Crazy hikers, crazy hikers
Every Tuesday they do climb,
Checking off 4,000-footers
Marching always in a line.
CENTER SANDWICH - The widely-celebrated Over the Hill Hikers will mark their 25th anniversary Thursday with a luncheon and a hike (of course) ending up at the home of the woman known for years as the group's "den mother," Lib Bates.
Four different commemorative hikes of varying distances along the Bearcamp River Trail are planned for that morning. And along the way, some just may break into song, perhaps not always on key, with "Crazy Hikers . . ."
The Over the Hill Hikers began modestly enough in the summer of 1979 with a handful of new retirees hiking up past Jose's Bridge to the rocky ledges at Great Falls for a picnic lunch. In later weeks, they moved on to stiffer climbs of nearby peaks in the Sandwich Range of the White Mountains.
Bates and her late husband, Charlie Crooker, retired to Sandwich a couple of years later and quietly stepped forward to organize the group and broaden its reach. As the daughter of one of the first Appalachian Mountain Club hut maters, "Red" MacGregor, Bates had been hiking in New Hampshire all her life. She was anxious to lead her friends on her beloved trials.
Under her leadership, the Sandwich hiking group literally took off, bagging 4,000-footers week by week, nearly always on Tuesdays. Overnights at the huts and The Glen in Pittsburg were thrown in from time to time.
There are now more than 100 on the roster, plus some non-hiking spouses. Fifty-seven have climbed all 48 of New Hampshire's 4,000-footers, 18 of them twice. Six have done the circuit three times, and two, Jocelyn Gutchess and Mary Cullen, have bagged the lot four times.
In 1990, with some of the
older members tiring of the 4,000-footers, Bates came up with another "52 with a view" to create a list of the 100 highest peaks, and 13 members have completed them all. A special "100" patch was designed to go with the AMC's 48.
The group is not exactly a club. There are no bylaws, no officers. No rules, in fact, except the rule that one never hikes alone, and that each hike has a leader who plots the route and keeps track of fellow hikers. Newcomers must show an ability to hike and a willingness to stick with each hike's leader.
In 1984, a companion group, the Friday Walkers, was added for a more leisurely pace, and there are now winter hikes for cross-country skiers and snow-shoers.
In 1986, the schedule was expanded to include a fall trip outside New Hampshire - to peaks in New York, Vermont, Maine and, amazingly enough, the Alps. Four annual trips led by veteran hiker-skier Penny Pitou took them to Switzerland, Austria and Italy.
There have been, of course, some ups and downs, cuts and sprains, hikers who strayed from the path, leaders who went too fast or too slow. And there was the time in 1985 when M.F. Hambrook, Sandwich's assistant librarian, suffered a heart attack at the top of Whiteface. Bill and Claire Smith ran - literally - down the mountain for help. Hambrook survived and went on to complete her round of 4,000-footers as well as the 100 highest.
When Bates stepped aside in the late 1990s, a "Life After Lib" committee first named the Smiths as interim leaders, then tapped Bill Glenday and Jocelyn Gutchess, who remain co-chairpersons. David and Marion Blackshear run the Friday group. Charles Kuehn keeps the roster up to date, and Sharon Vittum handles details of the various celebrations. Social director. Very important.
Parties, notably celebrations as each hiker bags the 48, are what help make this group special to many of its members. It adds to the collegiality, said one newcomer, Jay Crawford, that makes hiking fun.
Gutchess, for example, is a world-class hiker who hadn't hiked in a group before joining Over the Hill.
"For many," she said, "it is life-altering. There's a dynamic within the group that's hard to explain. It's just there. People discover things about the area and about themselves."
Claude Cormier is typical. A retired builder from Massachusetts, he had never hiked in his life when a granddaughter suggested in the summer of 2002 they climb Chocorua. He soon found the Over the Hill Hikers and was immediately hooked. In a little over a year, he had done the 48 and is nearing the end of his second round.
"It's unbelievable," he said. "It's amazing how it worked out. This group is so supportive. Like a family. I really look forward to Tuesdays."
(Newcomers to the Over the Hill Hikers must be from Sandwich or recommended by hikers from nearby towns and must be able to hike. For more information, call Jocelyn Gutchess at 284-6866.)
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By SHIRLEY ELDER
For the Monitor