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Hiking The Narrows, Zion National Park

This week I’m celebrating the upcoming National Park Week, April 19-27, with some of my favorite hikes in America’s National Parks. Remember that all National Parks are free this weekend, April 19 and 20.

Zion’s most impressive hike is in the Narrows, where you walk in the Virgin River through a 1,000-foot-deep-chasm that’s a mere 20-feet wide. Check with a ranger on water levels, but usually a minimum age of 8 is advisable. You’ll need a wet suit and booties because of the cool water temperatures, but that’s a small price to pay to have this monster slot to yourself. With each step, the walls become narrower and narrower, and you quickly became lost in this paradigm of sandstone. Sun peeks through the notch of blue sky above, illuminating the walls in various shades of caramel, rouge, and tan. Water pours down sides of the curved walls to enhance the slick appeal. Amble through as much of the river as you want before turning back.  

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Favorite Drives in America, Fall Foliage Road Trip Through New England

October, when the summer crowds are gone and the snow has yet to drop, is my favorite time of year to cruise around the country. This week, I’m going to delve into some of those blessed routes. First up, a fall foliage drive around New England.

Start on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean in historic Portland, Maine. Grab an order of crispy French fries doused in truffle ketchup at Duckfat and then spend the night at Portland’s West End, a quiet residential neighborhood with many grand Victorian houses, including the Pomegranate Inn. The next morning, start your drive on Route 302 North through a web of waterways like large Sebago Lake. Soon you enter New Hampshire and pass the outlet stores in North Conway. In Glen, turn north on Route 16 and a mile later, you’ll go through a covered bridge into another era. The circular green of Jackson, ringed by inns, antique stores, and requisite white steeple, has been thriving as a resort town since the mid-nineteenth century. The allure is its proximity to Mt. Washington, the highest peak in New England. Just six miles up Route 16 is Pinkham Notch, home of the Appalachian Mountain Club and base of Mt. Washington. If you want your fall foliage drive to continue, take the Auto Road all the way to the summit. Or get out of the car and climb to Lowe’s Bald Spot, a 3,000-foot opening on Mt. Washington’s eastern slopes that rewards you with views of Mount Adams, Mount Madison and other presidential peaks. 

A right turn in Glen, New Hampshire, on Route 302 and a left turn in Bartlett onto Bear Notch Road begins your ascent the next day into the White Mountain National Forest. Eventually, you’ll reach the 34-mile Kancamagus Highway (Route 112), or “Kanc” as the locals call it, the state’s centerpiece for leaf peeping. Rising 3,000 feet, the Kanc snakes through the thick forest of the Whites. You’ll have plenty of places to stop and picnic, even take a hike as you travel west. 

Continue on Route 112 past I-93 and head south on a little known gem of a road, Route 10. The rising and falling route hugs the Connecticut River, hemmed in by farmland on either side. Patches of pumpkins, zucchini, and butternut squash line the route prior to entering the handsome village of Haverhill and its double Commons. Next up is Orford, New Hampshire, listed in the National Register of Historic Places for its seven Federal-style buildings, known as the Orford Ridge houses, constructed between 1773 and 1840.  Finally, you reach Hanover and its ivy-covered Georgian-style buildings, otherwise known as Dartmouth University.

Head west on Route 4 to reach Woodstock, Vermont. Home to one of the oldest operating country stores, a premier resort aptly named the Woodstock Inn, and the Marsh-Billings National Historic Park, Woodstock has long been a popular fall foliage destination. South of Woodstock on Route 106 is serious horse farm country where you can saddle up for a ride at places like Kedron Valley Stables. Veer right on Routes 131and 103 to reach Route 100 south. This is one of the finest stretches of country road in America—a bucolic mix of rolling farmland, covered bridges, and freshly painted churches—all in the shadows of the Green Mountains. Unfortunately, it was hammered by Hurricane Irene, so make sure to check with the state of Vermont to ensure there are no delays. You’ll pass some of the better known Vermont ski resorts like Okemo and Mt. Snow before reaching the Massachusetts border. Stretch your legs at Jamaica State Park, where a stroll along the West River leads to a waterfall. 

In Massachusetts, take Route 8 south into the industrial town of North Adams, home to Mass MoCA, the largest contemporary art museum in the country. If you can’t get enough color from the foliage, enter these converted warehouses for a splash of Sol Lewitt. For your final day’s drive, skip the Mass Pike and, instead opt for the smaller Route 2 east. This is the start of the scenic Mohawk Trail. Bordering an old Native American hiking trail through the mountains, the Mohawk Trail is a serpentine road that offers stunning lookouts onto the countryside. In Charlemont, the rapids of the Deerfield River come into view. As you get close to Boston, you’ll pass Concord, site of the first battle of the Revolutionary War, now the Minute Man National Historical Park. To return to Portland, simply take I-95 north for two hours to complete the route. This five to six-day drive is the ultimate fall foliage route!
 

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Nichole Bernier’s Debut Novel, The Unfinished Work of Elizabeth D.

I’ve had the good fortune to work with talented editors who could tweak your stories seamlessly, only enhancing your voice. I’ve also known editors who were used as staff writers, creating well-crafted stories. But very rarely did I find an editor who could do both jobs well, edit and write. One of the few exceptions was Nichole Bernier, my former editor at Boston Magazine. She was a wonderful editor to work with, sculpting each one of my stories effortlessly. I also looked forward to reading her intriguing work. So it comes as no surprise that Nichole’s debut novel was just released by Crown Books. Actually, when you consider she’s now a mother of five, it’s a marvel that she had time to pen one paragraph, let alone a book The Washington Post recently praised: “Why do we keep secrets from those we love most? Is it possible for mothers and fathers to have it all — work and family? Bernier’s excellent storytelling skills will keep you pondering long after the final page.”
 
Please join me as I plan to hear Nichole read from her book tonight at Brookline Booksmith at 7 pm. Or look at her home page for a list of readings this summer across the country, including Chicago, San Fran, and New York. Here’s a blurb about the novel:
 
Summer vacation with her family was supposed to be a restorative time for Kate, who’d lost her close friend Elizabeth in a plane crash. But when she inherits a trunk of Elizabeth’s journals, they reveal a woman far different than the cheerful wife and mother Kate thought she knew. The complicated portrait of Elizabeth — her upbringing, her marriage, and journey to motherhood — makes Kate question not just their friendship, but her own deepest beliefs about loyalty and honesty at a moment of uncertainty in her own marriage. When an unfamiliar man’s name appears in the pages, Kate realizes the extent of what she didn’t know about her friend — including where she was really going when she died.
 
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San Antonio Week—Strolling Through San Antonio Botanical Garden

It reached 90 degrees yesterday in San Antonio, but I kept nice and cool for part of the afternoon on the East Texas Pineywoods path at the San Antonio Botanical Garden. Shaded by tall sycamores and cedars, you loop around a pond, staring on the opposite shores at a circa-1850 log cabin straight out of East Texas. The 38-acre botanical garden is a placid retreat anytime of year, but it’s hard to top the springtime when roses in the Rose Garden, cactus flowers in the Cactus and Succulent Garden and the wine cup, a purple wildflower, on the Hill Country trail are all in bloom. And don’t get even get me started on the sweet-smelling jasmine at Watersaver Lane. I took a big whiff and had a natural high for the rest of the afternoon. A Japanese maple’s leaves were a tad crimson inside the bamboo walls of Japanese Garden. What got my attention, however, was a turtle sunbathing atop a rock formation that resembled a turtle. An architectural highlight was the glass-coned conservatory rooms that house rare palm trees, like the prickly bark of the Zambia palm, lush ferns, desert cacti, even an indoor waterfall. San Antonio offers a slew of intriguing sites, from the Alamo and other missions to the San Antonio Museum of Art, but don’t make the mistake of missing the botanical garden. It’s a gem.  

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My 5 Favorite Fall Adventures in North America, Canoeing the Penobscot River, Maine

In October 2009, I had the good fortune to paddle down the West Branch of the Penobscot River following in the current of the great naturalist and philosopher, Henry David Thoreau. Our guide was Kevin Slater, a legendary Maine paddler and dogsledder who learned these rivers and how to carve his own canoes and paddles from his mentor who he simply called, “the Old Timer.” We spent four glorious days on the water, with few other paddlers, spotting moose, bear, loons, and osprey. In the backdrop was mighty Mount Katahdin, the ending point of the Appalachian Trail. The story appeared in Sierra Magazine, the publication of the Sierra Club. If you want to paddle with Slater on the Penobscot or the Allagash River, another dreamy paddle, you can contact him at Mahoosuc Guide Service. 

 
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Ski Revelstoke

Those same summer guides that took my family rock climbing and white water rafting in the Canadian Rockies this summer are hardcore skiers once the first snow falls. And which ski area were those guides raving about? Revelstoke. Located about two hours northeast of the Kelowna Airport in eastern BC, Revelstoke has the most vertical in North America, attracting the expert skier who wants a taste of the Selkirk powder, via traditional ski trails, heli-skiing, or cat skiing. The only knock against the ski area was its lack of terrain and infrastructure for young families. That’s all about to change. New for the 2011/2012 ski season is a new beginner’s slope with snowmaking, a tubing park, a kid’s outdoor center, and new child care facilities. Watch out Whistler, because Revelstoke is starting to make a big push for international clientele.
 

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A Good Budget Choice for Toronto

I was in Toronto this May on my way to Niagara-on-the-Lake for a little biking, vino, and theater at the Shaw Festival, I was roaming around the city and found an intimate 6-room B&B called the Baldwin Village Inn. Located on Baldwin Street, a block known for its variety of good ethnic restaurants, and only a 2-block walk to the AGO, you’re in a great locale to check out the city. Rates start at $90 CDN a night, including continental breakfast, and reviews on TripAdvisor are excellent. 
 

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