About This Blog

This blog is about the New England Trail ("NET") and the landscape it crosses as the trail heads north from Long Island Sound to Mt. Monadnock  (and possibly beyond to Mt. Sunapee). It's about savoring the views, geology, plants, animals, and human history that make the New England Trail distinct from other scenic trails.

Slow "section hiking" (hiking a long trail in sections) over five years allowed for experiencing the trail in all four seasons, diversions onto side trails, museum tours, kayaking across the Connecticut River, the hunt for the inscriptions of Hospital Rock, hundreds of letterboxes, and more.

Millions of people live within a short drive of the NET, yet most do not know the trail exists. Or, if they do, they never consider following the trail from end to end. Hiking publications celebrate competitive hiking and may give the impression that trails like the NET are only for people who can easily knock off 20 miles a day with a backpack on. Most people can't do that, and it doesn't matter.  If you can cover five miles in a day over uneven terrain, handle the occasional rock "scramble" (using your hands), and know how to follow blazes and maps (or are willing to learn), you can hike the entire New England Trail. It's OK if it takes a few months or years.

I started doing the blog in 2012 because where I started hiking in Guilford, Connecticut, the trail is was in the process of being built. I was amazed to watch this newest National Scenic Trail being born. I hiked parts of the trail before the blazes were painted, and then had to stop because the rest of the trail wasn't even flagged yet.

Disclosure: My real goal at the start was to find all the letterboxes I could along the way.  For those not initiated into this cult, letterboxing involves finding hidden tupperwares out along the trail that contain little works of art in the form of a hand-carved rubber stamps.  You carry a logbook and "stamp in" when you find the box.  I do not talk about these letterboxes on the blog because that's a breach of letterboxing etiquette. If you're interested in what letterboxes might be out there, you'll need to find them on your own. Start with Atlas Quest and Letterboxing.org. I hid some letterboxes of my own in Connecticut and at Mt. Monadnock in New Hampshire.

The header photo for this blog is the view from the Metacomet Trail portion of the New England Trail on Ragged Mountain in Berlin, CT.