So why 4000s by 40? Why the need for this book? Well, a few years back—okay, a while back—before I turned 40, I was starting to have all those anxious thoughts we get as we approach that milestone year, wondering what the second half of my life would look like. I started asking myself if I liked the trajectory I was on—and, it sounds quite maudlin—but if this were all to end tomorrow, could I safely say that I had done everything I wanted to do?
And my immediate response was, “No, I haven’t!” There was still much to do, and the first thing that popped into my head was that I had always wanted to climb the 4000-footers of New Hampshire. The second was that I had waited my whole life to be a writer, and it was high time I started doing what I love.
As those two thoughts mingled together, I knew this was the book I’d been wanting to read but couldn’t find. In general, I haven’t found too many books out there discussing midlife anxiety from a male perspective, and a lot of what I’ve found hasn’t been as honest as I’d like to see. I also wanted to shine a light on New Hampshire’s “48” 4000-footers because they’ve always held a special place in my heart. I grew up in Massachusetts, but my fondest memories were when we crossed over the border into New Hampshire to go skiing, swimming, or hiking somewhere in the north country. Up north was my favorite place to be—the mountains hugging the landscapes where we played, relaxed, and enjoyed the great outdoors.
A Different Thread
There are a lot of books about climbing, and the White Mountains have been covered pretty extensively in this genre as well. I’ve read a ton about the wilderness and nature, and as I climbed the 4000-footers, I revisited much of the literature in this space to help confirm my thoughts about what I believed 4000s by 40 could be.
What I quickly came to realize is that there are really four main types of books capturing experiences in the mountains, and I broke them out into the following categories: the naturalists, the field experts, the extremes, and the personal journey narratives. To properly set a vision for what I wanted 4000s by 40 to be, it was important to me to fully understand each of them.
Category 1: The Naturalists
The first type, which I call the naturalists, includes authors like John Muir and Edward Abbey. Their words painted beautiful pictures of the landscapes they inhabited—often in an ethereal way that makes the worlds they visited feel almost unreachable. Escapes from reality. Like poetry.
As beautiful as their writings are, they can also feel completely removed from society—and therefore a little too distant for what I wanted to do with this book. Not to mention, these guys went off for years at a time, alone, to fully immerse themselves in the wild and depart from civilization—which is probably why they had so much time to write! But as much as I’d like to romanticize being able to do that myself, it’s just not something I could relate to. I wanted to capture the beauty of the mountains but connect the experience to life back home.
Category 2: The Field Experts
A cartographer I am not. And there are plenty of trail maps, books, and websites covering the details of every trail in the White Mountains. Steven D. Smith provides an excellent book covering the meat of everything you need to know for climbing the 4000-footers in Wandering Through the White Mountains: A Hiker’s Perspective. This book includes plenty of trail narratives as well, and provides a clear picture of what you will find along your climbs. With 4000s by 40, I didn’t want to recreate something you can already find in print.
No matter how much I try to learn botany or become a geology hobbyist, I can’t always tell you what I’m looking at—I just know that I love it. In a hiking book, it’s impossible not to talk about the trails, and I do elaborate on the beautiful paths that captivated my spirit. But even though I’ve been known to drool over some schist rock and a birch tree or two, I felt that the naturalists and resource experts already offer enough field expertise, so I chose to focus more on communicating the story of why we climb.
Category 3: The Extremes
There are a lot of great books about the White Mountains and other mountain adventures, like Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, but many of them emphasize the perils involved with taking on the mountains, making the whole prospect seem pretty scary. One of the books about Mount Washington and the Presidential Range is even called Not Without Peril, letting you know right from jump street that climbing is nothing to be cavalier about.
Certainly, mountain climbing involves risks, and I touch upon some of them in the book. But for the most part, if you are sensible and take the proper steps to prepare for a big climb—much like in life—everything usually turns out just fine. I felt like we need to hear that more. I wanted to tell a story of adventure that is doable for everyone: that rather than worry about the risks, we acknowledge them and confront them, knowing that things can be hard but delightful if we are willing to make the journey.
In the Current Context
So much of our culture now—with 24/7 news, social media, and fabrications on the internet—exacerbates people’s fears. And the more we think things aren’t possible, or that they’re reserved only for the “experts,” the more it limits us in our own lives. One of my hopes for this book is that it offers a viewpoint on how we can bring some much-needed balance back into our lives and regain some courage as we navigate a rapidly changing world—to be less afraid to try new things and challenge ourselves.
I’ll never forget a friend telling me while I was writing the book, how he would be afraid to drive to a mountain trailhead and try to climb—that really stuck with me. This shouldn’t be something to fear. Be smart about it, yes—but abandon the hope of trying because of potential risk? Life itself is a risk.
Category 4: The Personal Narrative – the Goal Behind 4000s by 40
The main goal of 4000s by 40 is to connect the real world with an outdoor adventure, in a memoir-like style. In the last 30 years, there are only two major works I can think of like that. The first one is Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods, and the second is Cheryl Strayed’s Wild. There are others, to be sure, but those are far and away the two biggest ones that book-fans know.
Bill Byson’s A Walk in the Woods
Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods, is probably the closest to the type of style and approach to writing I took with 4000s by 40, and if you haven’t read it, it’s a great book. Bryson mixes in wit and wisdom in a very admirable way—one that makes his adventure on the Appalachian Trail somehow relatable. Which it’s not. Not for most of us, at least. The idea that we can take off for months at a time to go explore isn’t really feasible for the bulk of the population, especially if you have children at home, or years to go before retirement.
Most of us are also not going to get a book deal to go tromp around on the Appalachian Trail for months at a time. But Bryson feels like a representative of the real world and is therefore a little bit closer to what I was going for, where the author is still connected to the real world as opposed to trying to depart from it.
Cheryl Strayed’s Wild
Heading to the mountains is a great escape, but most of us can only take the time for a temporary one. Cheryl Strayed’s book, Wild, on the other hand, reads more like an escape from the real world altogether, and beyond anything I could attempt at this point in my life. There were also aspects of the book I couldn’t relate to. I could relate to her feeling like a rookie when I first started out on my own adventure, and the desire to head out on the trail, but not to some of the self-destructive behaviors that led her to the mountains in the first place. So while I appreciated her honesty, which is crucial for making a good book, it was an experience wholly different from my own.
After thinking about Bryson and Strayed, I realized I couldn’t recall a book where someone tried to bridge big outdoor exploration with keeping their feet firmly planted in the real world. And I certainly hadn’t seen one where the author admitted to having a midlife crisis. But it seemed that when it came to stories of adventure, most felt like an all-in, disappearing act—or were too extreme.
What about the rest of us, just trying to catch a little adventure when we can fit it into our hectic lives? Where’s that story?
4000s by 40: A Story for All of Us
Eight years ago, I attended my first AMC awards night, where they present certificates to everyone who completed a major mountain list defined by the Appalachian Mountain Club. During the ceremony (I won’t spoil it here in case you’re planning to attend one and haven’t experienced it yet), they showed something that illuminated many of the real-life challenges that had drawn people to the mountains. It made you feel unbelievably connected to everyone.
What was so clearly on display that night was that we all face extraordinary challenges in our regular lives, and while what prompted me to climb the 4000-footers before turning 40 was my age, it wasn’t really about the number. This book is for everyone—regardless of age—who wants to experience the mountains, knowing that a deeper connection with them can help us meet the challenges of everyday life.
When my adventure began, what really surprised me were some of the reactions I got. Some people thought it was awesome. Most thought it was a little crazy. A lot said they’d be afraid to try it. That kind of baffled me and I thought a lot about that as I approached the book, hoping to provide a message that this is all nothing to be afraid of. That no matter how big the mountain, or hard anything else you are dealing with in life is, everything feels less scary once you start taking the steps. That logic can be applied to middle-age, your health, raising a family, mountains, or when you’re trying to change careers in your mid-forties to becoming a writer (not a career path known for its ability to pay the bills).
Making the Mountains Accessible
But it was important to me to bring the mountains to the reader in a way I felt I hadn’t seen before—to make the mountains feel accessible. Hard, yes, but doable; not reserved only for the few. Not only for those who can take off for months at a time. I wanted to show that for the rest of us looking for adventure, we can find it while keeping our feet firmly rooted in the real world—and incorporate the beauty and balance the mountains provide into regular life in a meaningful, restorative way.
Experienced hikers and climbers know this truth in their bones, and for them, the book will confirm what they already know. My hope is that they recognize themselves in it. But for the many non-climbers and non-hikers out there, I hope they can relate to the challenges presented—and maybe find a little inspiration to head out onto the trail.
Because everyone would be better off if they spent more time outdoors. And really, if you head out to the 4000-footers, you’ll find people of all ages—young and old—out there. I’ve seen six-year-olds, and I’ve seen people in their eighties, and everyone does just fine. The trick is just to go.
The Biggest Reason
Finally, my biggest reason for writing the book though was my kids, and it’s to them I dedicated the book to. I wanted to write something for them so that they know some of what drives their father and understand a little bit about why I do things the way I do. And to also show how through strife, we gain strength, but also real happiness. I don’t think enough is said about how going through tough things and feeling the reward that comes from perseverance, has such a longer and deeper effect on our mental wellbeing and happiness. I’m a big believer that we are all better when we learn to face resistance with optimism, and if you stick with something and see it through to the end, the rewards carry well beyond that current experience.
Along those lines, I wanted to walk the walk for my kids, because we are always telling them to pursue their dreams, and I realized that while I had followed many of my dreams—the biggest one being to have them in the first place—I hadn’t pursued my writing. And that if I didn’t pursue it, I wasn’t practicing what I preached. Not fully. So, I figured if I wanted to show my kids that anything is possible, I needed to write this book, even if they were the only ones who ever read it.
Thanks for Reading!
So that’s how 4000s by 40 came to be, and the main reasons why. I’m thrilled to get to shine this spotlight on New Hampshire and these mountains that I love. They’ve always been special to me, not just because of their beauty, but for the spiritual reinvigoration they provide. I truly love them, and I guess I needed the world to know it—I hope you enjoy the book! If you want to read more about what’s in the book, head over here to get the full description.