A couple of young friends of mine just completed the Presi Traverse over the weekend, updating their Facebook friends with photos as they hiked along.  I admired their efforts but in spite of my love of fitness and the outdoors, was just as glad I was walking in my woods instead.

The Presidential Range Traverse, popularly known as the “Presi Traverse,” is one of the classic hikes in New England.  It is twenty-four miles of New Hampshire’s boulder piles, grassy “lawns,” and historic bridle paths.  It crosses eleven peaks, including Mt. Washington, the highest mountain east of the Mississippi and north of the Carolinas.

Reading their updates made me think of a day hike I took a few years ago with my adult sons, to climb nearby Mount Hunger.  It’s a popular local hike to a modest peak that we can see out our living room window.

The hike started fine, with an easy trek up an old road and on to a typical Vermont hiking trail with roots and rocks and a steady climb.  At one point, we came to a little climb that had a knotted rope to help and soon broke out of the trees to a smooth rocky slope.  We were moving up that slope, following the arrows on the stone, when I paused and looked back.  Big mistake.  I froze at the sight of open air and scenery -- froze to the point where I could not move.  I am very afraid of heights -- "Acrophobia should be my middle name".

“But you’re a pilot!” people say when they hear me say that.  Yes, I’ve flown all sorts of planes for decades but it’s different, even with the cockpit window open.  But get me in a car climbing up a winding road with a dropoff on the side, or even driving up over the Delaware Bay Bridge, and I’m very uncomfortable.

I thought we’d have to bring in a helicopter to get me off the mountain.  Robb went up ahead to see if we could climb up and find an easier way down -- with no luck.  So both he and Rich somehow, by staying on each side of me as we eased down, got me to the trees and I could relax.  It was an interesting reversal of roles -- pay back for times I extricated them from situations when they were kids.

So, how can you hike in Vermont, or anywhere with mountains, if you’re petrified of heights?  With the Long Trail running the length of the state and the Appalachian Trail cutting through it, and hundreds of hikes to the peaks of the Green Mountains, do you have to stick to bike paths and back roads?
I searched for information on “hikes for height-fearers” with no luck.  I know there are many sections of trails that don’t have narrow paths along cliffs or open traverses across rocky faces.  Perhaps I’ll start a list.  Maybe it’s a book.  I know I’d buy it -- I’d like to take my grandchildren hiking on a number of spots in the Northeast -- but I’d rather not run into another Hunger Mountain situation.  Got any suggestions?

As a bonus, here’s a link to a video of a place where you'll never meet me.

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