First Ever Hike And Need Help

[MelNino]

Living in eastern Mass you must have some decent hills to walk to keep you in shape. When I lived in CT we would hike Bear Mtn. from time to time. That would be a good one for you to begin with since it's prob. not too far from you.

I live in CT...Bear Mountain is a lot of fun

Chris, are you near Mt Everret at all? That one is a pain, but good training!

[CHRIS]

I live in South Dartmouth Ma.. It is in the arm pit of the Cape. Where is Mt. Everret?
Chris

[Brad]

It looks like it is a long ways away from you out by Cape Cod. S Dartmouth is pretty flat.

http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/western/meve.htm

[Steve M]

I live in South Dartmouth Ma.. It is in the arm pit of the Cape. Where is Mt. Everret?
Chris

You said eastern Mass, my mind was in western Mass. Two completely different topo's. Sorry bout' that!

[Donotgogentle]

Chris all I can say is educate yourself. An ounce of knowledge can be better then ten pound of gear. Remember to BE PREPARED, the old boy scout motto. This mountain can throw some pretty nasty crap at you in about two seconds. Work your way up, i hadn't hiked in a few years so i set this as a goal in January and made sure I was ready, lots of walking, some light hikes over relativley easy ground then i did a few catskill mountain climbs all before i headed to Mt Wash. I have to tell you every mile i walked, hill i climbed or pound i lost made this climb easier than i could have imagined BUT....IF I HADN'T PREPARED I WOULDN'T HAVE MADE IT. EDUCATE, PREPARE, SUCCEED!

[Brad]

It is hard to prepare for a MW climb any other way than climbing - something. I did a lot of stairs and struggled. STP was tough for me due to my conditioning (or lack thereof in the one week to prepare). I did a short 3 hour hike the following weekend with a heavy pack and felt pretty good. Then did MW the following week and was in far better shape. But, I still should have been better prepared.