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Climb Mount Craig, North Carolina

The Black Mountains encompass North Carolina’s highest peaks, including Mt. Mitchell (6,684 feet) and Mt. Craig (6,645 feet), the two tallest summits east of the Mississippi River. On the 12-mile (one-way) Black Mountain Crest Trail (a 2 ½-hour drive from Charlotte), Craig is just one of a half-dozen peaks over 6,000 feet climbers get to bag.  Leave the Mt. Mitchell State Park through a forest of hemlock, spruce, and pine, and within a mile, you’ll be atop Craig. This is the start of a magical ridge walk among ferns, blackberry bushes, moosewood, spruce, and fir as you climb up and down the serrated crest of the Blacks. Small gaps separate the peaks, where surging streams come tumbling down the dense vegetation. It’s best to take this path with a buddy and leave a second car at Bowlen’s Creek, the trail’s end.  
 
I’m off to Costa Rica, back August 9th. Enjoy the heart of the summer and keep climbing!
 

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Favorite Fall Outings in New England, Visiting Weir Farm, Connecticut

Sort of ironic that the only time I’ve ever been published in National Parks Magazine, the National Parks are closed due to a government shutdown. When congress gets their act together, be sure to visit the 60-acre Weir Farm National Historic Site. This serene pastoral setting in southeastern Connecticut, an hour’s drive from Manhattan, is home to the only national park unit devoted to American painting. Century-old barns and a homestead still stand, stone walls are built around fields of swaying grass, and a large pond is lost in a canopy of tall maples and birches. They would become the fodder for J. Alden Weir’s ambitious body of work. Weir’s early paintings reflect an appreciation for the scenery of rural life—dogs sleeping in the tall grass, his wife Anna sitting on the steps that lead to the house. By the latter half of the 1880s, he began to show an interest in painting landscapes, possibly due to the influence of his friends and fellow painters, Childe Hassam and John Twachtman, who often visited the farm to fish and paint the grounds. These weren’t the grand theatrical landscapes of his American predecessors, Thomas Cole and Frederick Church, but intimate portrayals of pasture, thickets of trees, barns, and meandering stone walls. Have a look and don’t forget the sketchbook. 

 
Photo by Tim Washer/FLICKR
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Liftopia Offering Discounted Lift Tickets for Super Bowl Sunday

Liftopia should always be your first stop before heading to the mountain. They have deals at over 150 ski resorts in America. Pick the date and ski area you’re headed to and you could get a serious reduction on the price of a lift ticket. This week, Liftopia is offering its biggest sale of the year. You can grab savings of up to 70% off lift tickets at more than 200 ski resorts for Super Bowl Sunday. With the game starting at 6 pm EST, you have plenty of time to hit the slopes before the game. In Vermont, lift tickets at Bolton Valley start at $20, Okemo at $65. New Hampshire’s Ragged Mountain will be offering lift tickets for $48. In Utah, Solitude is offering tickets for $55. In Colorado, ski Copper for $72. The list goes on and on! While you’re on the Liftopia website, check out my blog. 

 
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Four Seasons Astir Palace Athens to Open Early 2019

For those of you who want to see the Parthenon and then head out of the city to the nearby beaches, look no further than the new Four Seasons Astir Palace Athens, set to debut early next year. Only a 30-minute drive from downtown Athens, the 303-room property fronts two beaches and houses 3 pools. There will also be a spa and a choice of 8 restaurants and bars. It’s the perfect venue for starting or ending your trip to Greece, only a 30-minute drive from the international airport. Also be on the lookout for the Four Seasons Resort and Residences Napa Valley, slated to open the summer of 2019. Set on a serene vineyard in Napa, the property will feature 85 villas, each with a fireplace and private terrace. If either resort looks enticing, please send us your dates and ActiveTravels will be happy to check pricing and availability. 

 
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Additional Adventures Led by Mountain Travel Sobek in 2012

I’d be remiss to only discuss Mountain Travel Sobek’s intriguing trip to North Korea in September. MTS has a slew of other phenomenal trips scheduled this year including their first-ever trans-Himalayan trek in Nar & Phu: The Forbidden Valleys of Nepal, for dedicated high altitude trekkers. Other new adventures they’re launching in 2012 include a 28-day trek that stretches from coast to coast across Iceland, hiking in the Swiss Alps and staying at classic Swiss lodges for the more moderate hiker, and a 9-day rafting and trekking adventure in the Annapurna Range. Also, don’t steer away from their more traditional rafting adventures, especially on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River and Alaska’s Tatshenshini, two of the most adrenalin-pumping multi-day river outings in North America. 
 
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To Truly Relax on a Greek Island, Head to Tilos

This time of year, late August, and my mind starts to wander to the southern Mediterranean. September and October is the ideal time to visit Greece and Turkey. Temperatures start to cool down a bit and the summer crowds have departed, returning the Mediterranean coast and islands back to their rightful owners. This week, I’m going to delve into some of my favorite Turkish and Greek locales. First stop, Tilos.

Tilos is an island where the locals, still unaccustomed to tourists, greet you as if you lived there your whole life. A place where one picks fresh figs off the tree and finds deserted medieval castles that request no admission fee. Tilos lies approximately 65 kilometers due east of Rhodes and 40 kilometers due south of Kos in the Dodecanese Islands. With a population of only 300 people, the island has a surprising number of readily available accommodations and restaurants, one of which makes some of the best Greek food I’ve ever tasted. Most of the tourist facilities line the sleepy port of Livadia, a town where the lone baker knows you on a first-name basis shortly after you arrive and a restaurateur gives you a free bottle of his favorite wine when you depart. Stay at the aptly named Dream Island on the beach at Livadia. Spacious rooms and patios overlook the sea. A family-run restaurant named Sofia’s is the gourmet dining choice in town. The restaurant is named after Sofia Economou, the matriarch and gracious hostess. Her husband does the cooking and his specialties include fried pumpkin with potato garlic dip, aubergine with tomatoes and Parmesan cheese, and the leanest and juiciest souvlaki we tasted in Greece.  Ferries leave from Rhodes to Tilos every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, returning Wednesday and Friday.
 

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Nova Scotia Week: Stand Up Paddleboarding at White Point Beach Resort

With its stunning seascape, sheltered coves, and vast array of sealife and birdlife, Nova Scotia is blessed with some of the best sea kayaking imaginable. I had the good fortune to sea kayak in Cape Breton on my last trip and will be kayaking Lobster Bay from Ye Olde Argyle Lodge tomorrow afternoon. Before that jaunt, however, I wanted to try a sport growing in popularity in the province, stand up paddleboarding. The classic summer retreat, White Point Beach Resort, is best known for the Atlantic Ocean surf that crashes ashore on the 1-kilometer long stretch of beach. Just inside the beach is Doggett’s Pond, a freshwater lake that’s ideally suited for SUP. I ventured out on the water with Glenn Parlee, owner of Liverpool Adventure Outfitters. Glenn’s been in the outdoor recreation business since 1985, taking full advantage of his spectacular locale to take folks biking along the shores of Liverpool, canoeing in the Mersey River, sea kayaking to one of the many desolate off-shore islands, and hiking In Kejimkujik National Park. Yesterday, we skirted the shoreline of Dockett Pond as he showed me some draw strokes, J strokes and sweeps to better guide the sturdy boards. We spent about an hour out on the lake by our lonesome watching a line of ducks swim by our side. The scenery was enchanting, the fragrant pines and paddling invigorating. 

 

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