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Peakbagging: The Art of Turning Red Dots to Green · Off You Pop!

0:12
SPEAKER_00: This is Off You Pop, the podcast for hikers and adventurers who want to be epic in just one day.
0:19
SPEAKER_00: Peak bagging looks simple from the outside.
0:22
SPEAKER_00: Climb a mountain, tick a box, move on.
0:25
SPEAKER_00: But anyone who's actually done it knows that that's not the truth.
0:28
SPEAKER_00: Peak bagging isn't a checklist, it's a mindset.
0:32
SPEAKER_00: It's a way of moving through the world where summits become chapters, roots become rituals, and the map becomes a kind of personal mythology.
0:40
SPEAKER_00: To be a peat bagger is to live with a quiet, persistent hunger.
0:44
SPEAKER_00: Not for glory, not for records, but for completion.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: For the satisfaction of standing somewhere most people will never stand.
0:52
SPEAKER_00: For the strange joy of looking at a skyline and knowing exactly which points you've touched and which ones are still waiting for you.
1:00
SPEAKER_00: Peat bagging has its own culture, its own language, its own unspoken rules.
1:06
SPEAKER_00: There's the purity of the ascent.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: Did you tag the true summit?
1:09
SPEAKER_00: There's the debate over what counts.
1:12
SPEAKER_00: Prominence, isolation, lists, sub peaks.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: There's the camaraderie of people who understand why you drive three hours to climb a hill that barely breaks 2,000 feet, just because it's on the list.
1:25
SPEAKER_00: And underneath all of it, the same thing that drives hikers, climbers, wanderers, and mountain obsessors everywhere.
1:32
SPEAKER_00: The desire to know yourself by moving through terrain that doesn't care who you are.
1:37
SPEAKER_00: Today we're going to explore that world.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: The nuance, the psychology, the culture, and the quiet madness of being a peat bagger.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: What it means, why people do it, and why once you start it's very hard to stop.
1:50
SPEAKER_00: This is peat bagging, and this is off you pop.
1:55
SPEAKER_00: Peat bagging didn't start with GPS apps or people arguing online about prominence.
2:00
SPEAKER_00: It started with something much older.
2:02
SPEAKER_00: The human urge to stand on high ground and say, I've been there.
2:07
SPEAKER_00: Every mountain culture has its own version of this.
2:10
SPEAKER_00: Shepherds, monks, surveyors, wanderers, people who moved through the landscape because their lives depended on it.
2:16
SPEAKER_00: They weren't peat baggers, not yet, but they were the ancestors of the idea.
2:21
SPEAKER_00: The first true peat baggers were the list makers, the people who looked at a map and said, Let's define something.
2:28
SPEAKER_00: Sir Hugh Monroe did it in Scotland in eighteen ninety one when he catalogued every Scottish mountain over three thousand feet.
2:35
SPEAKER_00: He didn't intend to create a cult, but he did.
2:39
SPEAKER_00: Suddenly there was a list, and once there's a list, there are people who want to finish it.
2:44
SPEAKER_00: In the Lake District, Alfred Wainwright did something similar, but with more poetry.
2:49
SPEAKER_00: He didn't just map the fells, he wrote about them like characters in a novel, and people started ticking them off, one by one, because completing the Wainwrights felt like completing a story.
3:00
SPEAKER_00: Across the Atlantic, the Adirondack forty sixers emerged, hikers who climbed all forty six high peaks in New York.
3:08
SPEAKER_00: Not because the peaks were famous, but because the list existed.
3:11
SPEAKER_00: The list gave shape to the journey.
3:14
SPEAKER_00: And then came the modern era.
3:16
SPEAKER_00: Prominence entered the chat.
3:17
SPEAKER_00: The idea that a peak should only count if it stands independently from mountains around it.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: Suddenly peat bagging wasn't just about height, it was about identity, about purity, about the geometry of the land itself.
3:30
SPEAKER_00: Technology changed everything.
3:32
SPEAKER_00: Paper maps became GPX files, hand-drawn lists became apps.
3:37
SPEAKER_00: You could track your peaks, compare your progress, see exactly how many summits you'd touched.
3:43
SPEAKER_00: Peat bagging went from a quiet personal pursuit to a global culture with its own rules, debates, and tiny obsessions.
3:50
SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing, even with all the tech, all the lists, all the arguments about what counts and what doesn't, the heart of peat bagging hasn't changed.
4:00
SPEAKER_00: It's still about standing somewhere you've never stood before.
4:03
SPEAKER_00: It's still about shaping your life around the terrain.
4:06
SPEAKER_00: It's still about the simple ancient joy of touching the skyline.
4:10
SPEAKER_00: Peat baggers think differently.
4:13
SPEAKER_00: You can see it in the way they look at a map.
4:15
SPEAKER_00: Most people see contour lines and shaded relief.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: Peat baggers see possibilities.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: They see unfinished business.
4:22
SPEAKER_00: They see a skyline full of conversations they haven't had yet.
4:26
SPEAKER_00: There's a particular kind of mind that gravitates towards peat bagging, a mind that looks like completion.
4:32
SPEAKER_00: Not tidy or in a spreadsheet way.
4:35
SPEAKER_00: It's deeper than that.
4:36
SPEAKER_00: It's the satisfaction of knowing you've touched something real, something physical, something that doesn't care about your job title or your inbox or your deadlines.
4:45
SPEAKER_00: A summit is honest.
4:46
SPEAKER_00: It either lets you stand on it or it doesn't.
4:50
SPEAKER_00: Pete baggers live with a quiet, persistent pull towards the next point on the map.
4:54
SPEAKER_00: It's not obsession, exactly.
4:56
SPEAKER_00: It's more like a hum, a background frequency.
4:59
SPEAKER_00: You finish one peak and almost immediately your brain flicks to the next.
5:03
SPEAKER_00: What's nearby?
5:04
SPEAKER_00: What's left?
5:05
SPEAKER_00: What's the cleanest line?
5:06
SPEAKER_00: It's not about conquering anything, it's about continuing something.
5:10
SPEAKER_00: There's also the dopamine.
5:12
SPEAKER_00: And let's be honest, tagging a summit feels good.
5:15
SPEAKER_00: It's a tiny hit of achievement, a moment of clarity, a little spark of I did that.
5:21
SPEAKER_00: And peat bagging strings those sparks together into a chain.
5:25
SPEAKER_00: You don't get one big firework at the end of the day, you get ten small ones.
5:29
SPEAKER_00: It's strangely addictive.
5:31
SPEAKER_00: But the psychology goes deeper than reward.
5:34
SPEAKER_00: Peat baggers love structure.
5:35
SPEAKER_00: They love the idea that the world can be organized into lists like the Monroe's and the Wainwrights.
5:41
SPEAKER_00: Lists turn the landscape into a story.
5:44
SPEAKER_00: They give shape to wandering.
5:45
SPEAKER_00: They turn randomness into pilgrimage.
5:48
SPEAKER_00: And then there's the identity.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: Peat baggers don't just climb mountains, they become people who finish things, people who follow through, people who can look at a long, complicated list and say, I'll get there, even if it takes years, even if it takes a lifetime.
6:04
SPEAKER_00: Peat bagging also attracts people who enjoy solitude.
6:08
SPEAKER_00: Not loneliness, solitude.
6:10
SPEAKER_00: The kind you earn by moving through terrain that demands your attention, the kind that gives you space to think, the kind that reminds you that you're small but not insignificant.
6:20
SPEAKER_00: And maybe the most interesting part, peat baggers are comfortable with the idea that the journey will never be finished.
6:26
SPEAKER_00: Because once you complete one list, you find another and another, and eventually you realize that the point was never the list.
6:33
SPEAKER_00: The point was the movement, the point was the rhythm.
6:36
SPEAKER_00: The point was the way the mountains quietly rearranged your inner landscape while you were busy ticking boxes.
6:42
SPEAKER_00: Peat baggers chase summits, but what they're really chasing is themselves.
6:47
SPEAKER_00: Peat bagging has a culture, a real one.
6:50
SPEAKER_00: Not loud, not flashy, not something you see on billboards or in gear ads.
6:54
SPEAKER_00: It's quieter than that, more intimate and more peculiar.
6:57
SPEAKER_00: It's a culture built on the idea that the landscape can be understood through the act of touching its high points.
7:03
SPEAKER_00: Spend enough time around peat baggers and you start to notice the tribes.
7:08
SPEAKER_00: There are the purists, for example, the ones who insist on standing on the true summit.
7:12
SPEAKER_00: Not near it, not close enough, on it.
7:15
SPEAKER_00: If the highest point is a boulder, they climb the boulder.
7:18
SPEAKER_00: If it's a fawny bush, they'll push through the thorns.
7:21
SPEAKER_00: If it's a precarious little rock that requires a hands-on scramble, they will do it.
7:26
SPEAKER_00: Because anything less feels like cheating.
7:28
SPEAKER_00: Purists don't care about comfort, they care about accuracy.
7:31
SPEAKER_00: Then there are the prominence people, the geometers of the mountain.
7:35
SPEAKER_00: They talk about peaks the way mathematicians talk about numbers.
7:38
SPEAKER_00: To them, a summit only counts if it rises independently from the land around it.
7:43
SPEAKER_00: They'll debate whether a bump on a ridgeline deserves recognition, whether a sub peak is a real peak, whether a mountain is honest.
7:50
SPEAKER_00: Prominence people are the philosophers of the skyline.
7:54
SPEAKER_00: You also meet the list collectors, the ones who treat peak bagging like a long, slow treasure hunt.
8:00
SPEAKER_00: They love the structure.
8:01
SPEAKER_00: They love the idea that someone somewhere created a finite list of summits and said, here, complete this.
8:07
SPEAKER_00: List collectors aren't chasing difficulty, they're chasing completion.
8:11
SPEAKER_00: They're building a personal map of achievement.
8:14
SPEAKER_00: And then there are the speed baggers, the ones who try to finish lists fast.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: They're often misunderstood.
8:20
SPEAKER_00: People assume they're rushing, missing the point, treating the mountains like a race, but talk to them and you'll realize they're chasing flow.
8:27
SPEAKER_00: They love the rhythm of moving quickly from peak to peak, the efficiency, the puzzle of the logistics.
8:33
SPEAKER_00: For them, the art is in the sequencing.
8:36
SPEAKER_00: Some peat baggers are social.
8:38
SPEAKER_00: They join groups, meet at trailheads, share routes, and compare notes.
8:42
SPEAKER_00: They love the camaraderie, the shared madness of climbing obscure hills just because they're on a list.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: Others are solitary.
8:49
SPEAKER_00: They treat peat bagging like a private pilgrimage.
8:52
SPEAKER_00: They move quietly, think deeply, and let the landscape rearrange their inner world without needing to talk about it.
8:58
SPEAKER_00: And then there's the nuance, the tiny cultural details that only make sense once you're inside the world.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: The debate over whether drive-up summits count, the ritual of touching the highest rock, the satisfaction of making your mark, the pride of knowing you stood on a peak that most people don't even know exists.
9:14
SPEAKER_00: The way peat baggers talk about mountains, like old friends.
9:18
SPEAKER_00: He's steep at the end.
9:19
SPEAKER_00: He's a slog.
9:20
SPEAKER_00: That one's a gift.
9:22
SPEAKER_00: Peat bagging culture is built on respect.
9:24
SPEAKER_00: Not for difficulty, but for completion.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: Not for fame, but for presence.
9:29
SPEAKER_00: Not for the mountain as an obstacle, but for the mountain as a chapter.
9:33
SPEAKER_00: And once you're inside that culture, you realize something.
9:36
SPEAKER_00: Peat baggers aren't trying to conquer anything.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: They're trying to understand something.
9:40
SPEAKER_00: The land, the map, and themselves.
9:43
SPEAKER_00: Ask ten peat baggers what counts as a peak, and you'll get twelve answers.
9:48
SPEAKER_00: This is where the culture becomes a little eccentric, a little nerdy, and completely fascinating.
9:54
SPEAKER_00: Because on paper a peak is simple, it's the highest point of a mountain.
9:58
SPEAKER_00: But in practice, it's a battlefield of nuance.
10:01
SPEAKER_00: Let's start with the obvious one, the true summit.
10:04
SPEAKER_00: Peat baggers care about the exact highest point.
10:07
SPEAKER_00: Not the viewpoint, not the cairn someone built because it looked nice.
10:11
SPEAKER_00: The true summit.
10:12
SPEAKER_00: If the highest point is a boulder, you climb the boulder.
10:15
SPEAKER_00: If it's a fawny bush, you push through the fawns.
10:18
SPEAKER_00: If it's a precarious little rock that requires a hands-on scramble, you do it.
10:22
SPEAKER_00: Because standing near the summit is like standing near the truth.
10:26
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't count.
10:27
SPEAKER_00: Then there's prominence.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: The idea that a peak should rise independently from the land.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: Prominence people treat the landscape like geometry.
10:34
SPEAKER_00: They tell you a bump on a ridgeline isn't a peak, it's just a shoulder.
10:38
SPEAKER_00: They'll argue that a summit only matters if it stands alone, if it has its own identity, its own gravitational presence.
10:45
SPEAKER_00: Prominence is the difference between a mountain and a momentary swell in the earth.
10:49
SPEAKER_00: Isolation adds another layer.
10:51
SPEAKER_00: How far a peak stands from other peaks?
10:54
SPEAKER_00: A summit may be small, but if it's isolated it feels significant.
10:58
SPEAKER_00: It feels like a place with its own story.
11:01
SPEAKER_00: Peak baggers love isolation because it gives meaning to the quiet hills, the ones that don't shout, but still matter.
11:07
SPEAKER_00: And then there are the sub peaks, the eternal grey area.
11:11
SPEAKER_00: Some lists include them, some lists don't.
11:14
SPEAKER_00: Some peak baggers count them because they're on the map, others ignore them because they don't feel real.
11:19
SPEAKER_00: Sub peaks are the philosophical riddles of the mountain world.
11:23
SPEAKER_00: They force you to ask, what makes a summit a summit?
11:26
SPEAKER_00: Height, shape, story?
11:29
SPEAKER_00: Recognition.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: Do you care about name peaks only or are you interested in bagging them all, including the unnamed peaks whose names are elevations?
11:37
SPEAKER_00: Peak seven three two four or peak eight zero one four.
11:41
SPEAKER_00: For me, that is the purest, the one who seeks the peak because it's there, not because it has a name.
11:47
SPEAKER_00: I am, however, less obsessed and usually only climb peaks with a name, but sometimes a nine zero zero four or five eight nine seven might tempt me if it's on the way and looks impressive.
11:58
SPEAKER_00: Then there's the provisional peaks.
12:00
SPEAKER_00: A peak bagger finds a lump that's not on the app and decided to plot it for everyone else.
12:05
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes these are real missing points, but often they are sub peaks or interesting points of interest.
12:11
SPEAKER_00: I generally don't chase these peaks unless they happen to be where I'm going.
12:15
SPEAKER_00: Drive up summits are another debate.
12:17
SPEAKER_00: Some peak baggers refuse to count them.
12:19
SPEAKER_00: If you didn't earn it, it doesn't count.
12:22
SPEAKER_00: Others say a summit is a summit, no matter how you get there.
12:25
SPEAKER_00: And then there's the pragmatists.
12:27
SPEAKER_00: They'll drive up, tag the point, and move on because the list is the list and the list must be completed.
12:33
SPEAKER_00: And finally, there's the ritual, the moment of touching the highest rock.
12:37
SPEAKER_00: Peak baggers do this instinctively.
12:39
SPEAKER_00: It's not written anywhere, it's not taught, but everyone does it.
12:43
SPEAKER_00: You reach the summit, you find the exact highest point, and you place your hand on it.
12:48
SPEAKER_00: It's a gesture of acknowledgement, a tiny ceremony, a way of saying, I was here.
12:53
SPEAKER_00: So what counts is a peak?
12:55
SPEAKER_00: In the end it depends on who you ask, but the deeper truth is this a peak counts if it changes you, if it shifts something inside you, if it becomes part of your personal map.
13:06
SPEAKER_00: The lists matter, the rules matter, the debates matter, but the meaning comes from the moment you stand on the highest point and feel the world open around you.
13:15
SPEAKER_00: Peat baggers chase summits, but what they're really chasing is definition of the land, of the journey, and of themselves.
13:22
SPEAKER_00: Peat bagging has a shadow, every passion does.
13:25
SPEAKER_00: Every culture built on obsession, completion, and quiet personal challenge carries a darker edge.
13:32
SPEAKER_00: Not malicious, not dramatic, just human.
13:35
SPEAKER_00: And if you spend enough time in the world of peat baggers, you start to see it.
13:39
SPEAKER_00: The first shadow is burnout.
13:41
SPEAKER_00: Peat bagging can turn the mountains into obligations.
13:44
SPEAKER_00: You wake up not just because you want to climb, but because the list says you still have twelve left.
13:49
SPEAKER_00: You start rushing through summits that deserve your attention.
13:52
SPEAKER_00: You stop noticing the light, the wind, and the smell of the trees.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: You're there, but you're not present.
13:57
SPEAKER_00: The list becomes louder than the landscape.
14:00
SPEAKER_00: Then there's the obsession, a quiet kind.
14:03
SPEAKER_00: The kind that makes you drive three hours to tag a hill that barely rises above the surrounding terrain.
14:08
SPEAKER_00: The kind that makes you climb when you're tired or stressed and not really in the mood, because the idea of leaving a list unfinished feels uncomfortable.
14:16
SPEAKER_00: Peat bagging can turn into a compulsion, not harmful, not dangerous, but persistent.
14:22
SPEAKER_00: A whisper that never quite stops.
14:25
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes the shadow becomes danger.
14:28
SPEAKER_00: Summit fever isn't just for Everest.
14:30
SPEAKER_00: It happens on small pigs too, when the desire to get it done overrides the voice that says turn back, weather rolls in, light fades, the route becomes sketchy, but the summit is close and the list is calling and you push on.
14:43
SPEAKER_00: Most of the time it's fine, sometimes it isn't.
14:47
SPEAKER_00: And the truth is, peat bagging takes you off trail more often than not.
14:51
SPEAKER_00: The app might show a summit, but it won't show the scramble, the loose scree, the hidden gullies, the animal tracks that look like paths until suddenly they don't.
14:59
SPEAKER_00: Off trail travel is where the landscape becomes unpredictable.
15:03
SPEAKER_00: You're moving through terrain that was never shaped for human feet, steep slopes that crumble under you, deadfall that forces awkward detours, brush that hides holes and unstable ground.
15:13
SPEAKER_00: Navigation becomes a living skill, not a button on your phone.
15:17
SPEAKER_00: And this is where the real danger is.
15:19
SPEAKER_00: You're often going to places few people have ever been.
15:23
SPEAKER_00: And then there's the human side of the land, private property boundaries that aren't always marked, ranch roads that look public but aren't, timberland with active operations, mining claims with hazards you won't see until you're in them.
15:36
SPEAKER_00: Peat bagging asks you to be more than a hiker.
15:38
SPEAKER_00: It asks you to be a steward, a guest, a navigator, someone who respects access and understands that the mountain doesn't care if you reach the summit, but the people who own the land absolutely do.
15:50
SPEAKER_00: Off trail is part of the game, but it's also where the responsibility lives.
15:54
SPEAKER_00: There's also the subtle pressure of comparison.
15:57
SPEAKER_00: Apps and leaderboards make it easy to see who's ahead, who's behind, and who's finished what.
16:02
SPEAKER_00: Peat bagging used to be private.
16:04
SPEAKER_00: Now it can feel public.
16:06
SPEAKER_00: And when something becomes public, it starts to become performative.
16:10
SPEAKER_00: You start climbing for the numbers instead of the experience.
16:13
SPEAKER_00: You start measuring yourself against people you've never met.
16:16
SPEAKER_00: And then there's the emotional shadow that nobody talks about.
16:20
SPEAKER_00: The feeling you get when you finish a list.
16:23
SPEAKER_00: It's not triumph, it's not joy, it's emptiness.
16:26
SPEAKER_00: A quiet, unexpected hollow, because the thing that shape your weekends, your holidays, your sense of identity, it's suddenly over, and you realize you weren't just climbing peaks, you were climbing purpose, and now the purpose is gone.
16:41
SPEAKER_00: Most peat baggers solve this by finding another list.
16:45
SPEAKER_00: And another and another.
16:47
SPEAKER_00: It's not unhealthy, it's just human.
16:50
SPEAKER_00: We're creatures who need direction, and peak bagging gives it, and when the direction ends, we look for the next one.
16:56
SPEAKER_00: But here's the truth, the dark side doesn't ruin peak bagging.
17:00
SPEAKER_00: It completes it.
17:01
SPEAKER_00: It makes it real.
17:02
SPEAKER_00: It reminds you that anything worth doing, anything that shapes your life, will shape your shadows too.
17:08
SPEAKER_00: And the trick is not to avoid the shadows, it's to recognize them, to know when the list is guiding you and when it's controlling you, to know when the mountain is calling and when the mountain is warning.
17:19
SPEAKER_00: Peat bagging is beautiful, but like all beautiful things it asks something of you, and sometimes it asks more than you expect.
17:26
SPEAKER_00: If you want to start peat bagging today, you don't have to begin with a compass and a paper map.
17:32
SPEAKER_00: I recommend you begin with Pete Bagger, the app that quietly became the beating heart of the peat bagging world.
17:38
SPEAKER_00: It's not flashy, it's not gamified, it doesn't try to seduce you with badges or fireworks.
17:43
SPEAKER_00: Pete Bagger is almost monk-like, simple, austere, deeply committed to the truth of the land, and that's exactly why peat baggers love it.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: Open Pete Bagger and the world changes shape.
17:55
SPEAKER_00: Suddenly the mountains aren't just scenery, they're data points, identities, and stories.
18:00
SPEAKER_00: Every summit has a page, every page has a history.
18:04
SPEAKER_00: Elevation, prominence, isolation, coordinates, trip reports, and GPS tracks.
18:09
SPEAKER_00: It's all there laid out with the quiet confidence of a library that knows exactly what it contains.
18:15
SPEAKER_00: Aside from letting you know what exists, this is a great source for finding out the logistics of a peak.
18:20
SPEAKER_00: Other peak baggers share their trip reports and give you intel you can't find on the internet.
18:25
SPEAKER_00: They let you know how to get to isolated peaks, what to avoid, the route they took up the mountain, things to watch out for, and the conditions on the day they climbed.
18:35
SPEAKER_00: This is my personal Bible when I'm planning a trip.
18:38
SPEAKER_00: I always scan the reports to help me plan, and then I give back and share my experience on the mountains, even the ones I fail or make mistakes on.
18:46
SPEAKER_00: And this is what makes the community.
18:49
SPEAKER_00: You can't get this kind of information or blogs or navigation apps.
18:52
SPEAKER_00: This is the community looking out for itself.
18:56
SPEAKER_00: Be warned, peat bagging is addictive and it can be dangerous.
19:00
SPEAKER_00: You should start with a named, well-known peak with well-defined trails.
19:04
SPEAKER_00: You can verify against nab apps like all trails.
19:07
SPEAKER_00: But once you get the bug and start going off trail, this is where your confidence level and skills need to be rock solid.
19:14
SPEAKER_00: You're going to be in isolated places, travelling across difficult uncharted terrain where no one has been for a while, aside from a few other peak baggers.
19:23
SPEAKER_00: And chances of getting lost mechanical injury or animal counters are significantly higher, and no one's going to stumble across you in these places.
19:33
SPEAKER_00: Always leave a detailed map of your plans with a friend or loved one.
19:37
SPEAKER_00: Make sure your navigation skills are on point.
19:39
SPEAKER_00: Off trail mapping is significantly more difficult than you think.
19:43
SPEAKER_00: The situation on the ground is not the situation on the map.
19:46
SPEAKER_00: Measure your risk.
19:47
SPEAKER_00: Is that final summit block worth a class five bouldering endeavor?
19:52
SPEAKER_00: Remember, you're in the wilderness.
19:54
SPEAKER_00: There are no crash pads.
19:55
SPEAKER_00: Can you afford to get seriously hurt just to tag the true summit?
19:59
SPEAKER_00: Take the loss.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: Peatbagger doesn't tell you what to climb, it shows you what exists.
20:04
SPEAKER_00: And that's the magic.
20:06
SPEAKER_00: You scroll through a list, the Sierra Peaks, the Nevada County high points, the Tahoe ogles, the obscure bumps that nobody but a peatbagger would ever care about, and something inside you clicks.
20:18
SPEAKER_00: You see the shape of a journey.
20:20
SPEAKER_00: You see a story you could complete.
20:22
SPEAKER_00: And once you pick your list of peaks, peat bagger becomes your companion.
20:27
SPEAKER_00: It tracks your summits with a kind of gentle precision.
20:30
SPEAKER_00: You tag a peak and it turns green.
20:32
SPEAKER_00: Not neon green, not celebratory green, just a quiet, satisfying green.
20:38
SPEAKER_00: The colour of progress, of presence, of I stood there.
20:42
SPEAKER_00: Peat Bagger teaches you the culture without saying a word.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: You start noticing prominence values.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: You start understanding why some peaks count and others don't.
20:51
SPEAKER_00: You start reading trip reports from people who climbed the same summit ten years before you.
20:55
SPEAKER_00: You start seeing the landscape not as a backdrop, but as a network of relationships.
21:00
SPEAKER_00: Ridges, saddles, coals, parent peaks, isolation.
21:04
SPEAKER_00: Peat bagger turns the mountains into a conversation.
21:07
SPEAKER_00: And the best part, peat bagger makes it easy.
21:10
SPEAKER_00: You don't need to be an expert.
21:12
SPEAKER_00: You don't need to understand prominence or isolation or topographical lineage.
21:16
SPEAKER_00: You just need to pick a peak near you, follow the route, tag the summit, and log it.
21:21
SPEAKER_00: The app does the rest.
21:22
SPEAKER_00: It remembers, it records, and it builds your personal map.
21:26
SPEAKER_00: Peat Bagger also gives you something subtle but powerful.
21:30
SPEAKER_00: Momentum.
21:31
SPEAKER_00: You tag one peak and the app shows you the next closest one.
21:35
SPEAKER_00: You tag that and it shows you another.
21:37
SPEAKER_00: Before you know, you're linking ridges, planning weekends, and building sequences.
21:41
SPEAKER_00: The app becomes a quiet voice saying, There's another one just over there.
21:45
SPEAKER_00: It can totally change the trajectory of your hikes and making boring trail a ridge running adventure.
21:51
SPEAKER_00: And here's the truth peat bagger doesn't make you a peat bagger.
21:55
SPEAKER_00: It reveals that you already were one.
21:58
SPEAKER_00: It shows you the shape of your curiosity.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: It shows you the skyline you've always wanted to touch.
22:03
SPEAKER_00: It shows you the version of yourself that exists in high places.
22:07
SPEAKER_00: So how do you start peat bagging?
22:09
SPEAKER_00: You download Pete Bagger.
22:11
SPEAKER_00: You pick a list, you pick a peak, and you go.
22:14
SPEAKER_00: Because once you see the first summit turn green, you realize something.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: You're not just climbing mountains, you're building a story.
22:21
SPEAKER_00: And peatbagger is the quiet archivist of that story, the keeper of your summits, the witness to your progress, the map of the person you're becoming.
22:30
SPEAKER_00: Now let's get on the pop.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: So it was a warm August day, and I decided to go peat bagging today.
22:37
SPEAKER_00: Now, when I climb in the mountains, I'm always secretly peat bagging, but on this day I deliberately wanted to show you the world of the peat bagger from a number of different aspects.
22:47
SPEAKER_00: And so I plotted my route and my plan was to try and attempt to complete 12 peaks in a single day.
22:55
SPEAKER_00: Not in a single arc.
22:56
SPEAKER_00: I'd be driving between peaks to try and tag the summits.
23:00
SPEAKER_00: And so for my route, I chose to start in the northern Sierras, place called Haskell Peak in the Plumas Forest, and planned to work my way back towards Lake Tahoe on Route 89, finishing up with a couple of small peaks that are on the edge of the lake.
23:20
SPEAKER_00: So my day began at 4 a.m.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: I left my home in the dark and made my way up to the Plumas Forest.
23:27
SPEAKER_00: And when I hit the trailhead, forest Route 9, it was still dark, and I made short work of the 6 mile journey through the forest.
23:37
SPEAKER_00: The road was fairly gentle and soft until I reached a turnout and the start of the trail to Haskell Peak.
23:44
SPEAKER_00: Now Haskell Peak is on one of the lists that I am chasing, and that list is the Tahoe Ogles.
23:51
SPEAKER_00: This is a list of 63 pigs that dot around Lake Tahoe.
23:57
SPEAKER_00: And when I say dot around Lake Tahoe, they are in fact up to 50 or 60 miles away from Lake Tahoe.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: But when you get to the top, you can usually see the edge of the Tahoe Rim Basin.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: And so the Western Climbers Club built this list many, many years ago, and it's since become an iconic mecca for those who are peat bagging.
24:20
SPEAKER_00: I have completed 22 of the Tahoe Ogles.
24:23
SPEAKER_00: If you complete 15 of them, you get a little badge saying that you've reached emblem status.
24:28
SPEAKER_00: And I am proud to say I have reached emblem status and I have my little badge on my shelf.
24:33
SPEAKER_00: So today was going to be Haskell Peak.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: I'd attempted to uh climb Haskell Peak in the shoulder season a few years ago and got stymied by the snow, electing to drop nearly 2,000 feet off the mountain down into the Yuba Valley to see if I could make my way up to the mountain the difficult way.
24:50
SPEAKER_00: And the difficult way was off trail and steep, and when I finally made it to the official hiking trailhead, the snow was ridiculously deep and I had to give up.
25:00
SPEAKER_00: So this was also a personal journey for me to finally tag this peak.
25:04
SPEAKER_00: So Haskell Peak starts out fairly gentle and never gets really very steep.
25:09
SPEAKER_00: It's about a mile and three quarter hike up to the peak itself.
25:14
SPEAKER_00: The peak winds its way through alpine forests as a clearly defined single track, never too rocky, never too roody.
25:22
SPEAKER_00: And eventually as you summit out onto the peak, the world opens up, and there you see it.
25:39
SPEAKER_00: That canister that someone placed there with a register for you to sign your name and log your journey.
25:45
SPEAKER_00: There wasn't a summit register at Haskell Peak that I could find.
25:49
SPEAKER_00: And I was ready to go peat bagging, so this was no time to stick around and enjoy the view.
25:55
SPEAKER_00: I took a few pictures, turned around and made my way down.
25:59
SPEAKER_00: And as I came down I picked up speed.
26:02
SPEAKER_00: Today was not a day for slowness.
26:04
SPEAKER_00: Today was not a day for pure enjoyment of the forest.
26:07
SPEAKER_00: Today was about speed.
26:09
SPEAKER_00: So I fast packed down the mountain.
26:12
SPEAKER_00: It took me about forty-five minutes to climb up and about twenty minutes to get down.
26:17
SPEAKER_00: I got to my car and then eyed the next spot I was planning to bag and got on my way.
26:23
SPEAKER_00: So I had to take the Jeep Road back the way I came, another six miles, and as I'm kicking up dust going along the forest road, I spy in the distance, maybe four or five hundred yards in front of me, the distinctive black butt of a black bear diving off of the road and into the forest.
26:43
SPEAKER_00: And as I pulled up alongside where he'd entered, I rolled down my window and looked down the steep slope.
26:49
SPEAKER_00: And about 200 yards down I see him barreling through the forest.
26:53
SPEAKER_00: And that was an exciting sight that made it part of the story.
26:57
SPEAKER_00: So my next destination was Yuba Pass.
27:01
SPEAKER_00: And Uba Pass wasn't very far.
27:03
SPEAKER_00: It was about seven miles from where I rejoined the tarmac.
27:07
SPEAKER_00: And when I got there I got to the turn off to the Yuba Pass campground, and a couple of folks were still camping out in the parking lot, and I started to make my way up the forest road.
27:18
SPEAKER_00: And shortly I stopped.
27:20
SPEAKER_00: I stopped and I checked my map.
27:21
SPEAKER_00: I wanted to see the best way to get to the Yuba Pass high point.
27:26
SPEAKER_00: Not a famous peak, not a prominent peak, but a peak that was close to the road, easy to get to, short, and the dot was red in the app for me.
27:37
SPEAKER_00: And so as I looked, I thought I could find a way to bushwhack up to the peak.
27:42
SPEAKER_00: But I looked more closely and I noticed that if I drove around the back of the mountain, I would be much closer to the peak itself.
27:49
SPEAKER_00: And since today was about speed, that became really important for me.
27:53
SPEAKER_00: So I jumped back in my car and made my way up to the forest road to a spur called Turn Loose.
27:59
SPEAKER_00: Now Turn Loose became a little bit more rugged and a little bit more wooded.
28:03
SPEAKER_00: And as I'm making my way up to the road towards the peak, suddenly I came across a huge tree that's deadfallen across the road, and that becomes the starting point for me.
28:13
SPEAKER_00: So I park up and get out and make my way over the deadfall and start walking along the forest road.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: And then I notice a gully that seems to be a long forgotten road that leads up to the ridgeline.
28:26
SPEAKER_00: And so I bushwhack to make my way up to the ridge.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: And when I get there the manzanita closes in, and the rock is jumbled, and the peak seems difficult to climb.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: And still I make my way.
28:38
SPEAKER_00: It's nothing too dangerous, but enough to make you think as you hop from rock and through the manzanita.
28:44
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm climbing using my hands and my feet to make my way to the peak, and I've made it in ten minutes, and then I check my map.
28:53
SPEAKER_00: I'm at the wrong end of the ridge, and I look out towards the west, and in the distance through the trees, I can see the real peak.
29:02
SPEAKER_00: The real Yuba Pass high point.
29:04
SPEAKER_00: So I make my way across the ridgeline, picking my way through Deadfall and Manzaneda until I reach the base of the true summit of the Yuba Pass High Point.
29:15
SPEAKER_00: And there is a massive rocky outcrop and ridge that make up the high point.
29:21
SPEAKER_00: And I look up trying to find a way to navigate, and it is difficult and challenging.
29:27
SPEAKER_00: I see a rock that seems to be acting like a ramp that can take you up to the ridge, but there's a little bit of an overhang at the top that seems a bit tricky, especially if you're wearing a peck.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: So I descend a little and try and make my way around the massive, looking for a different route, but there isn't one.
29:45
SPEAKER_00: That is the easiest way.
29:47
SPEAKER_00: So I make my way back round and I start the ascent.
29:50
SPEAKER_00: Fortunately, the rock that makes up the massive is coarsely grained and not slippery, and so I can make my way up this fairly steep granitic slope.
30:00
SPEAKER_00: I would say it was about 45 to 50 degrees.
30:03
SPEAKER_00: And as I get up to the tricky point, I take a breath and look down.
30:07
SPEAKER_00: We're getting high, the drop-offs are getting steep, and I squeeze past the overhang and pop up onto the summit ridge.
30:15
SPEAKER_00: And there it is, a knife-like ridge with steep drop-offs on either side.
30:20
SPEAKER_00: And I realize I haven't summited at the high point.
30:23
SPEAKER_00: I still need to traverse about 50 yards across the ridge itself.
30:28
SPEAKER_00: And in most places it's okay, but you have to be aware that there are steep drop-offs either side.
30:36
SPEAKER_00: And so you're moving very slowly and very deliberately.
30:39
SPEAKER_00: And I get to one part where basically it's a knife edge, and the only way to get through it is to grab the top of the ridge and shuffle your way through.
30:49
SPEAKER_00: I take a hold of breath, I see the high point, and I make the traverse.
30:53
SPEAKER_00: And there I am, standing on the high point, taking in the glory of the forest below.
31:00
SPEAKER_00: I can see the people in their RVs, and I can see the desert off in off in the distance to the east.
31:05
SPEAKER_00: I've made peak number two for my peak bagging day.
31:09
SPEAKER_00: And so the ascent off of the summit ridge was even more precarious.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: I made my way back to the east side and back the way I came, but I had to scooch down on my butt.
31:19
SPEAKER_00: There were some big drop-offs I hadn't planned for, and at one point I banged my knee and blooded it.
31:26
SPEAKER_00: And when I got off the peak, I breathed a huge sigh of relief, said a few cuss words, and then made my way back through the forest.
31:35
SPEAKER_00: I found one of these unmarked logging roads that I think took me back to Turnloose Road.
31:40
SPEAKER_00: And as I'm coming down, making my way over Dead Thrall, through the Manzanita and through the Leaf Litter, I finally connect back to Turn Loose Road and I can see my Jeep, and I hop back in and then look at the next destination on the map.
31:56
SPEAKER_00: The next destination on the map is a place called Randolph Hill, just outside the small town of Sierraville.
32:03
SPEAKER_00: It's about a 20-mile drive back south towards Lake Tahoe.
32:07
SPEAKER_00: So I'm back on the road and I'm making my way to Sierraville, and there I see it, Randolph Hill, distinctly prominent and isolated from the mountains around it.
32:16
SPEAKER_00: As I get through the town, I try and figure out the best way to get there.
32:20
SPEAKER_00: So first I take Willow Road to try and ascend from the north, and dotted around the round the base of the mountain are people's houses.
32:28
SPEAKER_00: There's absolutely no exit point, and so I have to turn around and find another route.
32:34
SPEAKER_00: And I go down another road called Tahoe South and make my way along there and up off road into the forest.
32:41
SPEAKER_00: I come across some people planning for their ATV journeys for the day, staging themselves in the forest, and look to my right to where the peak is, and lo and behold, there's no way in, it's all private property.
32:55
SPEAKER_00: And I've wasted about 20 minutes trying to find a way to get into Randolph Hill.
33:00
SPEAKER_00: And eventually I give up.
33:02
SPEAKER_00: That is peat bagging.
33:03
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you just can't find your way.
33:06
SPEAKER_00: And I made a new plan and set my sights for the next peak, Thunder Mountain.
33:12
SPEAKER_00: Now Thunder Mountain has never been climbed according to peatbagger.
33:16
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure people have been there, but no peatbaggers.
33:19
SPEAKER_00: So I make my way about ten miles down Route eighty nine towards a place called Rice Canyon.
33:26
SPEAKER_00: I turn off of Rice Canyon and start to wind my way up the road.
33:31
SPEAKER_00: Initially it's tarmac, and it climbs relatively quickly.
33:35
SPEAKER_00: But soon you're off trail and I notice a sign that basically says no cars beyond this point, but I'm in my Jeep Rubicon and I decide to press on.
33:45
SPEAKER_00: And quickly the trail becomes very rocky and the manzanita is closing in.
33:50
SPEAKER_00: Occasionally there's dead four you have to navigate, little creeks that run across the Jeep trail that you have to get across.
33:58
SPEAKER_00: The manzanita's scratching at the side of your car and as you get deeper and deeper the trail becomes more and more rugged.
34:06
SPEAKER_00: At one point I made a wrong turn.
34:08
SPEAKER_00: I took a right instead of a left.
34:10
SPEAKER_00: I noticed the trail was starting to descend.
34:13
SPEAKER_00: I stopped and checked the map.
34:15
SPEAKER_00: I was indeed going the wrong way.
34:17
SPEAKER_00: The wrong way down an unmarked, very rocky trail with no opportunities to turn around.
34:23
SPEAKER_00: As I'm driving deeper down into it, I'm desperately looking for a place, and I find just a very small section where there's a little bit of a turnout that I can perform a 500 point turn, and I execute the 500 point turn and just take a minute to rest and relax and check my navigation.
34:41
SPEAKER_00: I make my way up the very rocky, untraveled road and turn off the right way.
34:46
SPEAKER_00: As I turn off the right way, the trail becomes really, really steep.
34:50
SPEAKER_00: I have to stop and put the Jeep in low four-wheel drive so it can make the ascent, and it's slipping and sliding as I get up this very steep little spur, but then it eases off again and I put it back in high four-wheel drive and continue my way winding more and more up the mountain, deeper and deeper into the places nobody's ever been.
35:10
SPEAKER_00: And soon I get to a point in the road where I can see I can make the saddle to the top of Treasure Mountain.
35:15
SPEAKER_00: So I pull over and check my navigation and make a plan for my route.
35:20
SPEAKER_00: I drew a line on the Gaia app that I was using from my car to the peak as just a general sense of direction and decided to roughly follow that.
35:29
SPEAKER_00: Cannot hike through the wilderness and through the forest on a dead straight line.
35:34
SPEAKER_00: So it was just a guiding point for me.
35:36
SPEAKER_00: And so I started climbing up into the forest through a big grove of manzanida, and the forest opened up, and I thought I could follow what seemed like some old forgotten log roads up to the ridgeline.
35:48
SPEAKER_00: And as I make my way up to the ridge, the world starts to open up through the forest.
35:52
SPEAKER_00: But this peak is forested and there's no wide open expansive views, so you're just making your way up to the ridgeline.
35:59
SPEAKER_00: And soon I hit a big rocky outcrop that forms the summit, at least the final summit ridge.
36:07
SPEAKER_00: And it's broken up, large boulders with a short climb to get to the top, and it's infilled with manzanita.
36:14
SPEAKER_00: I start to make my climb up to the boulder, and I realize that I'm still a long way off the peak, and this just may be some little false outcrop.
36:23
SPEAKER_00: So before reaching the top, I turned back and headed back down to the west side, where it was a little flatter, and I could see the ridgeline stretching back.
36:31
SPEAKER_00: So I made my way along the ridge deeper and deeper into the mountain until I found an easier place to ascend up onto the main ridge.
36:39
SPEAKER_00: It was still very rocky and required a little bit of rock hopping, but it wasn't nearly as sharp and requiring hands and feet.
36:46
SPEAKER_00: And the summit ridge there is broad and flat, and you can see in front of you the final ascent.
36:51
SPEAKER_00: And as you get deeper into the mountain, you have to make a final climb.
36:55
SPEAKER_00: And the climb is covered in manzanita, and you're just picking your way, trying to avoid getting scratched up by this gnarly wood while climbing up a bunch of boulders and avoiding trapping your feet or falling and twisting an ankle.
37:11
SPEAKER_00: And finally, finally, you make it to the summit, and at the summit is a giant boulder, and it's about 10 to 12 feet high.
37:20
SPEAKER_00: And I circumvent the boulder trying to find a way to get to it.
37:24
SPEAKER_00: And the only place is a little crack in the boulder with a very solid rock climbing hold that you could potentially hoist yourself up onto the top of the rock.
37:34
SPEAKER_00: I decide not today, I'm not a rock climber, and while sometimes I'll climb up something that's manageable, this required a bit of a class 5 rock climbing move that I was not willing to take a chance on when I was this isolated on this mountain that nobody had ever climbed before.
37:51
SPEAKER_00: So I touched the top with my hand and called that a tag.
37:55
SPEAKER_00: And then I just rested for a moment, trying to enjoy the view, looking through the trees, out into the Sierras.
38:01
SPEAKER_00: It was not an unimpeded view, but you could sort of see out into the distance.
38:06
SPEAKER_00: I made my way back off the summit block, back down to the open ridge where I could see more clearly through the forest and see the Taho National Forest stretched out behind me.
38:16
SPEAKER_00: And then I started waking my way back down the mountain.
38:19
SPEAKER_00: Now this is the challenging part when you go off trail.
38:22
SPEAKER_00: You have to get back to your car.
38:24
SPEAKER_00: Well my app had reset itself and erased the line I'd followed on the way up.
38:29
SPEAKER_00: So I was sort of flying blind.
38:31
SPEAKER_00: I should have marked the location of my car, but I failed to do so.
38:35
SPEAKER_00: Now fortunately it was only a short hike.
38:38
SPEAKER_00: It'd taken me about 30 minutes to get to the top.
38:41
SPEAKER_00: It was rugged and gnarly, but still it wasn't too far of a distance.
38:45
SPEAKER_00: So I had a rough idea of where my car was.
38:47
SPEAKER_00: I followed the ridge and then found a way to descend the way I came on the west side and made my way back through the forest, blindly guessing through intuition where I'd parked my car, and hit some manzanita, and as I'm hacking my way through the shoulder height manzanita, I pop out, and there through the trees I see my Jeep.
39:10
SPEAKER_00: Such a relief.
39:11
SPEAKER_00: I make my way back to the car and then decide what the next peak will be.
39:16
SPEAKER_00: And so the next peak for me is going to be a place called Billy Hill.
39:22
SPEAKER_00: It looks like it's just off of Route 89.
39:25
SPEAKER_00: And so I get back in my car and drive about 20 miles.
39:29
SPEAKER_00: I drive back down to where Billy Hill is, just out of Hobart Mills.
39:35
SPEAKER_00: And when I get into the town and come out the other side, I find there's an old highway that will lead its way up to Billy Hill.
39:41
SPEAKER_00: And Billy Hill is actually not that far from the freeway, maybe a mile, a mile and a half.
39:47
SPEAKER_00: But the way to get there is to drive about two miles back on a dirt road and then start switchbacking on this dirt road to get to the to the main trailhead.
39:57
SPEAKER_00: Although there's not a trail, so it's really the closest part where you can start bushwhacking.
40:02
SPEAKER_00: And as I get to that trailhead, it's blocked by a metal gate.
40:06
SPEAKER_00: No cars.
40:07
SPEAKER_00: So thinking about just how far I'd have to walk just to get to the start of the place where I'd bushwhacked a Billy Hill, I decided that not today.
40:16
SPEAKER_00: I'm on a mission, as many peaks as possible.
40:19
SPEAKER_00: Let me move on.
40:20
SPEAKER_00: So I've I bailed, I found the next peak on the list.
40:24
SPEAKER_00: Prosser Hill.
40:25
SPEAKER_00: It was about a further five miles down the road, getting towards the town of Truckee.
40:30
SPEAKER_00: So I pull into the parking lot of Prosser Hill.
40:32
SPEAKER_00: There are some folks in there, starting their day, and I start to make my way to the road, to start to summit, the base of Prosser Hill, looking for a place to park to ascend it.
40:43
SPEAKER_00: And as I start down the road, there's a sign.
40:46
SPEAKER_00: No entry, logging operations today.
40:49
SPEAKER_00: And I wind down my windscreen and sure enough I can hear the soaring and machinery in the background logging the forest.
40:57
SPEAKER_00: So this one, on this day, was off limits.
41:00
SPEAKER_00: So next, my next plan Order Hill, right on the edge of the town of Truckee.
41:07
SPEAKER_00: It's about another four or five miles, just right on the edge of town.
41:11
SPEAKER_00: I reach a roundabout and turn into Order Hills, which happens to be a neighborhood.
41:15
SPEAKER_00: And as I'm making my way up the road to where the peak climb will start, I get to a gate.
41:22
SPEAKER_00: It's a gated community, a homeowners association who've claimed this mountain for themselves.
41:28
SPEAKER_00: I find another turn off, also gated, a mansion with a gated defence and security cameras, and no other way to the top.
41:37
SPEAKER_00: So again I have to bail.
41:39
SPEAKER_00: No order hill for me today.
41:42
SPEAKER_00: Dejected, I look at the map.
41:45
SPEAKER_00: I decided it was time just to make my way down to the lake to finish the small peaks on the edge of the lake I planned to climb.
41:54
SPEAKER_00: So I'm driving down the eighty nine from the town of Truckee down to Taho City.
41:59
SPEAKER_00: On my left I notice Big Chief and Little Chief.
42:03
SPEAKER_00: I thought, wow, I could have, if I planned to, ascended those two mountains.
42:07
SPEAKER_00: The problem is they were across a roaring river, and they were extremely steep and very high, and because of the timing and the way that the day had been dragging out with numerous failed attempts to climb mountains, I decided I just wanted to tag a couple more peaks just to demonstrate to you the diversity of what peat bagging means.
42:27
SPEAKER_00: So now I'm looking for a little hill on the side of the valley called Fur Crags.
42:34
SPEAKER_00: And as I'm driving down I notice a turning on the right that will take me there, and there's a bridge that goes across the river.
42:40
SPEAKER_00: And lo and behold, the bridge is fenced off, no entry, private property.
42:46
SPEAKER_00: End of that bright idea.
42:48
SPEAKER_00: So I made my way down to Tahoe City and then turn south to a place called Eagle Rock.
42:53
SPEAKER_00: Now Eagle Rock is right by the road.
42:56
SPEAKER_00: There's a small parking lot, and as I pull in, the day is hot, and there are lots of cars parked there.
43:02
SPEAKER_00: Parking itself is a difficulty because this is a really popular short hiking spot.
43:07
SPEAKER_00: I jump out of my car and decide I'm not even going to bother to take my pack.
43:11
SPEAKER_00: There are lots of tourists milling up and down this rock.
43:15
SPEAKER_00: It's probably a couple of hundred feet to get to the top, but it's not particularly steep, and the trail is very well manicured.
43:22
SPEAKER_00: I quickly make my way up to the peak, dodging tourists until I'm on the top of the rock, and the views of Lake Tahoe are spectacular.
43:31
SPEAKER_00: If it wasn't for all the people, it would be a beautiful little spot.
43:35
SPEAKER_00: And just to prove to you that this little bump beside the road is really a peak, I found the trig marker.
43:41
SPEAKER_00: Right there, nailed into the rock.
43:43
SPEAKER_00: I waited for the clouds to thin a little so I could take some video, and then made my way quickly back down the trail, rock hopping off to the side to avoid the tourists down the path, and making quick time back to my car.
43:56
SPEAKER_00: The whole thing took less than thirty minutes.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: Back in my car, and I want to make my way to the other bump in the road.
44:04
SPEAKER_00: The little peak is the state line lookout.
44:07
SPEAKER_00: It's on the border of California, Nevada, at the north of Lake Tahoe.
44:12
SPEAKER_00: It's about a 30-45 minute drive to get there.
44:15
SPEAKER_00: As I'm driving along, I notice another little red dot, Dollar Point.
44:20
SPEAKER_00: And so I decide to make my way to it.
44:23
SPEAKER_00: I'm assuming it's a little crag over a point jutting out into the lake.
44:27
SPEAKER_00: And when I get there, I turn into this neighborhood of relatively newly built houses.
44:32
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm driving around the neighborhood trying to look for where the red dot is.
44:37
SPEAKER_00: And lo and behold, it's in someone's backyard.
44:40
SPEAKER_00: So that one's off the table.
44:43
SPEAKER_00: On the way, I decided I was super hungry and I made a stop in a class establishment, the subway.
44:50
SPEAKER_00: And why do I choose the subway?
44:52
SPEAKER_00: Because it's right there off the road and it's quick and easy.
44:54
SPEAKER_00: I know my sandwiches coming in five minutes and I can warp it down and get on my way.
44:59
SPEAKER_00: As I'm sitting in the subway looking at the final destination, I notice there's a high point right off of the street.
45:07
SPEAKER_00: It's called the King's Beach High Point.
45:10
SPEAKER_00: I thought what fun to tag that.
45:12
SPEAKER_00: And when I look at it, it's basically at street level.
45:15
SPEAKER_00: There's no bump, no hill, no mark in the road.
45:18
SPEAKER_00: But that is peak bagging.
45:20
SPEAKER_00: If you want to tag them all, you've got to tag them all.
45:23
SPEAKER_00: I get back in my car and start driving up the high street, but it's very busy, there's lots of tourists, and I drive right past the King's Beach High Point.
45:31
SPEAKER_00: I didn't get out of my car to step on it, so I just decided I'll skip it.
45:36
SPEAKER_00: It'll be there another day.
45:37
SPEAKER_00: And I made my way up to the starting point of State Line Lookout Point.
45:42
SPEAKER_00: So you drive up out of King's Beach and around the mountain.
45:46
SPEAKER_00: You can see the lookout point right there from King's Beach, but you have to go back behind the mountain.
45:50
SPEAKER_00: And then you climb up into a little neighborhood with lots of fancy houses, wind your way up to the hill to the start of the trail.
45:58
SPEAKER_00: And the trail is a road.
46:00
SPEAKER_00: Literally a road.
46:01
SPEAKER_00: It's a short, steep set of switchback tarmac that take you right up to the lookout point.
46:07
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure at one point you could probably just drive to the top, but in this case they gated it off at the bottom, a major climb.
46:14
SPEAKER_00: It took me 14 minutes to get to the top.
46:17
SPEAKER_00: It was very hot and it was quite steep, but it really was not that much of a difficult climb.
46:22
SPEAKER_00: But once again, really the reward is the view.
46:26
SPEAKER_00: When you get to the top you can see the entire lake spread out below you.
46:30
SPEAKER_00: It's such a beautiful sight right there at the north tip of the and there are lots of tourists milling around and lots of informational signs telling you how this was a lookout tower, telling you about the history of the casino that was once owned by Frank Sinatra.
46:45
SPEAKER_00: But I didn't spend too much time on it.
46:47
SPEAKER_00: I made my way back down the road, passing other tourists, and jumped back in my truck, having summited five peaks out of the twelve I attempted on my peat bagging day, and feeling satisfied that I could turn some of those red dots into green dots.
47:03
SPEAKER_00: And that is really the essence of what peat bagging is about.
47:07
SPEAKER_00: You decide the mountains, you decide how to connect them together, you decide which ones are important to you, and you get them done, and you get the satisfaction of knowing you've had a journey, you've had a story, you've had a day, and even though it may not go the way you like, there's a sense of satisfaction that you've managed to bag just a few more peaks.
47:27
SPEAKER_00: Now off you pop.