On point for this awesome volunteer effort was Redline Guide Mike Maciel. Normally Mike Cherim plays that role but he had foolishly double booked himself. Being that he needed to participate in our fall (2024) Wilderness First Aid (WFA) course to renew his Wilderness First Responder (WFR) certification so it didn’t expire, he passed the torch onto Mike M. As usual, the regular supporters were involved. […]
She wanted to hike three mountains, two of them 4000-footers. Namely, she wanted the Tripyramids and reached out to us looking for a guide/companion. Her friends, it seems, wanted no part of taking on “terrifying” trails — but this is what she wanted. Specifically she wanted to take on the infamous “North Slide” and the less scary (and sunnier) “South Slide.” She wrote: I’ve only hiked […]
A guest from Pennsylvania wanted to hike up Mt Washington — ascending being the part she loves the most. For the trip back down she opted for a ride on the Cog. We informed her that if she wanted to become a peakbagger she’d have to hike up and down in one trip for it to count, per se. Fortunately, she was satisfied to experience what […]
An oft-returning guest, a fellow that Redline Guide Chase Hall has been companion hiking with, helping him work on his GRID — hiking all the 48 4000-footers every month of the year — needed to get a Zealand-Bonds Traverse done for the month of October. Our guest has been working on “the hard stuff” recently, even though the reality is that it all has to get […]
A woman from southeast Pennsylvania came to us to join a group introductory backpacking weekend. Unfortunately the group didn’t materialize. Life. But the show must go on, as they say. So, with this individual, Redline Guide Debra McCown led the way to a pretty site in the Wild River Wilderness. Group or no, they had a great time enjoying fantastic fall weather. And that could be […]
Some of our guests are what one would call “regulars.” They return to us time and time again as their schedules allow. Every now and then, though, their schedules get so full, so complex, that they just can’t make the time and end up dropping out for a bit. That was the case with one guest who just came back. She wanted to get in training […]
Writing “boom” in the title is apt. It often seems like we just started out, but then we realize, reminded by our calendar, that we’ve been at this for 8 whole years! With that realization comes certain emotions. For example, knowing we have survived this long makes us feel a deep happiness and a certain sense of relief. And we have strong feelings of gratitude, too. […]
We call them “Tourist Tours” when a half day hike or nature tour doesn’t meet the needs of our guests. You see, we’re not always about extreme adventures. We’re here to serve people on all levels. In this case two tours were booked by a company from New York called Mad Tours and Events. They reached out hoping to have us guide a visiting couple on […]
As a testament of their good decision-making, four young men from Germany (currently living in Canada) came to us hoping it wasn’t too late to hire a guide for a hike up the notorious Huntington Ravine Trail and on to the 6288-foot (1917-meter) summit of Mt Washington. As was, this was a somewhat tough judgement call for us. We wanted them to get their wish, but […]
And so it has begun. Stick a mountain in the clouds at this a time of year and you might end up seeing some rime ice. That was the case for one returning guest lead, again, by Redline Guide Chase Hall. This time they took on the classic Franconia Ridge Loop (clockwise) and while we want to ask our guest if they had a good experience, […]
When one starts hiking in the WMNF in mid-winter conditions they don’t realize just how many rocks are under all that wonderfully smooth snow. But one soon realizes it after the snow goes and looks back fondly recalling those gentler ground conditions. When being introduced to the Whites with conditions like that it’s easy to assume it’ll be no different in the non-snowy times of year. […]
He came to us in the eleventh hour, referred by AMC Reservations. A Vermonter who wanted to hike Mt Chocorua and wanted a guide so he didn’t have to go it alone. He asked if we could accommodate his want. We could but we had some questions — particularly since he hadn’t yet filled out our booking form. We asked the normal stuff: experience, fitness, desire, […]
