Hayley Rosado: 1st Woman, Fastest Finisher, 5th Overall

The New Jersey 1K Club would like to congratulate Hayley Rosado of Montclair for being the first woman to complete the list! Hayley also holds the record for the fastest finish. Hayley officially began her quest in April of 2010 in the Southern Ramapos before aggressively tackling the rest through the months of May and June. Her plan was to finish on High Point before leaving for a summer trail crew job in Colorado. Unfortunately, after a long day of bagging Waywayanda Mountain and Sunrise Mountain, her plan was foiled when she arrived at High Point State Park just as it was closing. The next day, Hayley was on the plane to Colorado and her finish would have to wait for her return to New Jersey in October. Hayley finished the list on October 10th, six months and nine days after she began.

Hayley decided to work on the list in order to learn more about New Jersey's outdoors. She hiked most of the mountains solo, exploring the deep woods on her own. Like many peakbaggers, Hayley kept herself motivated by the fact that maybe the next mountain "would be interesting and have an awesome view."

Hayley's favorite mountain was Drag Hill (perhaps because the pipeline offers a view!), while Green Pond Mountain was her favorite "hike" because she approached the ridge from the east via its sheer cliffs. Oxford Mountain was her least favorite because of the summertime brier thickets.

When asked how she felt after completing the list, she said that she felt "disappointed that I hadn't done High Point sooner, because it was so pitiful...I think I would have been more proud before I left for Colorado because it seemed like kind of a long undertaking then. It was sort of time consuming and took effort in some respect; and then I went to live in the wilderness and New Jersey didn't seem that challenging as a state anymore. More like cute." Though Hayley says that even if New Jersey isn't all that challenging, she admits that she still probably couldn't find her way to the top of a New Jersey high peak without a map.