In The Beginning: Where We Have Fire Sometimes it’s nice to have a fire. It can be a source of comfort while keeping the night at bay and warming the soul. And it’ll warm us in other ways, too, from toes to fingers, from gathering the wood to sidling up to the blaze, just watch that you don’t burn your socks or melt the rand or […]
Allowance is unacceptable. We’ve previously mentioned the triad of systems that create us, the hiking machines that we are. What we didn’t tell you was that these systems are not self-maintaining. You have to work at keeping things running right. Like other machines, some maintenance is required. In the hiking world, we refer to this simply as self care. Of those three systems — us, what […]
Brides and grooms, we have good news: you can do no wrong. If you’ve been worried, stressing about how your non-denominational wedding ceremony will proceed or the vows that you’ll recite, you cannot screw this up. Seriously. We offer a simple standard ceremony and vows, and most folks are okay with that, but we are here to tell you that you can have it basically however […]
Around town we prepare ourselves pretty well to meet the challenges of day-to-day life. If the weatherman says it’s going to rain we bring an umbrella, and we do check. Our day is structured by time so we usually know when it is, and we also know where we’re at and where we’re going almost all of the time. We mostly have our acts together. Even […]
The Latest Adventure: People Love Slide and Gully Hikes Social media is to blame. Record numbers of people are taking to the backcountry to enjoy the out-of-the-ordinary experiences their friends and peers are sharing on Facebook and Instagram. And in doing so, they expose themselves to a different set of challenges and dangers. Some obvious, others not so much. One situation we’d like to single out, […]
LNT stands for Leave No Trace. A simple premise, no? We think it is. Leave footprints, take photos. Easy peasy, right? Yet it may be more involved than one might realize. At the heart and core of LNT lies Seven Principles. These are shown below with a brief summary of each. As you read on you’ll realize each and every one of them is logic-based and […]
In a previous life, long before Redline Guiding, owner Mike Cherim owned and operated a national commercial mailorder company he founded in 1992, that went by the brand name Green Methods (long sold, though still exists, now owned by another firm). Green Methods sold good bugs that ate (or parasitized) bad bugs — to be used for pest control purposes, instead of nasty pesticides. This gave […]
For many people, hiking is a three-season pursuit. If this is you, your time to shine is starting soon (time to get in shape). Many folks — some call themselves “peakbaggers” — will begin or continue working on their “lists.” Here in New Hampshire that more-than-likely means the 48 4000-footers as identified by the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC). There are other lists, the New England 67, […]
Bearing in mind, that staying dry is virtually impossible over time […] Some will argue that getting wet isn’t a problem for them. They will charge right through streams without regard for their feet, knowing their trail runners will get somewhat “dry” pretty quickly. Others have similar regard for the rain: “In the last 50 minutes of a “Presi traverse” I allowed myself to get soaking […]
It’s not spring yet, and surely we’ll have more winter weather before spring becomes our official season… right?! Moreover, we love winter here at Redline Guiding and dislike having to even talk about spring yet. That said, looking outside, feeling the temperatures, seeing the damage rains have done, and listening to the drip-drip-drip of meltwater, forces us to consider it. And with this consideration, here is […]
It’s been noted that venturing out alone on a hike, a winter one in particular, increases your risks. But just because you have a buddy with you doesn’t mean your risks are eliminated, or even diminished for that matter. Just as it takes work and a deliberateness to take care of yourself while hiking and climbing, it also requires something of each member of your party […]
Tired of the trees, you find you’re ready to bust out of the krummholz and explore some of the summits located in the alpine zone. But you’re a little uneasy about it. You’ve heard the stories, read accounts of people’s dying days, and there before you, right next to the trail, a sign warning of the perils that can lie ahead. We won’t lie and tell […]
