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The Best of Cape Cod Birding

While the interior of Cape Cod is rich with cardinals, mockingbirds, goldfinches and woodpeckers, it’s the coastal variety that entice many a visitor here.  Shorebirds by the thousands, returning from their Arctic breeding grounds, stop along the Cape coast for much needed respite and food as they fatten up for their journey south. One of their favorite overnights is Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. The Massachusetts Audubon Society, who own and maintain the property, have claimed to have seen over 250 different species like oystercatchers, stilts, avocets, plovers, turnstones, and sandpipers.

The Goose Pond Trail is a leisurely ramble though marsh, forest, ponds, and fields. At low tide, continue on the Try Island Trail to a boardwalk that leads to Cape Cod Bay.  Green herons and large goose-like brants are prevalent in the surrounding salty marsh.  Retrace your steps back to the Goose Pond Trail to reach Goose Pond. A bench overlooking the water is one of the most serene spots on the Cape. Northern hummingbirds fly in and out of the branches overhead forming a choir whose voices will soothe any man’s soul.
 

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Check Your Bank Account Even While Traveling

So there I was lounging on my patio at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge after a week of adventure in the Canadian Rockies. I’ll delve into many of my favorite locales from my trip to Western Canada next week. Any way, I was checking my email when I noticed that Bank of America contacted me, saying my funds were getting low. I had transferred money from my savings to checking account before I left, so I should have had more than enough money for the trip. When I went online at Bank of America, I saw three purchases from Stop & Shop and Exxon made in New York and New Jersey the same time I was hiking, rafting, and rock climbing my way through the Canadian Rockies! Obviously fraudulent, I called Bank of America immediately. They cancelled my Visa debit card and quickly refunded me the money that was taken by Mr. Identity Theft. Since I no longer had use of my ATM card, they also wired me money for the rest of the trip. Morale of story. Even though you’d like to leave your life behind on vacation. Sometimes it’s better to check in now and then to make sure you’re not being taken advantage of.
 

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Hotel on North Opens June 1 in Pittsfield

Main Street Hospitality, the hotel management company that runs The Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, The Porches Inn in North Adams, and The Williams Inn in Williamstown, are all set to unveil their latest property, Hotel on North in Pittsfield. Next door to my favorite theater in the Berkshires, the Barrington Stage Company, the property is housed in a pair of buildings that date from the 1880s and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The 45 rooms will take full advantage of the building’s heritage, replete with refurbished tin ceilings, exposed brick walls, and wood columns. Mini bars are stocked with local Berkshire products such as Big Elm Beers and Berkshire Mountain Distillers Bottled Gin & Tonics. The hotel’s restaurant, Eat on North, also relies heavily on locally sourced produce and meats. To celebrate its opening, Hotel on North is offering a package priced at $199 per night that includes room, welcome treat, a special continental breakfast for two with pastries, juice and coffee delivered in-room, and all taxes. 

 
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Hiking Gulf Hagas from Lodge to Lodge

The people of Maine often refer to Gulf Hagas as the "Grand Canyon" of the state. There’s nothing wrong with a little zealous pride, but Gulf Hagas is no Grand Canyon.  However, it is one of Maine’s most spectacular hikes. Hidden amidst the 100 Mile Wilderness of the Appalachian Trail, a 45-minute drive on dirt roads from Greenville, Gulf Hagas is a gorge carved by the pounding waters of the Pleasant River and the lumbermen’s dynamite. A series of exquisite waterfalls await you as the river drops nearly 500 feet in 2.5 miles through the narrow walls of the slate canyon. Buttermilk Falls is an apt name for the frothy white foam the water becomes as it churns down the rocks. A swimming hole just beyond the falls is a favorite place for hikers to strip down to their undergarments and plunge into the auburn-red waters. Those piercing screams heard are just folks getting used to the cool temperature.  

 
Now you can hike the Gulf Hagas trail as part of a new lodge to lodge route offered by the Appalachian Mountain Club. Spend the night at Gorman Chairback Lodge, then take the Henderson Brook Trail through a scenic gorge for 1.6 miles. This trail connects with the Rim Trail that will bring you through Gulf Hagas, where you’ll spend the night at the nearby Little Lyford Lodge. The total distance is 8.9 miles, perfect for a day’s trek. If you can add an additional day of hiking at Gorman Chairback, consider heading up to Third Mountain across the Appalachian Trail and back down to the lodge via the Henderson Brook Trail. This is serious moose country, so don’t be surprised to run into one. First opened as a private sporting camp in 1867, it’s hard to top the locale of Gorman Chairback, located on the shores of Long Pond in the shadows of the Barren-Chairback Range.
 
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Adventure Travel Trends in 2018

The Adventure Travel Trade Association or ATTA just released their annual report on the world of adventure travel, stating that the industry is thriving, thanks to travelers who yearn to be part of the local fabric when visiting new locales. "The tendency to adopt slow travel means visitors are staying in destinations longer, and more people are venturing out by themselves, driving an upswing in solo offerings from adventure tourism providers," the report says. Other popular trends they expect to see blossom in 2018 and 2019 is "an increase in trail tourism, women-only itineraries, and more winter exploration." Here at ActiveTravels, we’re certainly seeing an increased demand in the winter product, with more and more people heading to Iceland, Alaska, and Yellowstone in winter to cross-country ski, dogsled, snowmobile, hike, and hopefully catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights. 
 
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Driving from Clarksdale to Natchez, Mississippi

Since I already wrote about Asheville and Charleston this week, let’s continue south to Mississippi and a memorable drive my brother Jim and I once took. In the small Delta town of Clarksdale, learn about the birthplace of the Blues at the Delta Blues Museum, and then spend the night at one of the most intriguing properties in America, the Shack Up Inn. Set on the Hopson Plantation, where the mechanical cotton picker made its debut in 1941, owner Bill Talbot has converted six former sharecropper shacks into his own version of a B&B (bed and beer). The next morning head south on Highway 61 through the rolling green farmland that makes up the heart of the Delta. Eventually you’ll reach the trenches Union and Confederate troops dug during the Civil War’s bloody Siege of Vicksburg, now a National Military Park. Another hour of driving and you’ll find that gem of a town on the Mississippi River, Natchez. During its heyday prior to the Civil War, when cotton was king, Natchez had more millionaires per capita than any other city in the country. They built palatial estates, like Monmouth Plantation, your final stop. Monmouth’s meticulously landscaped grounds, shaded by centuries-old oaks and their thick dress of Spanish moss, is bursting with colorful azaleas come spring. 

 
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Top 5 Travels of 2010, Visiting the Maasai at Shompole, Kenya

When visiting another country and booking a room, I always seek out local travel writers or outfitters who know every decent hotel in their country and have a basis for comparison. I’m not going to spend thousands of dollars, only to leave the important decision of where to stay to some stranger commenting on TripAdvisor. More than likely, it’s his first time in this country and it’s all bliss. But I know Africa too well and realize there are hotels that cater primarily to large tour companies from Asia and Europe, delivering the Disneyesque version of being on safari. So I asked Jane and Felix Pinto, owners of the Nairobi-based Micato Safaris, known for their boutique, small group outings, to find me the real thing, an authentic travel experience in the bush. They pointed the way to Shompole.

Less than an hour flight from Nairobi, you land in a grassy valley that feels like you’re in the middle of nowhere. Giraffes and warthogs greet you, along with Maasai villagers dressed in their colorful garb. You look around and find no signs of civilization except for rocky outcroppings that look like rooms nestled into the hillside. On closer inspection, these rooms, less than a dozen, are suites with their own private plunge pools. There are no walls. You’re simply immersed in nature, sleeping in king-sized bed under a mosquito net. You awake to the sounds of tropical birds and the sights of baboons walking across the valley floor.

During the day, Maasai villagers take you on nature walks to show you the natural remedies they use to cure their ailments. I’m sure pharmaceutical companies have sent teams to visit the Maasai to hopefully recreate these cures in pill form at a much more exorbitant price. We also were guests in their small homes and took bush drives to spot lions, Cape buffalo, and pink flamingoes that stand in the shallow waters of Lake Natron, the volcanic slopes of Tanzania seen in the distance. Unlike the Masai Mara, there are no other Jeeps taking people on drives, because there are no other travelers within a 50-mile radius! One night at twilight, the local villagers performed a dance with Mount Shompole looming in the background. Unlike hokey Hawaiian luau dancers that I’m used to seeing, this felt genuine. See for yourself.

Watch the video below, or if you do not see it view it on YouTube.

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