Denmark Mountain Hikers

Reverend John Patrick of Denmark Church and blueberry farmer and antiquarian book seller, Allen Crabtree founded the Denmark Mountain Hikers group in 2010 to, in the suggested words of today’s AI website design tool, “promote health and spiritual wellness through weekly outdoor adventures.”. The club’s two founders would probably disagree and say it simpler, “because we found great joy in being outside with like minded friends.” [Perhaps John Patrick might offer us even better words to paste in here once he reads this.].

We welcome hikers of all levels to join us in exploring the natural beauty of our corner of the world in the hope of fostering community, kindness and care.

The following is taken from the draft of an article that Allen Crabtree wrote in the Summer of 2025 for Appalachia, the quarterly publication of the Adirondack Mountain Club.  Allen didn’t live quite long enough to see his article in print as he died on July 30, 2025 at the age of 84.  This is how he describes the club in his piece:

“The Denmark Mountain Hikers, named for the Maine town where my church pastor helped start this group, have been hiking for fifteen years. That’s not a long time, especially compared with the Appalachian Mountain Club or other established hiking groups. But the span of those years has changed us. Our more than 700 hikes in the White Mountains have etched into our memories enchanting bird calls, delicate spring wildflowers, the crunch of snow under our snowshoes, the sweet smell of autumn leaves, waterfalls, glorious sunsets and moon rises, and many more pleasurable assaults on our senses. As special as all these are, the company of like-minded souls is even more important.

Most [we should change that to” some”] of our hikers are in their mid- to late 60s, but many [another edit, “most]” are in their 70s and 80s. Our oldest member is 94; and she was walking with us until just a few years ago. One hiker observed, ‘As I have grown older the mountains seem taller, the trails steeper and longer. But I still look forward to our weekly outings with old and new friends.’ Growing old means that our bodies are not as supple and resilient as they used to be. We don’t have the same strength and stamina. We still have functional bodies, but our senses may be weaker, so we add devices such as glasses and hearing aids. Some of us have artificial knees and hips. We move slowly and recover slowly from strenuous activity. Most of us use hiking poles to help our balance, especially at stream crossings. A dozen or two of us gather each week to hit the trails. We go all year-round and in almost every type of weather.

“In our decade and a half, our hikers have learned to deal with wear and tear on aging bodies. Some have suffered heart attacks, broken bones and sprains, foot and shoulder surgeries, stiff joints and arthritis, COVID-19, dementia and memory loss, and other maladies that many of us suffer as we get older. But, like Energizer bunnies, after time to heal our hikers step back on the trails with a new appreciation of life and fresh air.”

“Peary Mountain was the very climb of the Denmark Mountain Hikers when we started hiking as a group in January 2010, and we have climbed Peary 16 times over the years.  We did last year on the last day of 2021, and 20 Denmark Mountain Hikers climbed Peary again on 30 December 2022 to celebrate the going out the old year and welcome to the new.”

The group last climbed Mt. Peary August 15, 2025 to hold a memorial gathering for Allen, who had described that climb again in a later paragraph of the Appalachia article:

“The very first mountain that we climbed that was the genesis of the Denmark Mountain Hikers was Peary Mountain in Brownfield, ME on January 10, 2010.  My minister, John Patrick, tricked me into the hike after we had been talking about hiking and backpacking, and there were only 5 of us.  It is an easy, short climb but the snow was deep and I was out of shape – breaking trail through the knee-deep snow damn near killed me to do it.  But after relaxing at the summit and enjoying the views of the Whites, we talked about doing this type of thing on a regular basis.  We hiked to Sabattus Mt in Lovell a short while later and we started hiking every Friday as a group and have been doing it since.  It is such a wonderful group of folks and we look forward to our weekly outings.”

Allen was indeed bitten by the hiking bug and became the passionate organizing force behind the club. Club isn’t quite the correct word for this collective as there are no club membership dues, no applications, no organization except a group of people who agree on destinations, a meeting place and who will take responsibilities of leadership during any particular hike. At one time Allen made most of those decisions, like the Boy Scout leader he once was.  These days without his leadership, we have evolved to decide most choices by group consensus or at least agreement by the more experienced members, except when on the hike itself, when our chosen leader for the day, directs, or herds the rest of us.

Competent and skilled wordsmith that he was, Allen put down many of the lessons the Denmark Hikers learned the hard way into a book he titled, Go Take a Hike: hiking tips and outings for seniors in the western Maine ans the White mountains and published in 2017.  The book lists details of 75 of our favorite hikes that the group has done Allen and the group have done over the years.

We are scheduled to climb Mt. Peary once again on January 3, 2026.