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Bike the Greenbrier River Trail, West Virginia

Easily one of the finest rural runs in America, this 78-mile delight borders the Greenbrier River as it weaves its way through thick forests, open fields, and two tunnels. Deep in the heart of West Virginia, the hard-packed gravel route introduces you to such relics of railroad history as restored depots and vintage mile markers from the old C & O Railroad that used the line to haul timber. It’s not unusual in these parts to spot ospreys, bobcats, even black bears in the woods.

Start at the northern trailhead in Cass for a good downhill cruise and plan on bringing lots of water and food, since there are few places to stop on the trail. Near Marlington, you’ll ride through Sharp’s Tunnel, a 500-foot-long passage hollowed out from stone in 1900, and emerge onto a wood-slatted bridge that hovers some 30 feet above the rushing river.  Stop in town to see the historic railroad depot (built in 1901) and the bright red caboose before pushing on to Watoga State Park, the trail’s halfway point. You can camp here overnight, go swimming, or fish on the river for trout and small mouth bass. South of the park, you coast through Droop Mountain Tunnel, riding along a remote river and its dramatic red shale cliffs. The final 34 miles from Rennick to Caldwall is a peaceful jaunt through deep woods and open fields, stopping to swim or picnic whenever you feel the need. 
 

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Favorite Travel Days in 2011, Rafting and Rock Climbing with Austin-Lehman Adventures in Alberta

Each January, I like to look back at the prior year of travel and pick my five favorite travel days that come to mind. Not to boast about where I’ve been on assignment, but to point you in the right direction. You’ll be happy to find yourselves in any of these five locales.

in late July, my family of four took a memorable six-day, five night trip into the Canadian Rockies with the highly reputable outfitter, Austin-Lehman Adventures. Based in neighboring Montana, few if any outfitters know this mountainous terrain better. Each day was jam-packed with adventure, like taking a glacier walk on the famous Icefields Parkway, biking down a backcountry road surrounded by snow-capped peaks on the outskirts of Banff, and taking walks away from the masses to a lonely lake in Lake Louise. Yet, it was hard to top the day we spent in Kananaskis Valley, an hour outside of Calgary. In the morning, we rafted the Kananaskis River and the afternoon rock climbed on the face on Mt. Yamnuska. The river was a rip-roaring ride on glacial-fed waters that certainly cooled down when splashed. My 15 year-old son, Jake, got a wake-up call when he was thrown out of the raft and we had to pull him back in.

At Yamnuska, I followed my daughter up the rock face twice, peering down over the U-shaped valley once atop. It was wonderful to share my love of adventure with my wife and kids and to be in the more than capable hands of the ALA guides. My kids had never rafted or rock-climbed before that day and are now hooked on both sports. My detailed story on the six-day trip will appear in The Boston Globe this spring and I’ll be sure to pass that along. 

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Marie Pechet, In Memoriam

My conversations with Marie Pechet usually started with a line like this: “I have chemotherapy in a couple hours and you won’t hear from me in the next 3 days.” We had met two years ago when a mutual friend introduced us. She was interested in traveling to an off-the-beaten-track locale, much like her beloved Cape Santa Maria on Long Island in the Bahamas. She would never discuss her health with me.  But I looked online and read one of her stories where she had been battling colorectal cancer since 2008, shortly after her second child was born. Eight mind-numbing years of battling a stage 4 cancer and her incredible spirit shone through those phone calls and literally hundreds of emails I’m now reliving. She wanted an eco-friendly hotel that respected her diet of vegetables, beans, lemon and lime, olive oil, avocado, and nuts. Her older son, now 13, was also allergic to nuts, fish, lentils, and pumpkins. We found a place on Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula, Aguila de Osa, where the owner is known to go overboard to make every wish come true. She loved that property and would often talk about returning, even though her husband, Tiron, loathed the long boat ride to reach it (see the photograph). 

We would book other trips to Dominican Republic, Florida, Tanque Verde dude ranch outside of Tucson, even Bloomington, Indiana, after learning that our daughter goes to Indiana University. She would comment on my daily travel blog, wish us well on our travels, send other clients our way, and write lengthy reviews of all trips where she would be brutally honest about the good and the bad. In truth, she was the client Lisa and I dreamed about when we first started this business 5 years ago. She was battling cancer for close to a decade, undergoing brutal chemotherapy sessions while raising two boys, and had far more zest for life than most people I know. Her cancer would simply not allow her to take life for granted. On Wednesday morning, she finally succumbed to that dreadful illness. We had just spoken several weeks ago, discussing the details of her family’s return to Tanque Verde over the holidays. Death was the farthest thing from my thoughts especially when talking to this enthusiastic woman so full of life. I hope Tiron and the boys do return to Tanque Verde, a land of craggy peaks and long horizons, where I know Marie will take her rightful place in the clouds watching over everyone she touched. In only two short years, she had an immediate impact on our lives and will leave a large void.
 
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Top 25 Bike Sharing Programs

I’ve been a big fan of Hubway, Boston’s bike-sharing program since it started in 2011. I also love the opportunity to jump on a bike in other cities, especially after taking a bike tour with a local. So I was pleased to see Biking Expert’s list of top 25 bike sharing programs, where Boston ranks 4th, the top city in America. Surprised to see Moscow so high at number three. Not surprised to see Montreal on the list since they implemented one of the first bike sharing programs in a city. 

 
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New Hotel Openings in New England

Two press releases that came across my desk this past week caught my eye. Opening in May in the heart of P’town is the 15-room Salt House Inn. The guestrooms evoke a Cape Cod beach-cottage appeal and the gourmet breakfast is served at a communal table in the garden. The inn is co-owned by David Bowd, who knows how to create a stylish getaway, working as managing director of the Ian Schrager Company and currently chief operating officer at Andre Balazs Properties. Also opening in May in Burlington, Vermont, is a 125-room property called Hotel Vermont. The hotel will feature a Vermont favorite, the second Hen of the Wood restaurant, nominated for a James Beard award in 2011.

 
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Introducing Uganda’s Shaka Tours & Travels

Working as adventure travel contributing editor for Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel magazine, I once wrote a story on eliminating the middleman. How big-name American tour operators were jacking the price by adding another layer of cost to the traveler. Simply go to the same small tour operator they’ve hired to design their trip and you’ve eliminated the excess cost. Uganda’s Shaka Tours would certainly make the cut if I were writing that article in 2017. They join a growing list of small African operators I’ve worked with over the past five years that clients have loved, including African Scenic Safaris in Arusha, Tanzania, and Ghana Tour Consult. I work with Okongo Joshua Fredrick, managing directing at Shaka Tours, designing a wondrous 5-day gorilla trek tour to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Longer trips included chimpanzee tracking at Kibale National Park, game drives at Muchison Falls National Park and Queen Elizabeth National Park, and cultural highlights of Uganda’s capital, Kampala. Price of the 5-day gorilla trek starts as low as $950 per person, not including visas. That’s what I call a bargain. 

 
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Top 5 Favorite Spring Drives, Clarksdale to Natchez, Mississippi

The amount of musicians that began their careers in the small Delta town of Clarksdale, population 21,000, is remarkable. Muddy Waters was raised on the Stovall Plantation outside of town. Soul man Sam Cooke was born here, along with electric blues master John Lee Hooker, W.C. Handy, and Ike Turner, whose green house still stands on Washington Street. 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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