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,...
Read more
Despite making many meaningful contributions to outdoor recreation and environmental movements, women are often less celebrated than their historical male counterparts. These nine adventurers and conservationists are just a few examples of women who have…
Read More
It might be hard to believe that the now lush White Mountain National Forest was, just a century ago, barren and heavily logged. By the 1850s, about 70% of the land south of the…
Read More
The Presidential Range in the White Mountains of New Hampshire is one of the most iconic mountain ranges in the United States. It comprises thirteen mountains, nine of which are over 4,000 feet in…
Read More
“I’m so sorry I’m late. I just had to feed several hungry, freezing teenagers,” says Michelle Sommers as she picks up the phone at her home in Maryland. She describes the row of wetsuits…
Read More
In the late 1970s and early ’80s AMC’s Cardigan Lodge was my wife Joyce’s and my favorite place to spend a couple weeks every summer. We were drawn to its rustic and intimate atmosphere, the…
Read More
Pockets of thick fog ebb and flow across the steep slope of false summits on the way up Saddleback, along the Appalachian Trail in Maine. I’ve been trying to keep my son in my sights,…
Read More
This story was originally published in the Winter/Spring 2021 issue of Appalachia Journal. My first impulse was to flee to the mountains. “The Appalachian Trail, here I come!” The Quarantine My first impulse was to…
Read More
This story was originally published in the Winter/Spring 2021 issue of Appalachia Journal. At a secluded crag near my house, there’s a climbing route called Malevolent Eye. It’s 32 feet high, with a 3-foot overhang…
Read More
This story was originally published in the Winter/Spring 2021 issue of Appalachia Journal. In a small patch of crumbly dirt and mulch, near the weather-worn trellis where the hydrangea had begun to bloom, my 5-year-old…
Read More
