My brother Clay passed away this Tuesday December 23, surrounded by his immediate family. On Christmas morning I flew out to be with them on Orcas Island, Wash.
The 5.2-mile round-trip hike on Mount Jackson is one of my favorite winter 4,000-footer days. I haven't done it yet this winter, but I hope to. Ample snow, a packed down trail with microspikes and blue sky are the perfect conditions for it. Here is a column and photo of a hike I did there a …
Thursday I had a dentist appointment in Conway at 8:30 a.m. But I was aching for a moderate snowshoe after the new snow, and looked at my maps. Eagle Mountain (1,605 feet) in Jackson beckoned. It was only a 0.9-mile hike up, yet I knew it had a steep section, and it would be a modest challenge.
Whitehorse and Cathedral ledges elegantly frame the western side of the Mount Washington Valley. Last Saturday, before the snow, I did the White Ledge Loop around Whitehorse Ledge. I like going back there. It is right next to town yet spectacular.
LANCASTER — Updating the forest management plan for the 40,000-acre Nash Stream State Forest will get underway next year. The issue was raised at the Nash Stream Citizens Committee meeting last Thursday. The committee also received an update on the two new dams being replaced, ongoing timber…
Sometimes a cloudy, wet day can be a great time for an immersion into November woods. Thursday it didn’t rain as predicted. Yet the forest floor was soaked from night rain. In the morning, I decided to head from Tamworth over to the Castle in the Clouds Conservation Area in Moultonborough to…
Thursday was a banner day. I decided to drive up to Pinkham Notch at noon and climb the half-mile trail up to Square Ledge to see the record November snow on Mount Washington.
Last spring, I wrote about a new accessible trail slated for construction in Tamworth. To cut to the chase, it has been completed for a while and is ready for visitors. It is only six-tenths of a mile round-trip, so it can be quickly visited and is worth a quick stop to sample. It is for eve…
This has been an incredible autumn of copper beeches and golden aspens. Signs are of a cold and stormy winter. But there is an in between season after many of the leaves have fallen, and here is a column I wrote about it late November last year.
I was lying in bed the other morning, wondering what hike I could write about this week. As you can imagine, this is a familiar scenario. Some hikes are old friends. I can picture scenes along their trails and often one hike stands out and invites me back.
Sometimes, but not too often, elements come together to make a hike exceptionally beautiful. Such was the case last Tuesday when I did a 4.2-mile hike with friend Pam Andruskiewicz and three dogs: Cora, Louie and Georgie.
A couple of weeks ago, on a Friday, a friend and I visited two Franconia Notch State Park attractions that I had never been to before. My friend, a non-hiker in semi-retirement, keeps adding to her bucket list. I have enjoyed a few outings with her, often to the coast.
One of my favorite places to see foliage is a quiet 16-acre mountain pond called Church Pond. It is located in the wilds of the Albany Intervale, north of the Kancamagus Highway.
I’ve enjoyed occasionally hiking with my grandson, Ridley Parsons, since he was small. Now he is 17 and a senior at Fryeburg Academy. Last Sunday, we hiked to the summit of Pleasant Mountain (2,006 feet) in Bridgton and Denmark, Maine.
Timing is a factor in seeing foliage and in the White Mountains, and it is often said that Zealand Valley is the first place in the area the colors mature. The official explanation for the color explosion in this northern valley is: “With cool setting air in the valley at night and decreased…
On Saturday, Sept. 13, I climbed Mount Cranmore for Jen’s Friends Climb Against Cancer.