This story was originally published in the Summer/Fall 2019 issue of Appalachia. Dan McGinness is among the hiker elite in New England, where many of us admire his exploits. Four years ago, he endured a…
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How to Love Winter
The first snow has fallen. Temperatures are dropping. For many people, this time of year comes with a low-key sense of dread. You bundle yourself into thick layers, dig out the ice scraper and shovel,...
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As J.R. Harris likes to tell it today, the first time he saw grass, he tried to smoke it. He’s joking, of course, but the rib illustrates how shocking an introduction to the backcountry…
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A man stands at the edge of the campfire, illuminated by the orange glow of an ever-growing flame as it licks the rock ring surrounding it. I’m nervous for his safety. He has been drinking…
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This story was originally published in the Summer/Fall 2019 issue of Appalachia Journal. The fight broke out on a narrow ridge somewhere high above Davenport Gap, and I’m only slightly embarrassed to admit the first…
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In August 2010, AMC Director of Huts and Pinkham James Wrigley received a call that a young hiker was in critical condition after falling hundreds of feet down steep sloping rock. The teen had been…
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We may be full-on into springtime running weather here in Greater Boston, but further north, where a foot of snow still blankets most peaks and valleys, it’s still ski season. Lacing up our trail shoes…
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The number of New Hampshire peaks over 4,000 feet is thought to be 48, but according to AMC cartographer Larry Garland, that count could change. If you’ve hiked in the White Mountains over the last…
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This story was originally published in the Summer/Fall 2018 issue of Appalachia Journal. Pam Bales left the firm pavement of the Base Road and stepped onto the snow-covered Jewell Trail to begin her mid-October climb….
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Many American families approach the snow and cold of winter as something to be endured, even feared. Scandinavian families, on the other hand, approach the cold as something to be embraced and enjoyed, and they…
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