Peak foliage, when leaves are at their most vibrant and colorful, is an unfailingly beautiful time of year. Why not prolong it and chase the changing colors southbound along the Appalachian Trail, with stops along…
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Meet the New Yorker Who Has Been Solo Backpacking for More Than 50 Years
As J.R. Harris likes to tell it today, the first time he saw grass, he tried to smoke it. He’s joking, of course, but the rib illustrates how shocking an introduction to the backcountry…
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AT Redemption
This story was originally published in the Summer/Fall 2019 issue of Appalachia Journal. The fight broke out on a narrow ridge somewhere high above Davenport Gap, and I’m only slightly embarrassed to admit the first…
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How a Wild and Scenic Designation Will Protect Northeastern Rivers
What might be the most successful river cleanup you’ve never heard of just received a big assist from Washington, D.C. By the 1960s, the Nashua River—which runs between Worcester County, Mass., and Nashua, N.H.—had earned…
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Domestic Violence Survivors Find a Safe Space Outdoors at AMC’s Highland Center
The scars of domestic violence are not always visible. One traumatic act can have a lasting effect on a survivor, with the road to recovery requiring time and attention. For families, part of that healing…
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Finishing the Adirondack 46ers: A Hiker Reflects on Pausing at Number 42
I’ve long been haunted by the dream of a girl who could shrink mountains down to the size of her palm, slip them into her pockets, and carry them with her wherever she went. It’s…
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Rescue in the White Mountains
In August 2010, AMC Director of Huts and Pinkham James Wrigley received a call that a young hiker was in critical condition after falling hundreds of feet down steep sloping rock. The teen had been…
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Leave No Trace This Spring on These (Mostly) Paved Bike Trails
You know the feeling: Yesterday was rainy, but today the sun is out, the sky is clear, the temperature is creeping toward warm. It’s spring, and you’re ready to hit the bike trails. But hold…
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Beyond Hygge: How to Embrace Winter Outside as the Scandinavians Do
Many American families approach the snow and cold of winter as something to be endured, even feared. Scandinavian families, on the other hand, approach the cold as something to be embraced and enjoyed, and they…
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