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Climb Longs Peak, Colorado

Despite its forbidding East face and a summit of strewn boulders, Rocky Mountain National Park’s highest peak is climbed by hundreds in the summer months. Spend at least one night at 7,000 to 8,000 feet to adjust to the elevation and then begin this 15-mile round-trip (10 to 15 hours) hike in the wee morning hours. Starting at the East Longs Peak trailhead (9400 feet and a 90-minute drive from Denver), the first six miles is a moderate ascent through a forest of sub-alpine fir, Engelmann spruce, and what the Germans call krummholz (crooked timber). At aptly named Boulder Field (12,760 feet), the path steepens as you begin the Keyhole Route to the top. Here, the above-treeline ledges resemble a cliffside stairway, albeit without handrail. The final “Homestretch” is a scramble atop rocks as the Continental Divide and all the glorious splendor of the Rockies spread out on a carpet of green before you. Try to get off the 14,225-foot summit by noon, when summer thunderstorms often begin its daily light show on the exposed rock. Colorado Mountain School offers guided hikes up the mountain.  
 

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Up for Breakfast in Manchester, Vermont

Guest Post by Amy Perry Basseches 

Breakfast and brunch are the only meals you can get at Up for Breakfast (UFB), and you better believe they do them well. Open since 1989 in their unique and tiny second floor location (which has never thought of expansion — it’s just right this way), UFB is a casual and cozy spot with great food. Open 7am-12:30 pm (1:30 pm on Saturdays and Sundays), don’t miss it, at 4935 Main Street. Consider getting there on the early side for a table, no wait. We literally go on every trip to Manchester. I favor the Eggs Vegetarian (complete with artichoke hearts and fresh Hollandaise); my husband Josh likes the Wild Turkey Hash, or sometimes one of the amazing daily specials (or a special homemade sausage like pheasant with hazelnut and cognac).
 
Every time we visit, we see the same servers. It’s a family-run place. Owner Bonnie Bruce is well known in town. On a personal note, there was a front page story in the Boston Globe in 2016 about her family (not about UFB). The next time I went for a meal, I pulled her aside to say I had read the article and wanted to share a quiet moment with her. We ended up sitting and talking in the storage room off the small kitchen for quite a while. 
 
If your travels take you to Southern Vermont, let us know. ActiveTravels would be more than happy to help with lodgings, restaurant, and (indoor and outdoor) activity recommendations.
 
 
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Get into the Holiday Spirit at Newport

Decking the halls with boughs of holly is not such an easy task in Newport, Rhode Island. Their opulent estates are each a city block long. 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 Victorian dinners at the Astors’ Beechwood Mansion, tours of the rarely visited estate of Doris Duke, and lantern walks over the twisting cobblestone streets. 

 
Newport is also home to a slew of intriguing boutique shops. Near the mansions, Alloy Gallery (125 Bellevue Avenue) is owned by a Rhode Island School of Design-trained jewelry artist who displays contemporary wares created by her and her colleagues. On the corner of Spring and Church, Macdowell Pottery features crafts, towels, and women’s scarves. More women’s clothing—blouses, dresses, and jackets adorned with colorful summer prints, can be found at Tyler Boe, at Bannister’s Wharf. The 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, and my personal favorite, the Gurglepot, a jug that makes a gurgling noise when pouring water. 
 
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Top 5 Fall Foliage Picks in New England, Hiking a White Mountain, New Hampshire

The bugs are gone, the threat of a late spring snow washed away, and the leaves are already starting to change color. Not to mention, you don’t have to face the summer crowds on the trails. These reasons alone should make you want to fill up your water bottle, bag a lunch with requisite mackintosh apples and hit the Whites. Start with the Falling Waters trail up to the peak of 5,228-foot Mt. Lafayette. Strolling alongside a series of spectacular waterfalls, and then making the climb to a 1.7-mile ridge walk between two of the White Mountains’ loftiest peaks, it’s no wonder this is one of the finest day hikes in New England. Grab some lemonade at the AMC’s Greenleaf Hut, or if you were wise, you booked a bunk for the night to savor the spectacular mountain panorama without rushing down. If you prefer a less strenuous hike, try Mt. Willard. In less than an hour, you’ll make it to the peak where jaw-dropping views of Crawford Notch stand below you, a reward for your accomplishment.
 

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Top 5 Beaches in New England to Be Active: Mountain Bike Bluff Point Beach, Connecticut

Feel like mountain biking to the beach? At the 778-acre Bluff Point State Park in Groton, a dirt road lines Poquonock River as you head straight to Bluff Point Beach. If you want to ride by your lonesome, numerous singletracks spread out in every direction from the main trail like spokes on a wheel. Choose one and ramble along the shores or inland to the John Winthrop house, dating from the early 1700s. Take a breather on the rocky bluffs where you can see directly across the Long Island Sound to New York’s Fishers Island and left to Rhode Island’s Watch Hill.
 

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Top 5 Paddling Spots in America, Allagash River, Maine

Maine’s rivers have attained near-celebrity status from paddlers nationwide. Mention the Allagash River to a canoeist and his eyes suddenly become moist and dreamy as he inevitably responds, “Yeah, I’d like to go there someday.” The river has somehow attained legendary stature. Perhaps it’s the way the blue streak of water slips off the map of America’s northern fringes, remote and isolated, hundreds of miles from the nearest metropolis. Or maybe it’s the legacy of writer, philosopher, and inveterate traveler Henry David Thoreau, who ventured down the waterway a mere 140 years ago, waxing lyrically about the last great frontier in the East in his book, The Maine Woods. Whatever the reason, the 92-mile Allagash Wilderness Waterway continues to lure 10,000-plus paddlers to its shores every summer, turning farfetched dreams into reality. Go with a trusted guide like Mahoosuc Guide Service, who led me down the West Branch of the Penobscot River in Maine last fall. That led to an article in this month’s Sierra Magazine.
 

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Play Outdoors in the Finger Lakes and You’ve Earned That Glass of Wine

Tomorrow, I’m heading to Ithaca, New York, to drop Jake off at Cornell University for his first semester of college. To relieve the impending void of not seeing my son everyday, I plan to immerse myself in the landscape of the Finger Lakes. Known for its award-winning Rieslings, the Finger Lakes deserve its reputation as one of the best spots in America to go wine tasting. Yet, its resplendent beauty also lends itself well to adventure. This is a pastoral region of New York State, where farmland rolls to bluffs high above the long lakes and waterfalls plunge down the many gorges. At Watkins Glen, I’ll hike amidst the canyon walls and watch the powerful surge of water. Watkins Glen is at the southern end of 38-mile Seneca Lake, an ideal place to go on a sunset sail aboard a schooner. The next day I’ll head to nearby Keuka Lake and bike the 20-mile Bluff Ride that starts at Keuka College on a quiet peninsula jutting out into the water. For a final taste of the countryside, I’ll paddle the same river that inspired Mark Twain, the Chemung. Vineyards surround all of the lakes, so after my day of adventure, I’ll reap the rewards and yes, drown my sorrows. 

 

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