- Top White Mountain 4,000-footer foliage hikes
- Get your hands dirty: family-friendly volunteer weekends with scenic fall backdrops
- Top picks: leaf peeping hikes in New England and the Mid-Atlantic
- Rustic weekend for New Yorkers: fall hawk migration in New Jersey’s Delaware Water Gap
1. Top White Mountain 4,000-footer foliage hikes
This fall, AMC is offering free hike itineraries with maps for its top 10 “4,000-Footer Foliage Hikes” in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. Recommended hikes include a family-friendly option, and beautiful fall colors are an added bonus for peak-baggers. The AMC Four Thousand Footer Club officially recognizes hikers who have summited all 48 4,000-foot peaks in New Hampshire. Each expert-picked hike is available through a five-day trial of AMC’s White Mountain Guide Online community and subscription service. For further details,
read AMC's press release>>
2. Get your hands dirty: family-friendly volunteer weekends with scenic fall backdrops
Make a meaningful contribution this fall and learn new skills in scenic mountain settings as part of a volunteer trail weekend. Parents work with their children and other volunteers on the trail crew clearing new growth and fallen trees, cleaning drains, and helping with other maintenance tasks on the trails near AMC's Mohican Outdoor Center in the Delaware Water Gap of New Jersey. Each year, the AMC depends on thousands of trail volunteers who contribute their time, energy, and enthusiasm through participation in trail programs.
3. Top picks: leaf peeping hikes in New England and the Mid-Atlantic
Some of the most rewarding views are the sole privilege of hikers emerging from under a forested color canopy to discover their own private vista or 360-degree views from atop bald summits. Following are a few top picks for short-to-moderate hikes in New Hampshire, Maine, and New Jersey. For closer to home excursions from Maine to Washington, D.C., turn to AMC's regional chapters and guidebooks.
- Mount Willard summit hike from AMC's Highland Lodge is widely considered to have some of the finest views in the White Mountains for the amount of effort required. The 3.2-mile round- trip hike has easy grades and good footing.
- From AMC's Pinkham Notch Visitor Center/Joe Dodge Lodge, short waterfall hikes offer a contrast of vibrant colors against rocky, grey ledges and frothy falls. Crystal Cascade is a short, 15-minute walk, and Square Ledge offers great fall foliage views across and up into Tuckerman and Huntington Ravines on Mt. Washington. Thompson Falls is a series of small cascades near the Wildcat Mountain Ski Area just down the road, and Glen Ellis Falls just over a mile away is a picturesque waterfall that plunges into a pool 70 feet below.
- Mount Cardigan, nicknamed "Old Baldy," is a favorite day-hike offering unobstructed views of the Lakes Region, White Mountains, and Vermont. Just a two-hour drive north of Boston, Mount Cardigan is also a great first "big mountain climb" for young families introducing their kids to the outdoors. At historic AMC Cardigan Lodge, located at the base of the mountain, family-style dinners, breakfasts, and trail lunches are offered throughout the fall full-service season to make planning easy.
- At Gulf Hagas, a slate-walled gorge known as the "Grand Canyon of Maine," vibrant fall colors are the backdrop for the narrow chutes, waterfalls, and rapids. AMC's Little Lyford Lodge and Cabins is located about a 2.5-mile hike from the head of the Gulf.
- An ideal jumping off point for a number of Appalachian Trail hikes in the Delaware Water Gap of New Jersey is AMC's Mohican Outdoor Center. For an easier, family-friendly hike past the local waterfalls down to the Delaware River, take the Coppermine Trail off of the Appalachian Trail. Go two miles past the Coppermine Falls and down to the river, where you can see the remains of abandoned mines that date back to the eighteenth century.
- Get more fall hike recommendations from AMC Outdoors: "Hike to a Fire Lookout," "Best Hikes in Sugar Maple Groves," and "Fall Hikes"
4. Rustic weekend for New Yorkers: fall hawk migration in New Jersey’s Delaware Water Gap
Every fall, New Jersey is a paradise for birdwatchers as northern populations of red-tails and other hawks migrate southward during September and October. According to AMC's "Nature Walks in New Jersey," one of the best places to view the migration is Raccoon Ridge, a peak in the Kittatinny Mountain Range. The advantage being far fewer people than at the more famous raptor-watching spot, Hawk Mountain, yet with more than 15,000 spottings in a typical migration. From the AMC’s Mohican Outdoor Center lodge, the 5.8-mile round-trip hike along the Appalachian Trail also rewards with a 360-degree view of the Delaware River Valley and the Great Valley of the Appalachians. Get seven more "Raptor Migrations" site recommendations from AMC Outdoors.
This fall, there's also a variety of special, fall-themed Weekend Getaways being hosted at Mohican Outdoor Center.
