A recent guest from sunny California, Nancy, was staying at Loon Mountain and wanted to hike with us for a day. We decided the conveniently located 5260-foot Mt Lafayette would be a nice mountain for her to experience and enjoy. It is, after all, the crowning jewel of the world-renowned Franconia Ridge. Running the show on this hike, so to speak, was Redline Guide Ryan Mcguire. […]
Not too much, not too little, something just right. Just like Goldilocks would like. This was the order of the day. Moreover, our guest, Kathleen from New Jersey, wanted some views, but no real exposure or scrambles. No problem, custom requests is what we’re all about. Redline Guide Jeffrey Shutak and owner Mike discussed it and decided that the Boulder Loop Trail just off the Kancamagus […]
It’s that time of year. The leaves are changing. It’s crisp, cool, and… well, it’s raining. Thankfully our guests were okay with that. Hikers understand these things and the matriarch, Mary, from Colorado, was a bit of a hiker. As were her southern New Hampshire-based daughter and granddaughter, Molly and Caroline. They were all accustomed to a little mountain weather and ready to make the most […]
What we call “companionship hikes” are those where our guests want to hike a specific hike, and are quite capable of doing so, but for safety or perhaps other reasons they just don’t want to go it alone. Or, we find, they don’t want to bother dealing with the logistics, research, and planning sometimes necessary — they may be on vacation in some cases. For these […]
Although she came to us over a month ago, we are finally able to announce her joining on the team of Redline Guides. She had been busy after completing her thruhike of the Appalachian Trail (AT). Rachel is proudly born and raised in Ohio. As a lifelong Ohioian, Rachel first moved to New Hampshire in 2010 upon graduation from Allegheny College to do trail work with […]
The Epic of Dan McGinness… a True Story The following is a story of self-rescue. A tale of being involuntarily stranded overnight; forced to bivouac. A situation resulting not from injury, but from an unrecoverable navigational challenge. The time and place is near-winter on the Presidential Range — which is like real-winter everywhere else. It’s a tale of preparation, sound thinking, and courage spelling the difference […]
Stephanie and Tom found us on Google and realized our Justice of the Peace Mike Cherim would be a perfect choice for their wedding service at the Thompson House Eatery (T.H.E.) in Jackson, NH. Not because Mike officiates mountain-top and wilderness weddings — which clearly this venue doesn’t qualify — but because hiking is a significant part of their lives and Mike is an avid hiker. […]
From California, bride and groom Patrice and Austin requested a wedding in the field adjacent to the quaint and surperbly picturesque Union Church. What a great spot. It’s so pretty there. To anyone who has hiked out of the Ferncroft trailhead — serving Blueberry Ledge and Dicey’s Mills trails to name but two — has driven right by this church and its neighboring field before. What […]
The bride and groom, Kara and Garrett, wanted a wedding in the wilds. They sought energy which would preferably be represented by the presence of water. They also desired a more intimate gathering absent of hoardes of strangers. Moreover, they needed a location with fairly easy hike-in access for non-hikers. At one point it was also planned to have a drone shoot footage so consideration of […]
Hailing from Connecticut, our most recent guest, Juliane, requested multiple days of hiking starting with a classic Franconia Ridge loop. On assignment for this — now that he’s back from his trip to France and Italy — was Redline Guide Jeffery Shutak. Jeffrey wanted to make a good impression on Juliane’s first tour with us and first visit to the state so naturally he found a […]
We really like to share the cool things our guides do when they’re not out there guiding. And they do a lot. So much, in fact, it’s hard to keep up. We recently mentioned that Redline Guide Bill Robichaud just finished his Appalachian Trail thru-hike. And while our focus was on that piece, Arlette Laan finished hiking the New England Trail with her husband, Rich. Jeffrey […]
The 2726′ Iron Mountain in Jackson, NH, is unlike many of the other “smaller” mountains so close to the floor of the Mt Washington Valley. It’s rugged, severely eroded in places exposing many rocks and roots, it has some steep bits, and it’s seemingly wild; it feels very remote. It’s a rustic, quiet mountain, and that quiet heightens the experience. It’s a great mountain — one […]
