I toured the Borders Region in southern Scotland, about 50 miles south of Edinburgh, and just over the “historical border” from England (and the rest of Rome.) We had originally intended to hike the 60 mile St. Cuthbert’s Way on this trip, …

  The European Sleeping Bag Temperature Rating Standard (EN13537) was supposed to be a great thing for outdoor manufacturers, retailers, and consumers. Finally, we’d be able to compare sleeping bag temperature ratings in a reliable and objective manner. Ah, I have some …

I think I gave the night porter a fright this morning when I came bounding down the hotel stairs before dawn. It was raining and cold outside as I set out, determined to climb Cademuir Hill just outside of Peebles, Scotland. I …

Long-distance AT hikers love to obsess over pack weight and gear choices. Eventually any extended or thru-hike planning effort will come to a decision on what stove to bring. For me, this was quickly remedied by the statistics on what kind of …

This morning I climbed Arthur’s Seat (250 m), an extinct volcano that towers over the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, at dawn. I climbed this same hill almost 26 years ago, to the day, after arriving here as a graduate student in 1983. …

I love hiking in the forests of New Hampshire, especially in the White Mountains where it’s solid trees as far as the eye can see. But there was a time in the not to distant past when the area was entirely clear-cut …

I love maps but the thought of replacing them with a GPS makes me uneasy. The fact is, I very rarely get lost because I know how to read a map, I’m an expert with a  compass, and I carefully chart my …

This past Saturday, I finished hiking the last section of the Southern Presidentials on the New Hampshire Appalachian Trail. The weather was incredible, with bright sunshine. However, winds on the western, exposed sections of Mt Washington (above) reached 40 miles an hour, …

I had a magnificent hike last Sunday, completing the lower half of the Southern Presidential Range in the White Mountains. During this hike, I completed another 9.0 miles of the AT. Total distance for the day was 13.1 miles over 9 hours …

  My friend Martin left a comment on my last trip report, saying the he was beginning to see the appeal of hiking the Appalachian Trail. To put this in context, Martin lives in the UK and hikes a lot in Scotland. …

The Wilderness Map Company, publishers of the Green Mountain Club’s Vermont’s Long Trail Waterproof Hiking Map, has just released a new Tyvek map called “Exploring New Hampshire’s White Mountains.” This map is not available online, but I got a first edition copy on …

Chris and I attempted to complete a 5.3 mile segment of the Appalachian Trail on Saturday from Mt. Wolf (3,498 ft)  to South Kinsman Mountain (4,358 ft). But mid-August weather conditions were typically atrocious with very high humidity,  nearly continuous rain, and …

Today was the second day in a row where temperatures have been over 90 degrees F in Massachusetts and firing up my stove was not on the agenda. So I decided to try Packit Gourmet’s Cajun Ranch Chicken Salad this evening, which …

Franconia Notch is a spectacular mountain pass in the White Mountains. It is one of several major notches that the Appalachian Trail traverses in New Hampshire including Kinsman Notch to the south, Crawford Notch at the southern foot of the Presidential Range, …