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Great that it gets the kids outside! But it won't be long before we hear "I was trying to catch the Ponyta that was just at the bottom of that ravine, and..."

Excellent- bet he felt great carrying some of Dad's stuff for a change! Usually 1st-2nd degree scald burns don't scar permanently if you treat them right away and keep them uber-clean. Silvadene is really good stuff. Might take 4-6 mos to heal completely. I poured a couple gallons of boiling...

Keep it clean and covered with clothing when possible. Use sunscreen meticulously for intact skin that is sun exposed- though it sounds like your situation won't be exposed, those pigment cells will take a few months to come back and a sunburn could result in permanent discoloration. Been...

This one is still my best moose pic (and still my avatar) though now 10 years old. Taken with an old flip phone camera too, no telephoto or anything! We were probably 20 feet away, on the Chimney Pond Trail near Basin Ponds. TPBM is a monorail not located in Disney World.

Funny how they do that... I would think actuarially that non-technical hiking would actually decrease your chances of dying over a long term, through mental and physical health benefits. My life insurance guy said that as long as I did not do technical climbing (eg need ropes) when I applied for...

IMHO, every hike is great. North Brother's very nice too- just as pretty and a lot more solitude. Everyone's different- for me it was who I was with, more than anything. Finished my 67 on Ellen with my Dad, a few yards from the top of the ski area, nothing special about the peak or anything but...

Yes, the KE is almost as variable as Mahoosuc Notch when it comes to time it takes to do it. The actual vertical matters little - with the biggest variability getting down and up the chimney just as you leave Pamola. Some scramble down and up in a couple minutes, others need - ahem- a figurative...

Those are my favorites as well, used them for 30+ years (wow I am getting old). The original Merrell Wilderness model was almost identical to the custom Limmers (full leather liners too!!) , then they got kind of cheap but still were fairly good. Typically one round of re-soling then the uppers...

Hard for me to tell why they said "inanition" as opposed to some other peaceful natural cause. All they had was bones, no soft tissue, and a well-made campsite. There was no mention of any clues about how long the campsite had been occupied. Might well have been a sudden natural cause (cardiac...

I like 'em both but you can't drive TRR in winter. The easternmost part is only gated below treeline when it's real bad, though, and in Oct/November it is INCREDIBLE if you can get up to around 11K. The Kanc gives it a real run for its money on a sunny day after a fresh snowfall though.

You know, if you do learn to XC ski and work your way up quickly to ungroomed trails, it's well worth a try to broaden your winter transportation horizons. It can really be a lot of fun. Re: Carrigain: Once you get the hang of skiing in the woods, Sawyer River Rd and even the first mile or two...

Totally. Good point for novices- bring twice as much fuel as you would in summer. Also logistically if you have a group, it often takes one person's whole attention to be the snow melter when you make camp, and if they don't have to do that, you can make camp quicker. Just don't get the water...

That's why I wrote "usually". Longs is uncommonly tricky for a few reasons- northernmost 14er, close to civilization compared to most, very tough footing long before the summit push, possibility to get trapped up high if the weather turns, more than typical exposure, etc. I have not summited it...

Yeah, but elevation isn't usually a survival factor here... people who venture out in winter conditions are usually acclimatized enough (eg living here, mostly) to make it a minor factor at most. Other than lightning, I've only run into serious to life threatening conditions in New England...

My experience in New England has been mainly ridges at or just below treeline. Carter Dome/Mt Hight, Flume-Liberty-Osseo, and a maddening sequence on the Webster-Jackson trail that found my brother and me in adjacent spruce traps at the same time and took a good half hour to get out of, once we...

Yes, do camp if the forecast is decent at all. Only weird thing about this year is the very strong El Nino, which has been known to pull wet and cold storms into Southern CA from time to time in the winter. Still, you probably have an 80-90% chance of being just fine during any given few day...

Hey Spencer! Glad to hear from you. Miss Maine for sure. Life has taken its toll here as well out in CO, though it's all good... ferrying teens around to various and sundry activities and school, and coping with Front Range traffic, has kept me from those things they call mountains that mostly...

I...am...SO JEALOUS. Awesome weekend! Still no snow here yet, and the leaves in the high country are gone. Just waiting. Still can bag the higher peaks, not for long though.

Those things are freaking enormous. Apparently they're native to Australia. Figures... as Bryson says, ANYTHING can be deadly in Australia!

My one experience: Way back in the early 80s when the trails in Franconia Notch were being renovated, my hiking partner and I had to ford the as-yet-unbridged creek at the bottom of the Liberty Spring Trail after bailing on a Pemi traverse backpack. Perhaps a 10 yard rockhop, max, but it was...