Next floor, Huntington Ravine, going up — ding-ding. The doors rumble open and three ladies enter the elevator, two returning to us from previous Redline Guiding adventures. Redline Guide Ken Hodges at the controls, in the lead, taking this party up, up, and up some more. This is something we do here at Redline Guiding. It’s not so simple as the push of an elevator button, […]
[…] they heard a moose splashing around […] They went in with the names their parents gave them. Four days later they return to civilization as “Rollover,” “Footloose,” and “Trot” — the last one being the name that Redline Guide Ryan Mcguire earned. He led this White Mountains backpacking experience, and can apparently hike fast. But not fast enough, however, to out-hike the long-distance hikers’ tradition […]
[…] but nature performed the real magic. Nature takes, but nature gives back. Nature can do surprising things, destructive things. Nature can take away. One day all is right; the next day it is not. Nature can bear its weigh on us in the most unforgiving ways. Then just as suddenly nature can become completely restorative. What nature takes, it often gives back in another form. […]
Backpacking in the alpine zone of the Presidential Range is difficult. In winter you can camp anywhere outside of the Cutler River Drainage in that zone as long as there is two feet of snow under you so space is plentiful. In winter, however, there are cold temps and often high winds so camping is not necessarily easy or even fun on some days. This isn’t […]
They wandered along, indications for the trail were there but they had to look for them. Broken ferns, a treadway amidst hobblebush, a human-cut log end, a worn root, erosion, the hint of a trail corridor (a.k.a. a space between two trees). All are signs of a trail. It’s a wild area. As Axel Rose belted out: “Welcome to the jungle.” We joke about this, it’s […]
As imperfect human beings we learn as we go. We make mistakes, adjust, correct, then carry on. Here at Redline Guiding we strive to provide exceptional outdoor adventures and in-depth wilderness education. We strive for perfection, even if that means that perfection will be defined differently by different people. When a recent private group told us they wanted compete immersion into the true wilderness — at […]
The title of this post is the premise of our River Crossing Skills course and we ran our first one of the season this past weekend. Thankfully we had great weather, nice water conditions, and the bugs along the river weren’t too terrible. We aren’t always blessed. We run this course any time and sometimes it’s not ideal — because we cross rivers year ’round — […]
It started this past weekend with the first of two women’s-only backpacks led by Redline Guide Arlette Laan. On this trip Arlette decided to take our returning guest into the Wild River Wilderness so as to provide a very authentic wilderness experience. As the Gilligan’s Island theme song went… No phone, no lights, no motor car not a single luxury like Robinson Crusoe, it’s primitive as […]
From the White Mountain National Forest we find pleasure and business, and for the White Mountain National Forest we give back by rolling up our sleeves and getting to work. This is why we didn’t hesitate in the slightest when deciding to repeat last year’s successful Trails Day by hosting and organizing a Second Annual Event. That’s what we were up to on Sunday, June 23rd, […]
A reliable hiking buddy is an awesome thing to have, and it is something we provide. Particularly for hikers working on their New England Hundred Highest and other lists. Scar Ridge, Peak Above the Nubble, the Rangley Six Pack, these and others have come up before. This time it’s the 3862′ Vose Spur again. A quick blog search shows how popular it is. With us this […]
Some of our guests rarely hike, really venturing quite far beyond their daily norms when they hike a mountain with us. Especially one like our grandest 4000-footer: the 6288-foot Mt Washington. Other guests, however, are strong hikers in of themselves. That was certainly the case on this most recent trip according to Redline Guide Jeffrey Shutak. Our recent guest, from Oklahoma, was a very strong hiker, […]
Mount Washington, elv. 6288′ (1917m), located in the White Mountain National Forest (WMNF a.k.a. “The Whites”) in New Hampshire, is the crowing jewel of the Northeast. It is noted for being the tallest mountain in that region, and it’s the most prominent peak east of the Mississippi River. Mt Washington is also one of the state’s “4000-Footers” topping that list, of course. Many activities occur on […]
