Jefferson NH

In August of 1968, I was the guest of a high school girlfriend and her family at their summer home in Jefferson, NH. We did quite a bit of hiking--Dome Rock, Cherry Mountain, Webster Cliffs--in preparation for a hike up Mt. Washington. I'd done quite a lot of hiking with my father when I was younger, including climbs of Katahdin and Marcy, so I was excited to scale New Hampshire's highest. Carolyn was an outstanding high school cross country skier and bill, her Dad, worked out daily during an age when middle age men just gained weight. Jean, Carolyn's Mom, needed to work up to the climb, and that she did--her first of Mt. Washington ever.

The view from their front porch is awe-enspiring. The expanse of the Presidential Range to the southeast includes, fittingly from this point-of-view, Mt. Jefferson most prominently, and Mt. Washington and Mt. Monroe to the right. No mountain-lover can resist the lure of the Presidentials after taking in this vista.

As I remember it, Carolyn and I took side trips up Mt. Jackson, Mt. Clay (which of course doesn't count for anything--this is a shame topographically and historically, in my opinion) and Mt. Monroe, and so by the time the vacation was over, I had 3 of the 48 NH 4,000 peaks under my belt. Growing up in New York, I knew of a similar list for the Adirondacks and filed the New Hampshire experience away for future reference. I wouldn't climb another NH 4,000 peak until 1995, although I ran the race up the Mt. Washington Auto Road twice in the seventies.

While we were in Jefferson, the Republican National convention was being held in Miami. The country had suffered the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr and Bobby Kennedy in recent months and the political tension in the country would boil over in the streets of Chicago later in the summer. I vividly remember hoping New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller would come through as a dark-horse for the presidential nomination. My father commented frequently that he liked Rockefeller for his willingness to admit he was wrong and adjust accordingly, a trait most politicians, then or now, seem to be lacking. Turns out Rockefeller was a minority of one, but I didn't realize it then. History records Richard Nixon as the victor for the nomination, although he turned out to be the biggest loser.

Interesting how far we've come in 40 years. In 1968, we were in a war we couldn't win, the presidency was determined by the segregationist 3rd party candidate, George Wallace, and women had no place in the process. Though we weren't at war in 1988, the Iran-Contra scandal was fresh on our minds and race played a huge role in the presidential election as a result of the "Willie Horton" ads which doomed Michael Dukakis. We'd forgotten Geraldine Ferraro's 1984 Vice-Presidential candidacy.

Today we have a African-American presidential candidate, a woman who is equally as formidable just missing the nomination and a war we can't win. Well, some things change. But, however slowly over the 40 years, we have seen a huge change in our country.

I read the New York Times online daily, a habit I picked up from my father. (His was a hardcopy habit) There have been a number of articles in the Times lately sharing this 40 year perspective. Two of the better ones are noted with links below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/07/opinion/07herbert.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/09/opinion/09krugman.html

As I reflect my accomplishment, yesterday, of climbing all 48 NH 4,000 foot peaks, I can't help but reflect on the 39 years, 10 months and a few days that it took to do it.

In his article,Bob Herbert suggests a victory lap "for all those in every station in life who ever refused to submit quietly to hatred and oppression. They led us to a better place." In a way, yesterday's climb was my celebration of that better place.

And what better place than the summit of Mt. Garfield. Thankfully, the 48 NH 4,000 peaks haven't changed all that much in 40 years.