AMC to Expand Trail System in Maine’s New National Monument
One of the highlights of my travels in 2018 (which I very well might discuss in my upcoming 5 Dream Days of 2018 blogs) was the weekend we spent this summer at AMC’s Gorman Chairback Lodge. Smack dab in the heart of Maine’s 100-Mile Wilderness in the North Woods, this last great stand of wilderness in northeastern United States is not easily accessible. You have to drive 45 minutes on rutted timber roads from Greenville, Maine to access the lodge, but once you see the pristine waters of Long Pond and hear that unmistakable yodel of a loon echoing across the lake, you immediately realize it was worth the effort to get here. Now word comes that The National Park Service has contracted the AMC to build a series of hiking trails in the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, giving visitors more access to this large swath of green space. As of now, development has been limited to the main Loop Road, a 16-mile dirt road. With the AMC trail addition, each trail will extend one to two miles from the Loop Road. AMC’s trail crew started work in October 2018 and will continue work through fall 2019.
While we’re on the subject of trees, the Harvard Museum of Natural History just opened the new Zofnass Family Gallery with its inaugural exhibition, New England Forests. This permanent multi-media display explores the wildlife and ecology of the New England forest. The exhibition will teach people about the trees, lichens, and animals right outside our doors while enjoying a forest walk with air conditioning and without mosquitoes. To further their educational goal, the museum will host a companion lecture series this fall.
I love an outfitter who sticks to one region of the world and does it well, especially when the owner lives in that region and knows it better than most. Before founding Great Freedom Adventures, Jeanne Rummel ran the Mountains to Sea bike tour across Massachusetts, a successful fundraiser for the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America. Now the Mass native brings riders to her favorite haunts in Northeast, including the North Shore of Massachusetts, Block Island, Vermont, and the often overlooked Hudson Valley of New York. Rummel not only understands the salubrious benefits of a good day’s bike ride, both physically and mentally, but goes out of her way to show visitors a local cheese maker, a historic lighthouse, or the same incredible panorama painted by Thomas Cole and the Hudson River School painters in the mid-19th century. The daily itinerary includes a good dose of biking along with a chance to sea kayak, go on sunset sails, have lobster bakes, and take a necessary break at a local microbrewery. Not a bad way to push the eject button and de-stress!
While we dig out of the foot of snow in Boston from yesterday’s nor’easter, my thoughts turn to the warmth of San Antonio, where temperatures reach the low 80s the next 10 days. Lisa and I were actually thinking of renting an apartment in San Antonio this February/March and wished we followed through on our actions. The city offers two world class art museums, San Antonio Museum of Art and the McNay, sublime dining which I’ve written about for The Boston Globe and The Washington Post, great neighborhoods to roam like King William and Pearl Brewery, and, of course, all the restaurants and bars that line the renowned River Walk. But the reason I really love San Antonio is that it’s one of the best biking cities in America. Grab a bike from the B-cycle station (the city’s bike sharing program) at Blue Star Contemporary Art Center and pedal on the 10-mile long bike trail called the Mission Reach. It’s not uncommon to find herons, egrets, families of ducks, and turtles lounging in the waters, and colorful wildflowers in full bloom. When the trail ends at Mission Road, you can turn right to visit Mission Concepcion or left to visit Mission San Jose. These early 18th-century Spanish colonial missions are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and part of a national historic park. I always bring my camera to poke around these impressive buildings and get great shots of the light and shadows reflecting off the walls.
Last night, I had the privilege of speaking at a travel-themed event in downtown Boston sponsored by the Scotch company, Glenlivet. It was held at the International Poster Gallery on Newbury Street, home to a glorious collection of vintage travel posters from the 1920s and 1930s. What a treat it was to talk about my life as a travel writer, surrounded by these classic posters of ocean liners, luxury trains, and airplanes, while sipping an 18-year-old Scotch. I wish all my talks were like this, instead of being stuck in some dungeoness room in a God-forsaken hotel. Glenlivet only wanted me to speak for a short time, so I simply distilled my 22 years as a travel writer down to “10 Places I’d Happily Bring a Bottle of Glenlivet.” I wanted to introduce the crowd of 50 or so people to some of my favorite off-the-beaten-track destinations, like Torres del Paine, Chile, and the Laikipia region of Kenya. If interested in seeing the entire list, shoot me an email at steve@activetravels.com and I’ll send it your way. It was the perfect way to kick off the Holiday Season with good Holiday Cheer. Hope you enjoy this month and take the necessary time to get together with good friends and family. If, like me, you’ve worked hard all year, you deserve that sip of Scotch.
If you ask my kids, ages 14 and 12, what their favorite vacations were, they’d no doubt say Alaska, British Colombia, Israel, Paris, Bryce, Zion, and Acadia National Parks, and, of course, New York. Even though we’ve been to over a dozen all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean and Mexico over the years, all except our last one at the Riu Ocho Rios in Jamaica are quickly forgettable. They all featured wonderful beaches and decent food until the 3rd day, when you become tired of seeing the same entrees. But the reason they quickly forget this type of vacation is that it never really gets to the depth necessary to touch them. There were no adventures, no immersion into the local culture, be it food, music or history, no mishaps to look back and laugh about. It was all very pleasant, a warm retreat from the cold winter temps in Boston. How can staying at one hotel all week possibly compare to being surrounded by whales, otters, bald eagles, and sea lions on a zodiac off Sitka? Or listening to music late at night at one of the jazz joints in Paris? Or grabbing plates of hummus and foul with locals in Jaffa? Or seeing where King Henry VIII married his sixth wife at Hampton Court Palace? Or hiking with those odd-shaped hoodoos or an exhilarating cliff walk in Bryce and Zion? Or grabbing a hot pastrami on rye at Katz’s Deli and then going outside to see Shepard Fairey paint his most recent mural on Houston Street? These things my kids remember. All those all-inclusive beaches blur into one big warm embrace, nothing more.
I just returned from my annual dim sum lunch in Boston with Craig McCarthy, Communications Manager at the Park City Chamber of Commerce. Park City has always been one of my favorite mountain locales in the West, be it winter or summer. Its history as a former mining town lends to its authenticity. It’s not your run-of-the-mill prefabricated ski town. But that’s not to say things don’t change. The Park City area is in the midst of a building spree. The Waldorf Astoria Park City was built at the base of the Canyons Resort last winter and this year, the Montage Resort, known for its spectacular property in Laguna Beach, plans to open at Deer Valley. The Canyons is also unveiling an orange-bubbled heated high-speed quad, the first of its kind in the States. Park City Mountain Resort is expanding their night skiing. But the big news is off the town lift in downtown Park City, where the High West Distillery opened its doors last year. Distilling small batch whiskeys and vodkas, it’s the first distillery to open in Utah since Prohibition. Throw back a glass of that rye whiskey and you have that extra edge you might need to try that double diamond.
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One of the highlights of my travels in 2018 (which I very well might discuss in my upcoming 5 Dream Days of 2018 blogs) was the weekend we spent this summer at AMC’s Gorman Chairback Lodge. Smack dab in the heart of Maine’s 100-Mile Wilderness in the North Woods, this last great stand of wilderness in northeastern United States is not easily accessible. You have to drive 45 minutes on rutted timber roads from Greenville, Maine to access the lodge, but once you see the pristine waters of Long Pond and hear that unmistakable yodel of a loon echoing across the lake, you immediately realize it was worth the effort to get here. Now word comes that The National Park Service has contracted the AMC to build a series of hiking trails in the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, giving visitors more access to this large swath of green space. As of now, development has been limited to the main Loop Road, a 16-mile dirt road. With the AMC trail addition, each trail will extend one to two miles from the Loop Road. AMC’s trail crew started work in October 2018 and will continue work through fall 2019. 
While we dig out of the foot of snow in Boston from yesterday’s nor’easter, my thoughts turn to the warmth of San Antonio, where temperatures reach the low 80s the next 10 days. Lisa and I were actually thinking of renting an apartment in San Antonio this February/March and wished we followed through on our actions. The city offers two world class art museums, 
If you ask my kids, ages 14 and 12, what their favorite vacations were, they’d no doubt say Alaska, British Colombia, Israel, Paris, Bryce, Zion, and Acadia National Parks, and, of course, New York. Even though we’ve been to over a dozen all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean and Mexico over the years, all except our last one at the