For a long time we have embraced and promoted the Hiker’s Thirteen Essentials as the recommended hiker carry list for use in the White Mountains. This, for those who weren’t aware, goes above and beyond the well-known “Ten Essentials” by adding sheltering material like a bivy or tarp, a partial or full size foam sleeping pad, and sun protection to the list. We felt the latter […]
If you are looking for something less, something different, something under four-thousand feet in elevation, look no further. Though trust us when we add that sometimes less is actually more. In other words, some of the mountains on this list, while under 4000-feet, are really quite challenging featuring long hikes on tough trails — some terrifying — through wild, untamed forests. Some of the NH 48 […]
A reversal treatment for Raynaud syndrome would be a welcome relief for many… My hands feel really numb, lifeless, and they look cold — freezing cold. My fingers are a waxy white. The temperature is only 40°F and the wind is hardly blowing. I’m hiking and should feel great, warm from exercise. And I am, except for my numb, dead-looking hands. If the photos on this […]
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) (see updates). There are other lists, the New […]
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 […]
