That’s how Redline Guide Ken Hodges described the 5260-foot Mt Lafayette — a NH 4000-footer — Saturday when he was leading a couple on a special tour. We say “special” because the day actually stemmed from a postponed exploration adventure of Lincoln Slide. This slide exploration was supposed to happen today. Finally. But, as was the case in the wedding we had the same day, the […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
It’s that time of year when hikers swell in numbers up here in the White Mountain National Forest resulting in us having three trips in the same weekday! Two were private tours: one, a trip to Iron Mountain (elv. 2726′) in Jackson for a regularly returning pair of local hikers getting back into it led by Redline Guide and owner Mike Cherim; and the second a […]
The testimony is the title; and the title, the testimony. That says a lot. What also says a lot is that these words are from returning guests and that, perhaps, is the greatest testimony of all. And by “returning guests,” we’re not talking about folks returning to us from last year. Not last season. Not even last month. This trio of now-addicted hikers first came to […]
That’s what we were asked first thing in the morning: “Can you supply a guide for me today? I would like to ascend Huntington Ravine.” Quite the question to wake up to but Redline Guide and owner Mike Cherim responded by saying “okay” — despite having gone to bed at 2:00am and needing to make a must-do phone call at around ten. Fortunately his wonderful wife, […]
Ken pointed out some delicious wild blackberries for all to enjoy. We spent nearly as much time discussing and planning this custom half-day nature tour as our guests from Connecticut did actually enjoying it, but it was really worth it because enjoy it they did. A lot, in fact. The main focus of the tour, as requested, was wildlife. Beavers specifically, if at all possible. With […]
It’s been said by more than one person that the Classic Franconia Ridge Loop — to hike up Falling Waters Trail to Haystack Mountain (4760′), traverse the ridge summiting Mts. Lincoln* (5089′), Truman (5020′), and Lafayette* (5260′), then descend via Old Bridle Path — is arguably the finest hike in New Hampshire. We won’t weigh in on that opinion other than to say that it is […]
