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Appalachian Mountain Club Going Overboard to Attract Families

Calling all families! If you ever wanted to do a little hut-to-hut hiking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, this summer might be the best time. The AMC has just launched a new campaign called “Kid Spoken Here” that reduces rates for all children at the huts, introduces a new Kid’s Menu like pasta and quesadillas, and even entertains Junior with counselor-led scavenger hunts and kite flying while mom and dad can sit down to a relaxing dinner. If you like the idea of having a guide around during the entire trek, consider one of the 5-night family adventure camps. Hike, paddle, and fish at some of the most serene spots in New England while being led by AMC guides and naturalists. The program is available to all children ages 5-12 and their parents.

Also, as previously reported on ActiveTravels, the AMC will reopen Gorman Chairback Lodge in Maine’s North Woods on July 1st after extensive renovations. Unveiled as a private 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. This is for families who really savor peace and quiet.
 

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Kripalu Offers a Slate of Fall Retreats in the Berkshires

With fall foliage just around the corner, you really don’t need any excuse to visit the largest yoga retreat in the northeast, Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health. Located in the heart of the Berkshire Mountains in western Massachusetts, Kripalu is the ideal spot to relax and replenish in the midst of fall color. You decide how to spend your days to create the best experience for you. Choose from a variety of workshops, outdoor activities, and yoga and movement classes. Or jump-start your fitness routine and go hiking, learn nutrition tips, or savor a soothing massage. The retreat center is also offering a variety of themed events. "Hiking and Yoga" will be offered October 14-19 and November 25-30. Wannabe foodies seeking simple dining solutions should register for "Five Ingredients, No Time," September 28-30, and learn to whip up nutritious last-minute meals. For those who love to laugh, head to Kripalu September 14-16 for "Life Is a Playground." New York Times best-selling author, Kyle Cease, uses his 25 years of performing, creating, and letting go of what other people think to help his audience move past their old stories and into a new vision of what is possible in their lives.

 
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Our Picks for The Top Hotel Openings, Events, and Cruises in 2017

The January newsletter of ActiveTravels is always a fun issue to research, scouring the top travel trade and consumer publications for the most exciting news on resort openings and events. We go through at least 20 different publications and more than 1,000 press releases to find our Top 10 New Hotel Picks, 2017 Happenings Not to Miss, and What’s New in Cruising. We hope you enjoy our selections as much as we do. 

We’re off to Arizona today for a much-needed vacation with our son, Jake, back on January 18th. Wishing You a Happy, Healthy, and Active 2017.
 
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Enjoying Winter, Whatever Weather Comes My Way

Ole Punxsutawney Phil crawled out of his Gobbler’s Knob hole and delivered his annual Groundhog Day weather forecast yesterday. He saw his shadow and thus we’ll have six more weeks of winter. With skunk cabbages and dandelions already sprouting in Boston during 60-degree days this week, I’m wondering what type of winter is that groundhog talking about. Certainly not the winter weather the Farmers’ Almanac predicted back in August, “a season of unusually cold and stormy weather.” I happen to like the occasional snowfall in winter, the reason why I live in New England. Still the warm climes won’t deter me from skiing at Stowe this weekend, which received over 15 inches of snow this past week. Have a great weekend, and whether you hike, walk, ski, snowshoe or jog, get outdoors and keep active!

 
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Get into the Holiday Spirit at Newport

Just returned from a rejuvenating 24 hours in Newport, one of my favorite stopovers in New England any time of year. Starting today, the historic seaport gets into the Holiday spirit with a month-long citywide celebration simply called Christmas in Newport. The long list of activities includes live music at The Breakers estate and lantern walks over the twisting cobblestone streets. Newport is also home to a slew of intriguing boutique shops, ideal for Holiday shopping. Not far from the mansions on Bellevue Avenue is the Alloy Gallery, owned by a Rhode Island School of Design-trained jewelry artist who displays contemporary wares created by her and her colleagues. Women’s blouses, dresses, and jackets can be found at Tyler Boe, at Bannister’s Wharf. Kids will like the quirky games, clothing, books, and other odd miscellaneous knickknacks found at Pleasant Surprise on Thames Street. Close by is the Newport Historical Society Gift Shop, selling sea soap, shells, gardening and history books on New England. 

 
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The Trustees of Reservations Week, Central Massachusetts Highlights

Massachusetts might border the ocean, but it’s not until you drive the interior of this state on backcountry roads that you really appreciate the abundance of water. I woke up at Tully Lake Campground this morning and took the 10-minute trail to Doane’s Falls. Little did I realize I was about to witness one of the most majestic sites in New England. An onslaught of water came gushing down a series of rock ledges under a perfectly sculpted stone bridge, one that was built by the CCC under FDR’s helm. It would set the theme for the day—the rushing water of springtime and the wall of rock that’s continually shaped by these rapids. 
 
Chapel Brook in Ashfield is a popular swimming hole in summer, when this tributary of the South River snakes through a dense hardwood forest before cascading over ledges and forming natural pools. Earn that dip by walking across the street and taking the half-mile trail up Pony Mountain. You’ll be rewarded with a panorama of mountains and valley. 
 
The sound of rushing water also greets me at the next stop, Chesterfield Gorge, a 30-minute drive from Chapel Brook. Here, the East Branch of the Westfield River drops dramatically through rock walls that are close to 70-feet high. Below the gorge, fly-fishermen were seen casting their lines in the riffles in the hopes of hooking a trout. I took deep breaths of sweet pine and walked a ways through the thick forest on the East Branch Trail. This 7-mile long dirt road is open to both hikers and mountain bikers who can cruise through the adjacent Gilbert Bliss State Forest, perfectly suited for a day trip. 
 
Even my last stop of the day, the homestead of William Cullen Bryant, has a water theme. Stroll under the tall and ancient-looking sugar maples and hemlocks his family planted 200 years ago, when the great poet was just a boy, and you’ll reach a rivulet, a trickling stream. The Trustees has posted Bryant’s entire poem from 1823, “The Rivulet,” next to the spring. “The same sweet sounds are in my ear, my early childhood loved to hear,” wrote Bryant. Long after his family had sold off the land and moved to Illinois to farm, the poet and abolitionist would buy the land back in 1865, the same year his good friend Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Bryant, as he documents so well in his poetry, always preferred country life to city life and he would spend all of his summers here until his death in 1878. Look out at the meadows, forest, and Berkshire foothills and you realize little has changed thanks to conservation efforts. It’s still a sylvan slice of heaven, one that I’ll return to next time with a picnic lunch made by the Old Creamery in Cummington, just down the road. 
 
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The New Seven Wonders of Nature

After a worldwide vote and expert judging, the New Seven Wonders of Nature were announced on 11/11/11. The vote was hosted by the New 7 Wonders Foundation based in Zurich, Switzerland. I was pulling for the Bay of Fundy, but it was beat out by some other excellent choices like the Amazon Rainforest, Halong Bay in Vietnam, and Table Mountain in Capetown. Then there were some questionable choices like Komodo Island in Indonesia. It’s a cool island, home to the komodo dragon, but one of the 7 natural wonders of the world? Why? It’s not nearly as majestic as other islands in the Pacific like Taveuni, Fatu Hiva, or Kauai. Anyway, it’s a popular vote, so the Indonesia lovers were heard in the end. Here are the seven picks: Amazon Rainforest, Iguazu Falls, Halong Bay, Table Mountain, Komodo Island, South Korea’s Jeju Island, and Puerto Princesa River in the Philippines.

 

 

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