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This is Views from the Top, and an appreciation for such views unites the many of us whose interests otherwise vary. I've enjoyed the mountain views of northern New England for decades, both from below, often in a car, and from on top. Every now and then, I notice that those views seem to be...

Skimming the AMC White Mtn. Guide, 26th Ed., shortly after its publication in 1998, I was excited by its big write-up - nearly 7 pages - of a new 17-mile trail sponsored by the Sandwich Land Trust Committee and "constructed through the efforts of countless volunteers." It more or less followed...

Today's Boston Globe includes this interesting article on the completion of the Cohos Trail. Credit is given to Kim Nilsen, its inventor, and to Lainie Castine, who has taken the lead in finishing it.

The new issue of AMC Outdoors includes an interesting article on the Bay Circuit Trail, which runs in a semicircle from Plum Island in Newbury to Bay Farm in Duxbury, between 128 and 495. Some of the history was new to me, such as the role of Benton MacKaye, better known as one of the creators...

Eastern Massachusetts hikers have a great resource in the Bay Circuit Trail, which runs for 215 miles, with some alternate prongs and a few short sections still to be completed, from Plum Island on the North Shore to Bay Farm on the Kingston/Duxbury line. Its website has an excellent collection...

Today's Boston Globe includes this interesting article about a few serious projects for vast ski areas that would have changed the face of hiking in Maine and NH: -A vast area in Evans Notch, with runs down the Baldfaces, -Another in Willard Notch, with a hotel on the summit of Starr King...

Nov. 8: Kaibab Trail to Cedar Point. The Kaibab is the newer and less eroded main trail from the popular and populous South Rim of the Canyon to the Colorado River, some 6.5 miles in distance and one mile in depth below. Most of my fellow-hikers on the early Hikers Express bus from Grand...

A knowledgeable friend forwarded me, with an enthusiastic recommendation, the following notice of what sounds like a promising new publication by the Maine Geological Survey. At $10, it seems like a worthy investment, and I have already ordered a copy. Perhaps one or more of our resident...

Channel 5 Boston's "Chronicle" show will profile the Bay Circuit Trail a week from tonight. To quote from their website:

While the Mass DCR's Middlesex Fells Reservation, which comprises 2600 acres in Medford, Malden, Melrose, Winchester and Stoneham, is less well-known than the Blue Hills, it provides comparable opportunities for hikers in eastern Mass. and is more convenient for those of us who live north of...

Crotched Mtn. from the North - Ski Trails Living and Lost (8/14/10) File under: Stupid Little Adventures In the '70s, southern New Hampshire's Crotched Mtn. Ski Area occupied the NE slope of that Mtn., with a double chair nearly reaching the true summit (x2066). The NW slope hosted Bobcat, a...

For those who may be interested in canoe camping, I supply this account of my Memorial Day weekend, paddling with seven friends a beautiful 65-mile stretch of the Upper Potomac in western Maryland. Some of us have been spending our Memorial weekends exploring rivers in this fashion since the...

Park at the little trailhead for The Nature Conservancy's reservation on on the north side of Teneriffe Rd., 100 yards east of the height-of-land. Someone is doing a nice job maintaining the TNC's trails. The first signed spur off the Ledge Trail - Spur Loop - is a pleasant circle with no...

Skiing some of the XC trails around King Pine in East Madison, NH last Saturday, I happened upon 89 snowshoers about to burst forth on a 5-mile race that followed those trails for a bit before heading off onto some steeper, narrower snowshoe-only trails through the woods. I got out of there...

Last Spring, the Mass. DCR appointed a diverse committee of 11 citizens to develop a "Forest Futures Vision" for managing, over the next century, the 308,000 acres of State and Urban Parks managed by the DCR. (The DCR did this in reaction to specific complaints about some of its forestry...

The Charles River Link Trail, which opened last June, spans a choice stretch of the Charles, running 16 miles from Medfield to Newton Lower Falls by Cordingly Dam. It is a stellar addition to the roster of long-distance hiking trails in the Metro Boston Area, and a giant first step to linking...

I hiked over 540 miles, in 39 day-hikes, to complete today a trail that will be just 200 miles long when it is finally finished - the Bay Circuit Trail, which with recent additions is now up to 180 officially open miles. I owe this dubious distinction to hiking most of it in both directions...

The front page of this week's Carroll County Independent carries this article on the Scarboro Ridge Trail, which traverses a 5.2-mile ridge in Freedom, NH that parallels the Maine border, which is less than a mile to its east. This excellent undertaking was the work of the Scarboro Trail...

An article in today's Boston Globe introduced me to the Korean poetry form of Sijo (SHEE-jo). Like the Japanese Haiku form, it is based on counting syllables, rather than meter or rhyme, but it is longer and thus gives you more flexibility to tell a little story. This part of the article...

Date hiked Today. (Sat., June 27) North Twin Trail: East bank herd-path to avoid first two crossings essential, as Little River was high. It's in good shape. Third crossing usually nothing, but was a small challenge today. Easiest way was 10 yards upstream from Trail. Rest of Trail in fine...