn. became my default location. At first I only hiked a mile or two, but I kept extending it until by the next spring I established a standard weekend hike, an eight mile trek through Manchester and Glastonbury, Connecticut mostly on the Shenipsit Trail. I gradually extended that to a sixteen mile hike which included parts of Hebron and Bolton. When the pandemic hit, I started hiking other local trails more, especially the Nipmuck. Now, when I'm not on the sort of hiking expeditions listed on these pages, I'm usually doing something locally in between 10 and 16 miles almost every weekend.

I now have some pictures online of my Shenipsit hikes and my Nipmuck hikes.

I did not lose weight doing all of this hiking, but I did feel more vigorous. I found that, in everyday life, I lasted longer before I started feeling fatigued. In 2003 I put myself on a diet and finally lost the weight. In 2004, in much better shape that I had been since my 20s (I was 50 years old at this point) I decided I was ready for something more ambitious. So I returned to the Whites. This became the first trip reported here. I loved it. I soon decided I wanted to do this every year, and then I decided I wanted to do it every season, and then I decided I wanted to do it every couple of months. In May 2007 I joined the online hiking group Rocks on Top (now defunct), and started taking advantage of hikes organized by them.


Trips

Because this page was getting so big, I've split it up by year. Mulityear trips are sorted by start date.

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024


The Long Trail

I hiked the Long Trail in 2009.

Here is my Trail Journal.

Here are my pictures.


The Cohos Trail

I hiked the Cohos Trail in 2017.

Here is my Trail Journal.

Here are my pictures.


The Foothills Trail

I hiked the Foothills Trail in 2023.

Here is my Trail Journal.

Here are my pictures.


Trail Table

I made a table of trails I've done, trails I've partially done, and trails I'm interested in doing some day (not necessarily realistically).


The ADK46

I've made a gallery of summit pictures for the ADK46, inspired by a similar one Christa did for the NH4Ks.

Here it is.


The New England Fifty Finest

I've also made a gallery of summit pictures for NEFF first ascents. This counts a "first ascent" as the first ascent in 2004 or later.

Here it is.


Better Sites

There are much better hiking report sites on the web than this. Here are a few.

Writing

Fun Size
triple-crowner
Jan's Jaunts and Jabberings
Western hiker and photographer
Kelly Floro
Ibex, at the Trek
Mountain Wandering
Steve Smith, co-editor of the AMC White Mtn. guide and the guy who owns the Mountain Wanderer in Lincoln
Moving Mountains
Mary Poppins
Right Kind of Lost
Arkansas hiker
Smoky Scout's Hiking Adventures
Smoky Mountain hiker
Tomcat's Outdoor Adventures
New York hiker
Walking with Friends Down Under
hiking in the opposite season

Photography

Linda's Lens
Oregonian hiker/skier/runner

Videos

Audrey Adventures
Colorado hiker Glowstick
Callie Hikes
Missouri hiker
Evan's Backpacking
tentless, stoveless, shoeless backpacker
Keegan O'Rourke
Pacific Northwest hiker
Liz Kidder
New Hampshire hiker Handstand
Seth's New England Trails
Rhode Island hiker Rhody Seth


You can go to my homepage or mail me.