I occasionally write articles for the Charles River Mud, the newsletter of the Boston Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC). With the permission of the Chapter Chair and of the Mud Editor I am posting versions (often modified) of them here.
- The first two (written in 1996) dealt with hiking in the Boston
area from the perspective of someone who hikes a lot in the Whites.
The first was on Training Hikes, good for getting in shape early in
the season. The second described Strenuous Hikes, pointing out that
it is possible to do hikes of up to 16 miles in the Blue Hills! I
have since rearranged the material, modifying it considerably in
the process. It is now divided into a page on
Rugged Hiking in the Blue Hills and
one on Rugged Hiking in the Middlesex
Fells.
- In the July 2001 issue of the Mud I wrote an article on
Great Rewards for Moderate Effort, a
short listing of hikes to peaks with great views that involve about
ten miles (round trip) with about 3,000 feet of elevation
gain.
- In the September 2001 issue I wrote a
review of Steve Smith and Mike
Dickerman's book The 4,000-Footers of the White Mountains. A
Guide and History.
- In the March 2002 issue I wrote a short note about a winter
car camp in which I attempted to
introduce beginning winter hikers to the joys of winter camping. In
case you have any doubts let me assure you that all survived!
- In the October 2002 issue I wrote an article on
Hiking in New Hampshire Far from the
Crowds, answering a question that regularly gets asked on the
hiking bulletin boards.
- I recently wrote an article on the
Easy 4000 Footers in NH for
the October 2003 issue.
- Most visitors to this site are probably familiar with the various 4,000 footer lists. I have written an article for the August 2004 issue about some some less well known lists that are probably far less familiar to most readers, and that some may wish to explore.
I will also post here works in progress, which may end up being published, or may go no further than this site.
- At the time I applied for membership of the 100 Highest Club I
wrote an essay on Why I Bag Peaks (or
rather, on why I used to bag them).
- Another article is devoted to the
Trailwrights list, a formerly
obscure list that seems to be becoming more popular.
Roy Schweiker has kindly written an article on Bushwhacking to the NH 4000 Footers (all of which have trails). Fascinating article, but do not follow in his footsteps unless you know what you are doing!
Peakbagger, a frequent contributor to the AMC and VFTT bulletin boards, has kindly contributed a writeup of one bushwhack route to Mount Isolation. It may not be suitable under summer conditions, but for experienced bushwhackers shortens the trip considerably in winter.
Roy has kindly written a second article for this site on Topographical Prominence, including a list of the 50 most prominent peaks in New England.
I have just started work on a new web site where I will post, amongst other things, shorter articles and essays, some of which will merely be random thoughts on hiking and peakbagging.