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Great Late Summer Day Hikes, Angel’s Landing, Zion National Park

Last October, I made the wise decision to spend four days in Zion National Park with two of my close friends from college. On our last day, we climbed 1500 feet above the canyon floor on one of Zion’s steepest ascents, Angel’s Landing. The trail starts gradually on switchbacks through a pine forest, soon entering a shaded section called Refrigerator Canyon. The grade increases rapidly, along with your heart rate, when you enter Walter’s Wiggle’s, a series of zigzags that leads to the first overlook. This is where the fun begins. The canyon wall extends out to a precarious perch, Angel’s Landing, which can only be reached by clambering up rock steps while holding on to a chain cable. Look down on either side of the narrow trail and you’ll spot the valley far below.

 
A California condor with wingspan over five feet gracefully glided directly above us, before landing on the leafless branches of a dead tree. We reached the top of the monolith, a flat rocky plateau, and looked at the ring of red canyon walls, taking in our last vistas of mighty Zion. I felt like the Road Runner, atop one of those elevated peaks, before Wile E. Coyote tries to blow him to smithereens. I looked down at the plunging cliffs and remarkably, spotted a rock climber, slowly making his way up.
 
You can read about all of our adventures at Go Magazine.
 
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Great Late Summer Day Hikes, Blue Mountain, Adirondacks

Although it took 26 hours or more on railroads, stagecoaches, and steamboats to get to Blue Mountain Lake from New York City in the 1870s, the remoteness of the Adirondacks proved to be more of an attraction than a deterrent. The wealthy elite, including J.P. Morgan, William Whitney, and Alfred Vanderbilt bought large tracts of lands and built themselves "great camps," sprawling collections of handsome log buildings with massive stone fireplaces. To make traveling more pleasurable, they would create their own private railway car, complete with brass railings, shower, card room, and bed. A fine example of this is on view in the Age of Horses Building at the Adirondack Museum.  

 
Just up the road is the trail to the peak of Blue Mountain.  I took this 2-mile path on a cloudless day, when the bright sun beat down, forcing me to stop and hydrate. An hour later, I reached the summit. Soaked with sweat, I tore off my shirt, took another gulp of water and then stared at the surroundings. Anonymous mountains tumbled over one another, their slopes forming a sea of green. Blue Mountain Lake stood before me, a speck compared to the much larger Long and Raquette Lakes that shimmered in the distance. These names I remember from my adolescence when I canoed a string of lakes, ponds, and rivers nearly 100 miles from Old Forge through Blue Mountain, Long, and Raquette Lakes to the Saranac Lakes in the north. Whether you hike, paddle or sail like my parents loved, you’ll be rewarded for your efforts in the Adirondacks. 
 
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Great Late Summer Day Hikes: Climbing Monadnock

Climbing the broad-shouldered peak Henry David Thoreau called a “sublime mass,” Mt. Monadnock, is a rite of passage for many New England children. Just over the border of Massachusetts in southern New Hampshire, Monadnock is less than a two-hour drive from Boston. Its accessibility and locale, smack dab in the center of New England, has made it one of the two most popular mountain ascents in the world going toe-to-toe with Japan’s Mount Fuji. 

 
Early September, when the black flies are long gone and the first hints of fall color can be seen, is the ideal time to bag this 3,165-foot peak. Head up the White Dot trail, one of the steepest ascents, but also one that rewards with you with incredible vistas in a very short time. Above treeline, the forest recedes to form open ledges covered with low-lying shrubs like mountain cranberry bushes. This gives you ample opportunity to rest and peer down at the soft blanket of treetops, small towns with their requisite white steeples, a smattering of lakes and ponds, and farms that fan out to anonymous ridges. Soon you’ll reach the summit, where Thoreau watched in dismay as his fellow mid-19th century trampers inscribed their names in rock. You can still spot names like “T.S. Spaulding, 1853” clearly etched in the stone. 
 
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Just Ask Jeeves: The Rise of Butler Service in the Travel Industry

Walk into the Lanesborough Hotel at London’s Hyde Park Corner and you’re immediately escorted to your room, where you are introduced to your butler, who is there to be your personal assistant for the rest of your stay. He’ll unpack for you, set up your WiFi, make restaurant reservations, draw your bath, make hotel transfers, wake you up with coffee and tea, be a personal shopper, and a whole lot more if need be. 
 
“We’ll do anything as long as it’s legal,” says the Lanesborough’s head butler, Daniel Jordaan. In the past, that has included cutting a businessman’s hair who was late for a meeting; finding reindeer from a farm, little people to dress up as elves, Santa, and a snow machine for an impromptu Christmas party; redecorating a private hospital room in the style of the Lanesborough after a woman had come to London to give birth; and sending a courier on the Eurostar train to Paris to have a confidential document signed urgently.
 
Blame it on Carson, the hard-working butler who runs a tight ship on the popular television series, Downton Abbey, but more and more high-end clientele are yearning for yesteryear when personal service extended from the hotel or cruise line’s concierge to inside the suite. With the addition of butlers, hoteliers now have the opportunity to service their guests behind closed doors. 
 
 
I’m off with my son, Jake, to the first of many college visits this fall. I’ll be back on Tuesday, September 3rd. Enjoy the weekend, and, as always, keep active! 
 
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Put Naumkeag on Your Berkshires Must-Do List

If you’re heading up to Tanglewood this week to catch the NPR show, “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” on Thursday night or Harry Connick, Jr. on Saturday night, make a slight detour and check out what’s happening at nearby Naumkeag in Stockbridge. Formerly owned by the Choate Family of New York before it was bequeathed to The Trustees of Reservations in 1958, Naumkeag is a 44-room Berkshires “Cottage” from the Gilded Age, filled with arts, antiques, and collections around from around the world. But it’s the outdoor gardens that truly inspire, a masterpiece of 30 years of collaborative work by former owner, Mabel Choate, and her dear friend, Fletcher Steele, one of America’s first modern landscape architects. 

 
Described by the Library of American Landscape History as a “playground for the imagination,” The Trustees have just completed Phase 1 of an extensive 5-phase, 3-year, $3 million garden and landscape restoration project designed to rejuvenate the gardens and bring them back to Choate and Steele’s original vision. The transformation includes the renovation of Fletcher Steele’s iconic Blue Steps, one of the most photographed features in 20th-century American landscape design, celebrating its 75th Anniversary this summer.
 
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Inaugural Crossroads International Celtic Festival to Be Held in Western Maine

Just in case you need another excuse to visit the glorious mountains and large lakes of western Maine, the region is holding its first Crossroads International Celtic Festival September 11-15. More than 100 entertainers including musicians, singers, dancers and storytellers from all over the Celtic world will descend on the region for a series of performances. The unique choice of venues include Stratton Brook, the newest hut in the Maine Huts and Trails system, and Church of the Good Shepherd in one of my favorite towns in the state, Rangeley. One performance that should not be missed is the “Fiddles on the Frontier” show Thursday, September 12th at 7 pm at the Eustis Community Building in Stratton. The list of impressive fiddlers includes Cape Breton’s Dwayne Cote and Rachel Davis. Better be ready to dance! 

 
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Boston Primer for Incoming College Freshman and Parents

Many families are dropping their kids off this week at colleges across the US. If you happen to be hitting Boston, here’s a tip sheet I originally wrote for The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine.
 
In Harvard Square, the Charles Hotel (800-882-1818; www.charleshotel.com) is within easy walking distance to the campus. Upstairs, renowned Boston chef Jody Adams is working her magic at Rialto (617-661-5050; www.rialto-restaurant.com), while across the hallway at Henrietta’s Table (617-661-5005; www.henriettastable.com), Peter Davis is known for his love of local produce, cheese, fish, and microbrews. 
 
Closer to the M.I.T. campus, the boutique Kendall Hotel (866-566-1300; http://kendallhotel.com) was built within the shell of a former firehouse. Down Mass Ave, Miracle of Science (617-868-ATOM; http://miracleofscience.us) offers large burgers and tasty veggie skewers. Cornmeal fried oysters, pecan-studded catfish, and other tantalizing southern treats can be found within cozy confines of Hungry Mother (617-499-0090; www.hungrymothercambridge.com). 
 
Hyatt Place in Medford (781-395-8500; http://bostonmedford.place.hyatt.com) has discounted rates for families visiting Tufts. Tu Y Yo (617-623-5411; http://tuyyo2.com) serves authentic Mexican fare like chicken in a mole sauce in neighboring Somerville. 
 
A central hub for Boston University students is Kenmore Square. Stay at the Hotel Commonwealth (617-933-5000; www.hotelcommonwealth.com) and then head downstairs to dine at one of the best seafood restaurants in town, Island Creek Oyster Bar (617-532-5300; http://islandcreekoysterbar.com). BU students also like UBurger (617-536-0488; http://uburgerboston.com), with two locations nearby. 
 
Prospective Boston College students and their families can stay in Brookline’s Coolidge Corner at the Courtyard by Marriott (617-734-1393; www.marriott.com). There are a slew of restaurants in walking distance, including the deli, Zaftigs (617-975-0075; www.zaftigs.com), and Vietnamese food at Pho Lemongrass (617-731-8600; www.pholemongrass.com).  
 
Hotel Indigo (617-969-5300; www.newtonboutiquehotel.com) and the Sheraton Needham (781-444-1110; www.starwoodhotels.com), both off Route 128, are good places to stay if you’re visiting Brandeis, Wellesley, and Babson. Ming Tsai wows the suburban crowds with his pan-Asian fare at Blue Ginger (781-283-5790; http://ming.com/blueginger.htm) in Wellesley. Several blocks away, Café Mangal (781-235-5322; www.cafemangal.com) is known for their mega-sized salads. Within walking distance of the Sheraton Needham, Spiga (781-449-5600; http://spigaristorante.com) serves excellent pastas, thin pizzas, and other Italian fare. 
 
If you’re visiting other colleges in the Northeast this fall like Williams, Wesleyan, and Cornell, please consult the original article. 
 
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Seeing is Beleafing

Vermont is rolling out fresh video each week this autumn to give wannabe leaf peepers an accurate assessment of what they’ll see when heading to the state. In the first video in the “Seeing is Beleafing” series, Jen Butson, an old friend from Ski Vermont, gets the plump assignment of going hot air ballooning over Lake Champlain and surrounding rolling fields. The webpage VermontVacation.com/fall will keep you updated with foliage reports and feature weekly recommended driving routes, events, deals and another celebration of the season, Apple to iPods, where visitors to 20 Vermont apple orchards can search for wooden apples and win an Apple iPod, beginning September 7.

 
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Put Yonder on Your Smart Phone

Employed as a travel and outdoors writer these past 23 years, my main goal has always been to direct people to locales that have inspired me. That’s why I love the new technology, because it makes it even easier to find gems in the rough. Take the app, Yonder, designed by a Vermont-based company, Green Mountain Digital, which just received a fresh influx of cash from Monster Worldwide. The photo/video sharing app helps you to locate nearby natural wonders. So if I’m hanging out in Burlington for the day and want to work off that growler of Switchback Ale, I can find a nearby hike to a waterfall or sea kayak to a lonely Lake Champlain isle, all recommended by locals who know the region well. What Yelp did for food, Yonder will do for nature. 

 
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A Wonderful Week at The Basin Harbor Club

To celebrate my mother-in-law’s 80th birthday, my wife’s family headed to the Basin Harbor Club last week. And what a spectacular week it was! 127 years after Ardelia Beach started taking in summer boarders at her 225-acre working farm on the shores of Lake Champlain, the club’s fourth-generation hosts, siblings Bob and Pennie Beach, are proving that a family business can prosper over time. It helps that they have one of the premier locales on the lake, 740 acres overlooking one of the narrowest parts of Champlain. We did it all—golf, tennis, sail, sea kayak, stand-up paddleboard, swim to the trampoline, and my favorite activity of all, biking. Basin Harbor Club is based in Addison Valley, one of the most fertile parts of the state, where around every bend is a dairy farm, rolled hay, a carpet of emerald green, views of the lake, and the Adirondack and Green Mountains forming a ridge of peaks on either side of you. 

 
Basin Harbor Club is perfect for multi-generation family reunions, because everyone can do what they want during the day and meet for dinner that evening. The food was surprisingly good for a property that offers all-inclusive rates. A highlight was the lobster clambake on the shores of the lake while the sun was setting. Magical! The following day, we danced to a live band playing Nat King Cole favorites as we celebrated my 16th birthday (at least that’s what it said in the daily newsletter). Not surprisingly, many families book the same cottage for the same week the following year before they leave. No doubt, we’ll be joining them.