Editor’s note: This story first appeared in The Recorder in September of 2015.
ORANGE — Tom Harty has hiked all 67 of the 4,000- or more-foot peaks in New England, and like the Energizer Bunny, he just keeps going and going and going …
The nonagenarian, who will be 95 on Oct. 27, plans to, for about the 15th year in a row, climb Mount Greylock on Columbus Day.
“I do it every year,” he said. “It’s one of the events of the Harvest Festival there. On the last day of the festival, 2,000 to 3,000 people hike Greylock during the Greylock Ramble.”
Harty said he’s a lot slower than the rest of the hikers — he’s received top honors for being the oldest to participate in the event for the past 15 years — but he has finished every time and hopes to finish again this year.
And, it’s highly likely that he will.
Harty made his final ascent up Mount Monadnock in July.
“That one’s getting a little too challenging for me,” he said. “But I climbed the cliffs and made it through the rough terrain with a boost now and then from my son Donald. It took me six hours. It used to take a little more than an hour. Compared to Monadnock, Greylock is going to be easy.”
Harty said Monadnock can be very difficult in places, even though its summit is at 3,165 feet, while Greylock, whose peak is at 3,491 feet, has easy, moderate, strenuous and aggressive trails to choose from to get there. He said he’ll take one of the easier trails when he hikes it in October.
Harty, who lives in Orange and was born and raised in Barre, served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He quit school when he was 15 to go to work on a farm, and later worked at a local foundry for 45 years.
“I got into hiking when my son was a teen,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of hiking over the years.”
Harty said last week that he planned to hike Mount Grace in Warwick, which is 1,617 feet to the summit, this past Sunday. Mount Grace is rugged and wooded on its way to the summit. He said he had hiked Rattlesnake Hill on the Quabbin Reservoir the Sunday before.
“I don’t sit still for long,” he said. “I haven’t watched television in 40 years. I read and hike in my spare time.”
You’d think a 94-year-old would have lots of spare time, but not so for Harty.
“I still work for my daughter,” he said. “I’m in sales. I drive about 500 miles a week to do my job.”
Harty works for Donbeck Sales in Orange, which sells tools, nuts and bolts to small businesses and municipalities.
Harty said good family genes — most of his close relatives lived or are living into their 90s, and some lived to be 100 or older — and keeping busy are his secrets to a long, productive, healthy and active life.
The avid hiker, who was recently dressed in shorts and a Donbeck Sales light-blue polo shirt with the inscription “Old Man” on it, said he plans to hike, even if the peaks aren’t quite as high as they used to be, until he’s 100.
“That’s my goal,” he said. “I love a good challenge. I always have.”
Harty said his former boss at Rodney Hunt in Orange once told him that people should have goals and reach them.
“He said the goals should be challenging, but obtainable,” said Harty. “I live by that piece of advice, along with Henry Ford’s, ‘If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.’”
It’s true, he said.
“So I just always think I can,” he said. “I’m definitely an optimist.”
Harty said the first time, when he was about 8 years old, he hiked Mount Monadnock with his father, some friends and a friend of his father. The last time he hiked it in July he was with his son, daughter-in-law and grandson.
“I only remember certain things about the first hike,” he said. “I remember being at the top, though.”
He said 86 years later, though his legs weren’t working the same, his equilibrium was a little off and he had to use a cane, he still felt that same sense of accomplishment.
Harty was married to his first wife, who was the mother of his four children, for 39 years. He said she didn’t like to hike, so he hiked with his son Donald. He has been married to his second wife for 30 years.
“She has always liked to hike, though she can’t anymore,” he said.
The couple has hiked the Grand Canyon with friends and family every year since 1983 and Harty plans to hike it again.
“Mount Katahdin in Maine was probably the most difficult mountain I’ve ever encountered,” he said. “I climbed that for the last time when I was 88.”
Harty said he has climbed Mount Washington in New Hampshire about 70 times, and hiked the Appalachian Trail years ago, doing segments at a time. It took him about two years to hike the entire trail.
He said he plans to start his hike up Greylock at 6 a.m. on Oct. 12 with his daughter-in-law Gail. He said his son and others will start their hike later, but will most likely catch up to him and his daughter-in-law before they reach the top.
“I don’t know why I like hiking, or why I like the places I’ve hiked,” he said. “I just do.”
He said his favorite mountain has always been Monadnock.
“Once, when I was about 50, I hiked it, came home, turned around, and went back to hike it again that same day,” he laughed.
Harty said he and his son spent New Year’s Eve on Monadnock about 30 years ago.
“There was a snowstorm that night, but we pitched a tent,” he said. “It was beautiful the next morning, though it was below zero.”
Harty said he doesn’t hike in the winter anymore, because he’s not steady enough on his feet, so he walks on his treadmill, instead.
He said one of the things he’s really proud of is that he’s never been passed on a trail by someone older than him. Then again, he said, he’s not sure anyone older is hiking the trails.