Gray jays, great day: A fall hike on Mount Waumbek
Hiking on the Starr King Trail to 4,006-foot Mount Waumbek, it’s hard to believe that this off-the-beaten-path peak once was part of a proposal for a mega-ski resort stretching across […]
White Mountains history
Hiking the Baldface Circle Trail, plus twenty
The guidebook describes the Baldface Circle Trail as “a strenuous trip not to be underestimated,” but I didn’t remember it as so. I first hiked this 9.8 mile loop with […]
Spooky solitude: The lonely trail to Owl’s Head
When I finally arrive at the rock slide, after six miles of hiking, I hear a tiny voice in my head: “Maybe doing this hike alone wasn’t a great idea.” […]
Moriah, my Moriah: Why did I wait so long to climb thee?
As I hike through a lacy hemlock forest, I wonder why I have waited so long to hike 4,049-foot Mount Moriah. The Carter-Moriah Trail climbs 3,400 feet from its base […]
On my own on the Osceolas with Captain Samuel Willard
On the Osceola Trail, I’m on my own, but hiking in footsteps more than 250 years old — maybe. As I hike uphill on a moderate-grade-by-White-Mountain-standards, I wonder if this […]
Brutal Beauty on Beaver Brook, Mount Moosilauke
Be careful, to avoid tragic results. Great. A punishing hike is exactly what I hoped to avoid when I set out on this day in mid-June to climb a 4,000-footer and […]
The agony and ecstasy of climbing four-thousand footers: Mounts Willey, Field, and Tom
Okay, so the tight contour lines on my map suggested that the route up to Mount Willey via the Kedron Flume Trail was horribly steep. And the guidebook described this […]