Guides Gone Wild

Take Your Advocacy to New Heights: Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for Alzheimer's

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In honor of it being National Volunteers Week, today we're talking to Cindy Hession - scientist by day, hiker and volunteer chair for the 48 Peaks Hike to End Alzheimer's every other waking moment she can manage!

Cindy and I talk about her love affair with the White Mountains and hiking, her personal connection with Alzheimer's, and how the 48 Peaks fundraiser grew out of one man’s devotion to his wife. Her enthusiasm and dedication to this event will pour through your earbuds and make it obvious why Cindy was recognized with a national award earlier this year for her volunteerism.

To lend my support to Cindy AND the 48 Peaks initiative, I have started a fundraising team called Guides Gone Wildcats, and we are going to hike Wildcat A (and D on the way there, for all you peak-baggers!) If you want to join me on this epic hike, or support our team’s fundraising efforts with a donation of literally any amount, you can do both over on our Guides Gone Wildcats Team Page: http://act.alz.org/goto/guidesgonewildcats. Let’s DO THIS!

I hope you’ll hang with us until the end on this episode, because I’ve got a special offer for the Longest Day 48 Peakers out there, too!

But first, a few key links:

AND - what would a podcast about hiking be without TONS of great hiking links (and even more over on our episode page at GuidesGoneWild.com!):

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

I wasn't really into doing things by myself back then. I was terrified of even getting in the car and going up to this place, but I did it. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and I loved it.

Jen:

Welcome to the Guides Gone Wild podcast. What is Guides Gone Wild, you ask? This is where you'll fill your ears and minds with the stories of everyday, extraordinary women who will inspire you to take your outdoor adventure game to the next level. Whether you're starting your journey from the couch or the trailhead, this is the place for you. So let's get a little wild.

Jen:

Welcome slash. Welcome back to Guides Gone Wild. Have you missed me? I've missed you. This is Jen. I'm more than a day late and a dollar short in getting this episode out. The real world keeps getting in my way. But I'm here now so let's get into it.

Jen:

Today, in honor of it being National Volunteers Week, it's my pleasure to introduce you to Cindy Heschen, scientist by day hiker and volunteer chair for the 48 Peaks Hike to to end Alzheimer's. Every other waking moment she can manage, cindy and I talk about her love affair with the white mountains and hiking, her personal connection with Alzheimer's and how the 48 peaks fundraiser grew out of one man's devotion to his wife. Her enthusiasm and dedication to this event will pour through your earbuds and make it obvious why Cindy was recognized with a national award earlier this year for her volunteerism. I hope you'll hang with us till the end. I've got a special offer for my 48 peakers out there and you'll get more info on how to join team guides gone wildcats for a leg burning money-raising hike to support the Alzheimer's association later this summer. And with that let's welcome Cindy Heschen from the longest day 48 peaks hike to end Alzheimer's Association later this summer.

Jen:

And with that. Let's welcome Cindy Heshen from the Longest Day 48 Peaks Hike to End Alzheimer's. Let's just roll right in. Cindy Heshen I got connected with I think we started emailing probably a little while ago actually, but in addition to being a scientist and a, you live in Massachusetts also, don't you? I?

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

do.

Jen:

Yes, yeah, she's a big white mountain hiker and she works with the Alzheimer's Association on their 48 Peaks fundraiser, which kind of is an offshoot of the Longest Day fundraiser that they had been doing for many, many years, which she's going to talk to us about today.

Jen:

But I wanted to have her on because this is the time of year when we're all thinking about what we want to accomplish this summer or, like you know well, I mean summer was on its way here until today, when it's apparently going to be winter again shortly. But you know, most of us have turned our brains off of snow and snow sports and on to getting out in on the trails when they dry up, to do something bike hike, whatever, and along with the summits and solidarity fundraiser that we've talked about the last couple of years, who kind of borrowed the model that you guys have last year when they tried to put a team on all of the different 48 or 4,000 footers in New Hampshire. So you guys are real trailblazers. So I want to hear all about it. So, but I need to shut up first or else I'm not going to hear about anything today. Cindy, welcome to Guides Gone Wild this lovely evening.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

Thank you, Jen. It's so great to be here and finally meet you like face to face.

Jen:

I know, I know it's great and now that we're realizing we're right up the street from each other, maybe we can make a person meeting happen sooner than later. But let's talk about obviously you're into hiking because that's how you got involved in this in the first place. So before we talk about 48 Peaks and your connection with Alzheimer's and the Alzheimer's Association, I want to hear about kind of why hiking of all things, or what got you into that to start with, Because you're from this area originally. Right.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

Yeah, I grew up in Watertown so I haven't strayed very far at all. I'm still in Eastern Mass, still in the Boston area, working around here and trying to hike when I can. You know, we don't have those New Hampshire 4,000 footers right out my back door, right, that's a nice walking trail, though I lived in Watertown for a long time on Olney street right near downtown.

Jen:

Oh, okay, Around the corner from the busy bee pub where I would get wings all the time. It may not be there Anyway. Yeah, pub where I would get wings all the time it may not be there. Anyway, yeah, yeah, love it Um yeah, Watertown's cool. So you and, and you, you went to school in the area as well.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

Yeah, I went to. I didn't go to the Watertown schools, but I went to private school in Newton. So still stay, stayed in the area. And then I went to college and grad school out at UMass Amherst. So stayed in Massachusettsachusetts, didn't stray very far. So then you said but you saw some more hills when you got out there. I did, I saw a lot more hills out that way were you hiking and doing outdoor activities in college?

Jen:

or let's talk about how you got so much in college.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

Yeah, I, I would say. Going back to your question about how I got into hiking, my dad was an audubon member when I was a kid so I actually went to the local habitat. It's in Belmont, it's a sanctuary, so I went there for February and April vacations for a very long time and, like you know, a hike back then was what? One or two miles like for a little kid, but it was still like, oh cool, we're hiking. And then, you know, high school school became more of the thing I didn't really do the hiking. And then college, same thing.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

And I would say in grad school is when I finally got out again doing hiking because I stayed out there in the summer to finish my master's degree and most people go home like it was a ghost town and I did have a car at the time. So I was like what am I going to do if I'm not just, you know, wake up, go work and lab for the day, come home, there's got to be something else I'm going to do for the three months I'm out here. And I remembered this place that we had done like undergrad event, called Mount Sugarloaf, which is just north of campus. It's like not even 700 feet tall. But I remembered that place and I said you know what, what if I just go and like hike it, see what happens, kind of thing. And I wasn't really into doing things by myself back then, I was terrified of even getting in the car and going up to this place, but I did it. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and I loved it.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

I, I, for your listeners and for you. I don't know if you've been to Mount Sugarloaf, but it has this commanding beautiful view of the Connecticut river and UMass and the surrounding hills and there's Mount Holyoke, Mount Tom Bear Mountain, there's all these beautiful peaks that I also have hiked after that that. But it just became this special place for me, really like my happy place for that summer and I was hiking like three to four days a week at first and then like five or six and it just really I found a part of me I didn't know was there. You know it had been kind of dormant since I was a kid and then I had a friend who was working on her 48 and she was like, hey, you want to go hiking? Yeah, that's how I ended up doing the 48.

Jen:

Pretty funny. Well, and it's interesting that you asked about, um, not sugar loaf, because I haven't, actually, not to my knowledge, not that I can recall and because I think that, um, when I was, you know, in my twenties and and 30s and even into my 40s, like if I was thinking about hiking, I didn't really appreciate doing something like that, as like a hike, you know, I was more. I was so focused on like, oh, so I bet I have hiked in Western Mass, I've gone to like Greylock because it's like, oh, it's the highest peak in.

Jen:

Massachusetts.

Jen:

You know, it was like more from a more, I guess from a peak bagging perspective, although I haven't officially taken on the 48th, but I've done, you know, not a bunch but probably a third of them, just because you know we're going to do hikes or, you know, did a presidential traverse a couple of times and but now I know, as I get older, I'm like really loving exploring literally in my own backyard like land trusts, and you know, just, I don't have a dog but you know, going out on paths that I would think that people would pick dogs on. You know, I'm like just like loving it, loving it up, and I took my older daughter to out to UMass last fall to see it and it's beautiful out there, I forget.

Jen:

I forgot my brother went but every time I went out there, when my brother went, it was like pouring rain and miserable and I was just kind of like whatever, you know, you came and you went, but we were dry. We went out there on a beautiful day and I was like, wow, this is really, it is really nice in that area.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

So yeah, I think it's one of those areas that's kind of overlooked, because people think of the Berkshires and they think of you know, um, like the Wapak, like Wachusett area and Middlesex fells and blue Hills and there's just this whole. It's a pioneer Valley that's forgotten about, and like there's the seven sisters between Mount Holyoke and bear mountain and there's Mount Norwood tuck. I could go on. Like I loved hiking all those peaks and I had friends like I didn't think I was a hiker. You know, I was going like a month in at that point and I had friends that were like you're a hiker, take me hiking. I was like what, who are you talking to? I don't have. I was like I don't have the gear. I was just with like a drawstring baggie and my sneakers, like I didn't have what I have now and I didn't have what I have now and I thought I wasn't a hiker. And then at the end of the summer I was like, oh, I guess I am a hiker.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

You know, you don't need all that cool stuff to hike?

Jen:

Definitely not. Now were your parents like they, so they sent you to an autobahn camp.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

Were they into being outside, or is that something you guys did as a family, or not so much. So my mom's not really into the outdoors. My dad, apparently, was a closet outdoorsman that I didn't really know about. Found this out later on that when he was like just out of college he went and hiked down from the Canadian Rockies into Glacier and like took photos with his old camera. I forget what type of millimeter camera it was, but I was like so you are a hiker. I had no idea.

Jen:

Once you picked it out did he start coming along with you. And you guys do that at all now, or?

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

no. So my parents are both in their mid seventies and it's like I did take them up Canon via the tram so that they could see a 4,000 footer that I've been to. I do want to get him on some local trails. I don't think he could do a like. We can't do a 4k together at this point, but maybe there's something else we can do.

Jen:

Yeah, absolutely.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

Yeah.

Jen:

That's cool, so that's interesting. So you got into hiking. You didn't think you were a hiker, but now you. Then you realized you actually were. You didn't want to go anywhere by yourself, but then you're actually like this is unbelievable and amazing and I love it. So talk to me about how you wound up hiking. Like linking the hiking with the Alzheimer's Association I would imagine that you come to. Well, I know this cause. I listened to some of your other things that you've talked about. I I would have imagined even before that that most people come to advocacy for Alzheimer's because they have a personal relationship with it somehow, and unfortunately, a lot of us do have personal relationships with it. So tell me a little bit about how you found the association in the first place and how you got maybe hooked up with the hiking to do that on behalf of them.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

Yeah, I'll talk first of how I got connected. It was actually through a college friend, the one who looped me into doing the 48 in the first place. Her and her mom were working on the 48. Now they're gritters and they were hiking Franconia Loop back in, I think, summer 2017. And they came across a group of hikers all dressed in purple, and they stopped to chat and asked them you know, why are you all wearing purple? And came to find out they were hiking with an event called 48 Peaks for the Alzheimer's Association and at the time they didn't have a connection to Alzheimer's or dementia, but they knew I did. So she sent me the link and the info, we chatted and we signed up for 2018 to fundraise. I wasn't able to hike that year, but her and her mom did, and then we came back and made a big team in 2019, which was the first time I hiked with 48 Peaks.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

In terms of my connection, my original reason for hiking was my grandmother, so my mom's mom had dementia and passed in 2010. So she lived probably from my middle school days until my first semester of college with dementia. It was something I didn't really understand at the time, you know, being a teenager. It was just. This is Graham, but she doesn't remember some things. There's some behavioral things going on, but I didn't fully understand what was happening or even the impact on my mom, who was her primary caregiver for many years until she went into assisted living. But I didn't make it home for her services since I was out at school and when I came home I realized I had wanted to be there, you know, to say goodbye. So I didn't. I didn't get to say goodbye the way I would have wanted and you know I regretted that for a long time until I found 48 Peaks and it ended up being not unknowingly, when I signed up, it became my way to say goodbye to her.

Jen:

Yeah, that's. That's lovely and it is a lovely tribute. I know you probably have some stats about Alzheimer's. You know it's obviously dementia is is a big deal for a lot of folks. Alzheimer's and dementia are not. I mean, alzheimer's is one form of dementia. There's a lot of other forms but Alzheimer's, I believe, is one of the most prevalent, correct, yeah, and it is impactful. I mean, my father-in-law also had it at the end of his life and there's a lot that plays into it that can make it extraordinarily difficult for caretakers and, obviously, the person who has fallen victim to it. Talk to me a little bit about the Alzheimer's Association, just on a general level, like the different things that they do, because they're based in Massachusetts also, I think right, or are they based yes, yeah, so there are 81 chapters across the country.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

The Massachusetts New Hampshire chapter is ours, it's the one I volunteer with, and 48 peaks falls under they in terms of the association as a whole, the national organization, and I'm reading off what our event manager provided.

Jen:

No, that's okay.

Jen:

I'm always interested in hearing what these organizations kind of undertake. I mean, obviously a big part of what they're all doing is raising funds, but like they're using it, you know, to support, I would imagine, research, you know advocacy, support for families, you know things like that. So that that's the kind of stuff that I would love to hear a little bit more about, just because I feel like you know if somebody is struggling or has, you know, just learned about a relative that has been diagnosed, it's, it's obviously extraordinarily difficult, but there are, there is help available and the website is fantastic ALZorg, tons of great resources. So, yeah, so that that was more. I was just like, oh, tell me a little bit, a little bit about what they're doing.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

Yeah, I can definitely tell you a bit more. So the Alzheimer's Association leads the way to end Alzheimer's and other dementia. So they offer support for global research. They drive risk reduction and early detection, maximize quality care and support. They have the website, like you mentioned, alzorg, which is phenomenal in offering details on support groups, resources in terms of, like, what are the 10 signs of Alzheimer's or dementia, the early signs. The help line it's a 24 seven phone line. I can say the number for everyone to have it's 1-800-272-3900. There's master clinicians on there, over 200 languages available. So if you need help, you need a listening ear. Just you know someone to provide support. There's someone there for you.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

I haven't used it personally. I have fellow volunteers who have, both now and in the past, and they're really you know, it's one of those. Like there's so many organizations out there that do really great work and I just am continuously amazed at how Alzheimer's Association, like they say, they do what they say you know, and they offer so many phenomenal resources that I'm just I learned something new every time I talk about it. Like there's some things that our event manager gave me as just notes for tonight and I was like, oh, we have that too, like there's new things all the time and it's just incredible. But you know, with support groups, one of our volunteers she's actually a young caregiver. Her mom was diagnosed with early onset a couple of years ago. She's in a young caregiver group for like young twenties, thirties somethings.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

And it's been life-changing. You know there's other care groups of you know sorry, support groups for other groups of caregivers who are older or sandwich generation, and it's just the support they offer is incredible, you know. So no one's left behind on top of research and all those other things. Hopefully that helps cover.

Jen:

Oh no, it definitely, it definitely does, and I and I think that that you know, that's fantastic. Because that's fantastic, because it's an extraordinarily isolating disease for the person who is suffering it, and it's also extraordinarily isolating for people who are caregivers. So it is super important to reach out and get the help that you need now. So thank you for that, and thank you to Megan as well.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

She helps me stay up to date on things. Yeah, so 48.

Jen:

Peaks, wasn't. That actually wasn't how the fundraiser started out. Right, it was called the Longest Day, so tell me a little bit about what that represents and then how 48 Peaks kind of sprouted out of that.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

Yeah, it's actually a fun story. I'm sure when people hear the Alzheimer's Association and fundraising events, they think of walk to end alls there's now, ride to end alls, there's the bigger ones. But longest day is a small, like a lesser known fundraising event. It falls around the longest day of the year, the summer solstice, goal being to shine as much light as we can on Alzheimer's on that day, fundraise for the association, raise awareness, and 48 Peaks was born out of that in 2013.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

So a man, I believe in New Hampshire he also volunteered with the chapter he wanted to fundraise in honor of his wife, who had Alzheimer's at the time. So he created a longest day event that was hiking up in the whites with his family and friends and they fundraised for a couple of years and it just gained traction and then eventually it kind of became its own little spin out event called 48 Peaks. That still falls under the longest day umbrella within the Massachusetts New Hampshire chapter, but we've kind of just taken a life of its own. So this will be our 11th year in existence, which is just really crazy to think about, since I've participated since 2018. And it's it's been around way longer than that. It's just cool to see how it's changed over the years and grown. Yeah, absolutely.

Jen:

I saw that there was a great piece, that one of the main. I'll link it up.

Jen:

Yeah, that main was it new center new?

Jen:

center.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

Maine, yeah, I did back in 2022.

Jen:

Because you guys had hooked up with one, you know, a very significant Facebook group that does hiking and managed to raise a ton of money in a super short period of time. So I mean it's, it's amazing, so anyway.

Jen:

I, I was just like.

Jen:

That's really cool. Is that partnership continued? I hope through the as of last year.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

So last year. Uh, so this is hiking buddies. They focused on Emily's hike last year. So, we did have a number of hiking buddies come and participate and they're coming back again this year, so the partnership itself is not happening this year but, there are still a lot of participants coming from hiking.

Jen:

Well, and that would make sense, I guess that they would, especially once they realize, probably, how much activation they could incite by just being involved in something, to then spread the wealth and not necessarily have to, you know.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

I don't know. Yeah, it really blew us away when we saw the numbers just kept going up and we were like, wait a minute, we hit like a hundred thousand, then we hit 200,000 and we were like what is happening?

Jen:

But don't stop.

Jen:

Whatever it is.

Jen:

So talk about the structure of the actual fundraiser. So obviously it's around the 48 peaks, what? What is it going to look like this year? Cause I know you're very much involved in in helping out with this. You have a team. Where are you hiking? How did the team how does, how did the teams coalesce and all that? So tell, tell me more about that.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

Yeah, so the premise of the event is to have one team on each of the 48 peaks, originally, like we said, longest day, so in June, but now it's more over the summer, you know, whenever people can get out out there and hike. So right now we've covered all of the peaks, except while cat a has a team on it, which is fantastic. So the premise of it is, you know, each team goes up and hikes and then wears their purple, has their banners and fund raises. There's no minimums, you know. I believe when a team captain creates a team, there's like a $20 donation just to create the team, but then after that your team members can join for free. Or, you know, of course we encourage donations.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

The only like if you want a fundraise, if you achieve $100 fundraise, then you qualify for our performance enhanced t-shirt for this year, and it's a great design. We had a lot of fun putting it together. So then you can wear your purple out on the trails and then people will stop and chat with you about it, which always happens when I wear my purple. But yeah, and then we'll have our hiker celebration again at Reckless Brewing up in Bethlehem, new Hampshire. That'll be June 8th, so that's usually the day that most of our teams hike, but my team and I sometimes in the past we've hiked in July, we've hiked in August. You don't have to hike the day that everyone else does and you can fundraise up until August 31st, so there's plenty of time.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

And we're hoping. We're hoping this year um. We've raised almost nine $900,000 since we started in 2013. So this year we're like we're going for that 1 million total that we fundraised. We're going to go for it. That's awesome.

Jen:

That's so awesome. That's a. That's a lot of money, so that's fantastic Um and I'm just like wildcat a is right near my, my lodge up in Gilead. Gilead means I'm going to have to get a team together. I can't probably do it June 8th, but I can definitely do it before the end of August. And I haven't hiked wildcat a, I haven't hiked the Wildcat, so I haven't done that side except.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

Mariah, yeah, that's exciting. So which?

Jen:

one which. Where are you hiking this year? What's your choice?

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

My team and I are going to do Galehead, so my my friends they they hike, but not frequently. So I usually pick a peak that's a bit more beginner. In the past We've done Osceola, we've done Pierce Cannon, like I mentioned, so I usually pick the quote, unquote, easier forecast that we can do.

Jen:

Yeah, that's a great hike though.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

That'll be fun. It is a good one. Yeah, I like Galehead, I like the hut and the food, and the lemonade too, which is also great, yes.

Jen:

Snacks always make it better.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

Yeah, one thing I forgot to mention. We want one team on each of the peaks, but we can have multiple teams on each peak. The purpose is at least one. We've had some confusion in the past where it's like, oh, all the 48 are taken, I can't hike. You can hike Like there's teams to join. You can make a team Like it's totally fine.

Jen:

Yeah, and you don't have to hike a 48 either. I as much as it is called 48, right, if you, if that is something that is not in your wheelhouse, or you know you're not close by, or you know, for whatever reason, that isn't going to work for you, you can create it. They have a DIY adventure button that you can push and make your own right.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

Yeah, we took the DIY from Longest Day and made it into part 48 Peaks it's. Yeah, create your own adventure. We've had people do 52 with the views. You know you could do a Wachusett, you could do a Monadnock, you could do Middlesex, Fells, Blue Hills, really whatever you want a local scenic trail. That way, you know we're inclusive. Anyone can participate who wants to, from wherever they want. I think we've had even some people do like a Prezi traverse, so you can mix it up, do a Prezi, do a Pemi, do something else crazy. That's beyond my abilities, you know. Or the other way, whichever you want.

Jen:

That would be the longest week, not the longest day, for me, exactly. Yeah, no, that's cool, that's very cool and I, you know, I just I love it when things like this kind of, you know, start growing from the grassroots level, because it's just fun to watch. That's awesome.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

Came out of COVID, actually because 2020, which was the year I started volunteering was an interesting year. It was one of those years, you know, obviously we didn't want encourage people to head up North and we were trying to figure out okay, what do we do instead? And it was encouraging people to stay local, do something smaller. And then the next year people were asking I can't do a 4k, can I do something else? And like people were doing a Willard or a or sorry, mount Pemi, not a Pemi loop difference. But you know, we realized there are people who wanted to participate, who we didn't really have that structure to include, and it's been really great to see what people have done with it since then?

Jen:

Definitely. So it's interesting that 2020 was the first year that you wound up volunteering and then you just won an award for being a volunteer. I did January, so tell me about that.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

Yeah, it was a surprise. Megan surprised me again, so I was nominated, actually for a National Volunteer Award for Longest Day, and I'm just really grateful. I guess it was each region could nominate a volunteer and New England nominated me or Megan put me up for a nomination, and it just really makes me grateful to see 48 Peaks on the national map. We got a couple shout outs. This was at a volunteer conference in New Orleans in January and we got multiple shout outs. I got to give a presentation on 48 Peaks and also listen to a counterpart in New York talk about a similar event in the Catskills and then had more people come up to me and ask about how to create it in their own areas like SoCal and Illinois, and it was just. You know, I was shocked to receive the award and just so grateful to see how much this event resonates with people in the area here but also across the country. And yeah, I don't really I was speechless at the time and sometimes I still don't know what to say beyond that I'm grateful.

Jen:

Yeah Well, it's a huge honor and a definitely a testament to you know, your commitment to the cause and to you know, keeping 48 Peaks growing and what I would. What I want to know is like. So you know, as we said, this is a volunteer thing that you do on the side, like you have a real job. You're a scientist at a pretty high level. You are very, very a lot of education, a lot of like crazy stuff going on in your professional life. How do you make time to like go hiking at all, nevermind go hiking and be involved in this as well, like what's your secret?

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

It's a balancing act half the time. I it's just. I fit it in when I can and it's usually last minute. Honestly, it's sometimes just a mess, but it's a fun mess, you know.

Jen:

Yeah, yeah.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

At this point. This is my first year as volunteer chair for the volunteer committee and I just am so fortunate to have a really great group of volunteers and also our event manager, megan, who you know. Right now, work is a bit crazy and there's people who pick up for me and we're a team. We have a great group of like 10 volunteers and everyone's committed to this. We're, you know, figuring out ways to make this event more and plan it out and everything, and it's just fun. I think that's why I keep coming back to you know, why I keep doing the work, even when I'm tired from my actual day job. Right, it's fun and I've met so many amazing people too.

Jen:

Yeah Well, and hiking is obviously a passion for you. What? How are you doing on your 48s?

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

I've done no, I'm still going. I've done 30 and I've been working on it for eight years.

Jen:

Yeah, that's awesome, though that's good. Do you hike in the winter at all, or do you kind of take take the season off?

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

I am starting to experiment with winter hiking. Yeah nothing like trail breaking. But I have gone up the last two new years and I've done like Wombeck and then I did a Mariah, so I'm beginning to explore winter hiking. I did a little bit in the bell naps too over the last couple of months. Yeah Good for you.

Jen:

Oh my gosh, thank you. How about, um? How about backpacking? Has that been something? Are you? Do you do overnight trips as well, or are you mostly a day hiker?

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

I'm, up to this point, a day hiker. I am curious about backpacking actually. Um, when we mentioned Emily's hike last year, I won a gift certificate for a backpacking course, so I'm going to be taking that end of June out in Western mass. So I'm going to start experimenting with that and see how it goes. I'd like to try.

Jen:

Yeah. Do you have other folks that you hike with regularly that maybe are also on board for this whole backpacking adventure, or is this going to be another thing that you're like? Well, I might have to start start up by myself.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

I fortunately have a couple of friends who have done backpacking my good friend Lynn, who's also a volunteer on the 48 peaks committee. She, um, her friend is the one who runs the guide company I'm going through, so she's going to join me on this trip. So hopefully after that we'll go backpacking too Nice. So most of my other friends are day hikers.

Jen:

Yeah, yeah yeah, it's hard to get over that hump. I mean, I've only backpacked a couple of times and it's definitely not something that I feel comfortable doing and probably would not do by myself even at this stage. So I commend you for getting out there and getting and doing it, because that's a whole other level of preparation and time and you know everything else.

Jen:

So, um well, given that you've done a bunch of hiking in new hampshire, I want to. I'm going to ask you a couple questions about what you like about it, as far as what would you say so far has been your favorite hike that you've done in the whites? Oh, I have to pick one maybe not.

Jen:

Maybe you don't have to pick one, or you know, or maybe if there's a favorite, um, you know, if you there's something that you remember really really loving at the top or on the way, or you know I, there's a lot of lovely things to do and there's also a lot of hard things, yeah.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

No, there are a lot of hard things. I would say one of, I'd say on the top five of my favorite hikes was actually two years ago when I hiked Mount Moriah in the winter. I went with team Littlefoot and Lynn and I had never hiked with them before and it was one of the most fun hikes I think I've ever been on. We all had um. We were with the D who wears the tutu, so she had her tutu. There were some other people with tutus. We all had pom-pom like headbands and it was just like it was so cold. It was like a sub zero day. It was socked in at the summit. It was frigid and I just wanted to get down because my hands were like I couldn't move them at one point. But it was like the most fun I've had on a hike. Everyone was enjoying it. We had a little sun come through on the way down. We all were like screaming and it was just the people. Really, yeah, Like you know, that was probably the most fun. Yeah, really yeah, Like you know, that was probably the most fun.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

Yeah, I've had another one was probably I did a solo. My first four case that I did solo were actually Galehead and South Twin. And when I got to the top of South Twin and saw the Pemi it was like the first time I had seen everything from that angle. I was just. It was breathtaking, and I can't wait to get back up there and see it again, you know.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

I haven't done the bonds. I can't wait to see the PEMI again.

Jen:

Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. How about maybe a place you've gone like what's been the maybe the most overrated hike you've gone on? I want to, I want to hear your overrated, underrated Cause I'm cause we're in this like very quiet corner of the whites in Evans notch, which.

Jen:

I think is like one of the most underrated sections of the white mountain national forest. There's some amazing hikes in there that nobody ever goes on. Really, I mean you, you you could very easily do hike in that area and not see another person all day, which blows my mind versus. You know, you go to Franconia now and you're parked like I don't know in Plymouth, yeah, so not that that I can't really, but I can't even call that an overrated hike because it is so fantastic. So, but what would you say would be overrated, underrated?

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

Oh, okay, um, it's funny. You mentioned Evan's notch. I just went up that way last July 4th and my friend and I went up the bald face loop to the Emerald pool. She's not a hiker, so that we didn't go further than that. Yeah, but, um, I would love to do the bald faces.

Jen:

They look stunning but even just like driving through, oh, go ahead. Yeah, no, I was just going to say that is a, that's an amazing, that's an amazing day. It's like Franconia, except you're looking at the presidentials and you're and you see like seven people, so there's like nine miles. Well, how many? It's probably six and a half miles of range that you go over. It's beautiful yeah.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

Oh, I got to get. Yeah, I want to go back over to Evans Notch and explore it, cause I had never been there and even just like driving through, I was like whoa, look at all these, and there was no one. There was no one. It was beautiful, stunning place. So I I definitely um underrated, we'll go with you on that, even though I haven't hiked.

Jen:

Well, the pool is really nice too.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

I mean people know it was nice yeah, um overrated, I guess, like, dare I say, tecumseh like I was absolutely saying I think you'd like yeah, like I will say if if I hadn't done the ski slopes.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

there was a hiker we encountered near the summit of tecumseh who mentioned the ski slopes and the Sozman trail. If we hadn't gone out the ski slopes and seen the beautiful views of Waterville Valley cause we had a bluebird day I would have definitely been like Tecumseh is literally the worst, because Stairmaster Right, and there's only so much views. You know, I would say it's still on my lower end of like not being my favorite.

Jen:

Yeah.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

Yeah.

Jen:

I wish, I wish that I could admit to you know, enjoying hiking, just to hike, which I do sometimes. But I do get very disappointed when I get to the top and there's nothing to look at. You know, either you're socked in, which seems to happen every time I go to anywhere where there's a fire tower it's like there's not. You know, you can't even see your hand in front of your face it was me at canon on the first time. There was nothing, yeah yeah, that's what my uh, my old spec experience.

Jen:

So whatever I gotta keep keep trying to get there on a day that either has a good undercast, which I would love to. I've only seen a good undercast a couple of times and that's just spectacular. But yeah, no, usually I hope for it, and then I'm like, no, it's just cloudy period all the way.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

Can I do another underrated or maybe?

Jen:

You absolutely can.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

Yes, so okay, one you know, with views, cause I've just finally been getting into the bell naps. Bell naps are so underrated, I mean I I did major first, but the last hike I did was like the quarries, clem, rand, anna. I'm gonna finish off the rest like the gunstock section, I think in a couple, in a couple weekends. Beautiful trails, some very good views, even though you're not as high up, um, definitely recommend the bell naps and then the. The other that is not, you're not like gaining any elevation is actually Pondicherry Wildlife Refuge up in Jefferson.

Jen:

Oh, it's so beautiful up there, oh my gosh Stunning, absolutely stunning and wildlife.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

I'm into birding Like it's a great spot if you don't want to gain any elevation, yeah.

Jen:

Yeah, but you're, I mean you're right there at the, on the Northern end of the white mountains and you can see a whole bunch of stuff, and if you get there on a beautiful day, yeah, yeah, we were talking, I talked. I think it might've been the last episode I put up was with Marianne Borowski, who did the New Hampshire cross, new Hampshire adventure trail, and she, so she was like you got to do it west to east, because then you're riding through there and you're looking at Washington the whole time and it's so spectacular.

Jen:

So, yeah, that's a great recommendation. I would totally agree with you. So you're still working on your 48s what else? And you're going to go backpacking this summer? What else is on your list for this year as far as like, just as you look out onto the horizon of 2024, you know beyond, obviously, making 48 Peaks like a total supersonic hit yet again this year? What else are you hoping to look back at in December and say, oh, this was a good year.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

I would say, add a couple more 52 with the view I think I've done, 10. And those are definitely ones I think people sleep on. They don't hike those. They think of the 4Ks and forget about the 52. And there have been a number on there that I felt were harder than some of the 4Ks I've done, chikora being one of them. They have stunning views and I really would like to do some more of those. Maybe I could even backpack them, depending on where they are. That'd be cool, yeah.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

And explore some other parts of New Hampshire that I haven't been to Right.

Jen:

And so do you primarily. Well, I guess you do hike it. You've done some hiking Western Mass too, but it sounds like you're pretty, you're pretty committed to New Hampshire.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

Yeah, I'm trying to do more Massachusetts too, like I did Watatic the other day. You know I've been trying to do the Wapak area, central Mass. You know the backpacking course I'm going to do. We're going to do part of the Appalachian Trail out in the Southwestern corner of Massachusetts, not the Greylock part. I have done Greylock, but yeah, that just there's these areas that I haven't done. Vermont would be cool. I have not hiked in Vermont.

Jen:

I really haven't been up there at all.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

In general, yeah, I would do that too.

Jen:

Yeah, go to Northern, the Northern area in Vermont, the Southern Vermont. A lot of that is the green tunnel, as they call it.

Jen:

I mean, it's beautiful but a little bit different in the topography. So, all right, cool. Well, that's good stuff. And then I guess, the last thing. Well, let's just I want to recap all the important highlights on 48 peaks. So June 8th, saturday at Reckless Brewing is the hiker celebration. So if you happen to put a team together in our hiking in that general area, you are definitely going to be there be an awesome place to meet Cindy and a lot of other fun people, because it's just a fun place in general, I would always suggest that you go to Reckless if you're in the Bethlehem area, but that's super fun. The website is alzorg slash 48 peaks to get right into the business of the hike. But um, for alzorg has, as we mentioned before, tons and tons of information. There's a facebook group 48 peaks facebook group um, let's see what else instagram peaks on.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

Yeah, instagram yeah 48peaksALZ on Instagram.

Jen:

All of that is amazing.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

And then one other thing I forgot to mention in terms of if you don't want to hike with us, of course you can donate, you can volunteer. We also have a revamped sponsorship program for Sponsor Summit this year. There's different levels. One of the feedback we got last year because there were some smaller businesses we had approached and who had asked us about sponsoring and they told us the lower level was a little bit too high. So we have tweaked it down. So hopefully that some of our friends at local businesses who want to sponsor will be able to this year and I don't know the specifics off the top of my head, but Megan, our event manager, has managing all of that and can answer any questions. If there's a business that is listening or you know of someone who might want to get involved, that is an option too. So I think we have five sponsors currently who have signed up for this year and we're very excited to have some returning.

Jen:

Yeah, that's a great opportunity actually. I think I mean you're getting in front of a really dedicated and committed crowd of people that love being outside and love being in nature, and so, yeah, I can think of a lot of places that should take advantage of that. That's a great opportunity. I'm glad you mentioned that. All right, last question I like to ask everybody is your favorite piece of gear that you use outside that costs less than 50 bucks?

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

Oh, you know what I would have to say? My Kula cloth.

Jen:

Oh yeah, I honestly think Kula, probably Kula and headlamp, I think are the two things that get mentioned the most. So do you have just one or do you have like several? Do you collect them? I have a couple of them, the one I mainly use now.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

Megan, I think, reached out to the creator of Kula last year and she made some custom 48 peaks ones for the committee.

Jen:

Oh, that's awesome.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

I have my 48 peaks, one that I use. That is awesome. That's cool. I get compliments on it a lot. People are like, oh, it's so pretty. And I'm like, don't touch it, it's not a banner.

Jen:

Look, don't touch it yeah. Yeah Well, and that that is funny Cause I I reached out to them a long time ago too they will they'll like custom make almost anything, and that's really cool that she did that for you guys.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

That's a great that is a great alignment right there. Yeah, that's cool. I don't know if they'll make more for us at some point. That'd be cool if we could.

Jen:

What was your? What's your other one? What pattern did you go with? I think it's a bee pattern.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

I actually did honeybee research during my undergrad so I love honeybees. I know a lot of people don't like them.

Jen:

My husband has some hives so he would be into that, so that's cool. Yeah, so I have some honeybees on mine. Excellent, kula is the best, so we'll link them up too. All right, anything else we missed, sandy, anything else you want to? Any parting words this evening before you roll off into the rainy sunset?

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

No, I mean, thank you so much for having me on. You know I love talking about 48 Peaks any chance I can get. You know, the Alzheimer's Association is a really great organization that provides so many resources that I'm just endlessly impressed by everything they do. So you know I've I help manage the Instagram. If anyone has questions about the event, reach out there. It'll probably be me who answers you. You know we have a Facebook group. We have a nice link tree with a bunch of links that is for Alzheimer's and also just hiking resources like the hike safe card and other things. So we, yeah, so we're trying to make sure our hikers are as prepared as possible when they go out there and we don't have any SAR reports.

Jen:

Yeah, anyone who hikes with us, you know.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

But yeah, we'd love to see people. Do you need? We want you only on this search and rescue podcast.

Jen:

To talk about the fundraiser, not to talk about yes, last, don't be on a report we do not want ridicule um all right, and if anyone wants to hike, wildcat a I'm like seriously, when I hang up with you I'm gonna make some. I'm gonna start texting around see if I can get a little team together and cover that last week no, not that, not that you know, not that that we wouldn't welcome many other themes on wildcat a but, um, I haven't done any of those, so I think it might be high time.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

I haven't done them either, so if you want another team member, yeah come over.

Jen:

We're going to, we're going to put you on as many teams as possible all throughout this.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

I'm fine with that.

Jen:

Yeah, exactly, checking it off your list and checking it off your list, so I love it. All right, cindy. Well, I really appreciate your time tonight. Thanks so much, and I'm looking forward to seeing more from 48 Peaks all summer long Yep.

Cindy Hession, 48 Peaks for ALZ:

Thanks, jen, let's go paint the Peaks purple, absolutely.

Jen:

Now you can understand why I got all fired up to do Wildcat A for the 48 Peaks initiative. Right, cindy is the volunteer captain and coach. We all need to inspire us. I do have a confession to make. This is kind of like Rooted Mountain Bike Festival in New York, when I said hell yes. After I talked to somebody before doing the research and realizing it was nine hours away. In this case, I was like Wildcat's awesome.

Jen:

Right down the road and I realized after I recorded that Wildcat A is the turnaround point of a very rigorous sounding out and back hike. That might kill me, but it's fine, we will have fun, as I said. I said I was going to do it. I'm going to suck it up and do it. It might take me 12 hours, but it's all. That's that much more fun, right? So who is in for my Guides Gone Wildcats fundraising team? Yes, that's right. I am all about a play on words and playing in the mountains.

Jen:

So I'm lending my support to Cindy and the 48 Peaks initiative. I've started a fundraising team called Guides Gone Wildcats and we are going to hike Wildcat A and D on the way for all you peak baggers. Not sure when, yet probably in July sometime. I can't do it on longest day weekend because I got a high school senior graduating. But by the time this goes up I will have made that call and it will be on the Guides Gone Wildcats team page. If you would like to join me or support our team's fundraising efforts with a donation of literally any amount, head on over to alzorg, slash 48 peaks and search for our team guides gone wildcats, let's do this.

Jen:

And as a special bonus to listeners of this podcast who will be doing a hike for Alzheimer's on June 8th, the longest day weekend and if that hike happens to be close to Evans Notch Lodge I'm looking at you team Wombach, mariah Cabot, any of the Carters, walcadet, even all you hardcores hitting the Northern Presidential's I am happy to offer a deeply discounted weekend or one night stay at Evan's Notch Lodge between June 6th and June 10th.

Jen:

We are an hour or less from all of those trailheads and a little under an hour from the celebration that's happening at Reckless. So if you're interested, hit me up in the Guides Gone Wild DMs or email guidesgonewildpodcast at gmailcom and I'll be happy to help Get a room so you can get to the trailhead early and get a hot shower after. Make it a weekend, have a grown-up summer camp experience with all others who are supporting Alzheimer's and love to hike. Does it get any better? I think not. So we'll end this one here, because I obviously have to hop on a Stairmaster and start training my booty off, so I'll be ready to head to the Wildcats to get a little bit wild.