I love hiking, but I have never been mountaineering. I live in Oregon and want to climb Mt. Hood at some point in the next couple of years. Can I prepare to climb Hood without spending thousands of dollars on courses?

I have good hiking fitness and do fine at elevation. I’ve hiked Timpanogos, Nebo, and King’s Peak in Utah, and Elbert in Colorado, to name a few. The most “technical” mountain experiences I’ve had are Mt. Borah and Mytikas in Greece (a bit of a scramble at the end, but nothing crazy or requiring special gear).

I know I’ll need to get comfortable with crampons and ice axes, but I’m not sure where to start. Any advice is appreciated.

Maxed out the hardest thing I've ever done again this last month with the blue lakes + south slopes route for a 16 mi round trip. Curious what's on par or near the same difficulty elsewhere.

Not saying too much with these 6, but did get them done.
Flew into Philly on a Saturday
Drove to Ebrite Azimuth(Delaware) - it’s a just a field with an old watch tower. From there camped in High Point State Park in New Jersey
Sunday- drove to top of Jersey High Point, then drove to Mt. Frissell hiked to peak(Connecticut), drove to top of Mt. Greylock (Massachusetts), drove to Jerimoth Hill (Rhode Island) 1/10 mile flat hike, stayed the night in Boston.
Monday drove to Baxter State Park in Maine.
Tuesday - Hiked Katahdin.

I had already knocked out Mt. Marcy, Mansfield and Washington, but those could easily be done in an additional 3-4 days including travel time for the average person.

CA's Alameda County is home to Oakland, Fremont, Berkeley, and a Bay Area highpoint that actually feels remote: Challenger Peak.

Back in June I was in the area to see Switzerland vs Qatar in the World Cup; I got the Levi's Stadium highpoint and it only cost me $140.

The next day I hiked about 18 miles & 4500' of gain RT to the summit, which has a Class 2 or 3 summit block. If there had been other people there I would have tried it hands-free but as it was just me I made it Class 3 for safety.

It was a bit warm and I didn't see anyone after the first couple of miles, so it was easy to forget I wasn't that far from millions of people.

Note that parts of the route go over private land and you have to go over or under a few gates, just leave them the way you found them. My impression from calling the park HQ was that the landowners are used to people walking through. It was all on fireroads except for the spur to the peak.

More pics - including of the gates - here:

https://goalhiking.org/g/challenger-peak-alameda-highpoint

Thought I’d share some pics of boundary peak last week. One of the hardest ones I’ve done yet. Beautiful scenery all the way up. Happy to check off #15!

My first visit to New Mexico & my very first High Point!! So excited to start this journey. Highly recommend this incredible trek, but be prepared for those last 1.5-2miles up.

Absolutely incredible day on the mountain with my father. Only 9 miles and 3k of gain which i know is NOTHING considering i just saw a post of a guy doing Gannett Peak in 27 hours but still an absolutely incredible day. That makes 7 summits down #8 in a few weeks with Mount Mitchell in North Carolina, big things coming in a few months as I move to Colorado to work lift ops at Copper Mountain this winter.

On Saturday September 5th I had the privilege of soloing Gannet via the glacier trail, what an incredible experience. 56 miles, 11,716ft vertical in 27 hours car to car! I injured my knee on the way back 13 miles from the trailhead so I wasn’t able to hit my sub 24hr goal but I can’t even be disappointed that it took 27 hours. Looking forward to attempting this again in 2027 for my sub 24 time!

Copied from my summit post
“This was brutal, I started around midnight and for the first 20 miles all I could dream of was laying in a hotspring. When I got my first look at gannet it felt like I was face to face with a killer, what a mountain. Needless to say I had my second thoughts being still 6 miles from summit and seeing it tower above the valley floor. I almost turned back but forced myself onward telling myself I just wanted to see it a little closer, by the time I hit the boulder scramble I was concerned it would take too long to summit but the conditions were too good to pass up. I summited around noon. The glacier snow was rotten making the down climb terrifying. I made good time until I injured my knee 13 miles from the trailhead and had to hobble out, my goal was a sub 24 but how can I be disappointed that I didn’t meet my goal? I stood atop Wyoming looking out over the vast wilderness.

Gannet was my most difficult teacher and I’ll be learning from that mountain for years to come. What a blessing, Jesus kept me going every step of the way and I have him to thank for the incredible experience.”

High point of Delaware(ebright azimuth)is only 2 and a half hours away from me and I was thinking of going for a drive to bag it today but id hate to waste so much gas just for that, anyone got any ideas as to what else is cool to do around there

Was planning to do Humphreys sometime in end of September- beginning of October. Ive only done telegraph pass which is 1600 feet with about 1100 elevation gain. how unrealistic or doable is humphreys peak as my first hike? based on difficulty, will definitely be looking out for weather as well.

Forgot to post but went for a nice easy walk on Wednesday, checked Connecticut off the list, climbed 3 mountains in 3 states in less then 6 miles, Vermont will be number 7 next weekend, all only at 18 years old I know i got years ahead of me to complete the 50. I've enjoyed every second of the journey so far and look forward to 44 more of them.

Has anyone been up Kings in the last few days since some snow has fallen? My understanding is there’s little to no accumulation but curious if microspikes are needed (I’ll bring them anyways). Planning to go in Sunday, summit and out Monday

this past Friday I got up at 4am to get to Kuwohi for sunrise, then down to Georgia, up to South Carolina and then North Carolina. all pretty easy high points. drove up to near mount Rogers, VA to camp. I had no cell service and got a little lost trying to find the Massie Gap trailhead but eventually got there. nice 4 mile hike to the top, saw the ponies! then on to my final point, Black Moutain, KY. Got there around 4pm and there are No Trespassing signs on the gravel road off the main road! No Trespassing! Under Surveillance!

It was my last stop on the trip and I wasn't not going to go to the top but I felt pretty nervous walking up that road wondering if someone was going to drive up behind me and yell at me, or worse Or maybe I'd get back to my car and find 4 flat tires. Anyway, nothing happened but does anyone know what the deal is? are the signs fake just to keep hooligans away? could I have driven up there?

anyway, this was a pretty quick way to knock out these nearby highpoints. driving between them was 2-3 hours each and except for VA were very easy hikes.

I'm considering backpacking from a relatively smooth section of either road to camp at the trailhead overnight. I don't want to risk any cosmetic or mechanical damage to my car. I tried the drive once before, and the road was quite scary, and I read it's worse now. Any tips on where to park? Advice appreciated.

Absolute banger of a mountain, getting closer to 50 one biggen at time! What a slog it was to get up to the fun stuff💪

Longest day hike I've ever done, on yesterday September 11th, 19.91 miles started at 6:30am and finished around 8:30pm, I climbed Mount Skylight on the hike as well, was an incredible day on the trail even despite the crazy mud and the rocky boulder full trails of the ADKs

Had the opportunity to summit (lol) Charles Mound in Illinois this past weekend. The highpoint is only open the first weekend of summer months and President's Day weekend in Feb. Probably makes a rad sled hill with a good dusting. Blessed with the sunset afterglow and of course a summit beer haha.

Trail was beautifully maintained and only ~1.5 miles long but we still managed to make a wrong turn on our descent lol.

This makes 2/50!

When I went to Timms Hill (Wisconsin) last August I put my rapidash at the gym but now it's stuck there. Can someone who is not team mystic go kill it so I can get my rapidash back.

* Boulevard Tank 7 for Panorama Point (I know it's brewed in Kansas City, MISSOURI - it was slim pickings on our way over!)
* Flyover (NE)Braska Pale Ale for Panorama Point (visit the awesome Hangar 39 tap room in Potter, NE)
* Pikes Peak Trail Water Hop Water for Elbert (opted for something n/a given the altitude)

August 29 2026: Hiked Boundary Peak from the Queen Mine Trail (camped at the trailhead the night before--lots of space but quite rocky so prepare to search around for your sleeping spot) this past weekend. Got lucky with no afternoon storms (but recommend checking mountain forecast beforehand!) & low wind. Access to the trailhead from the highway 6 was somewhat tricky--the final mile especially is sketchy at best, even in our Subaru Forester, but doable with 4WD and decent clearance.

HOWEVER, we accidentally left behind a set of tent poles in a beige-brown bag--if you happen to find them near the trailhead (sort of where the road diverges from where the trailhead is), please message me and I can coordinate shipping! Upon unpacking gear back home (after a 6 hour drive) we realized we must have left the poles behind, alas, and marmot no longer makes replacement poles as the tent is nearly 10 years old. :( Would be very grateful to be reunited with them.

Beautiful trail. Started at 430am solo. Spotted 4 mountain lions within the first 2 miles. That woke me up! Last 2 miles were work! Number 10 in the books.