[3/4 time]

Does anyone have a favorite hike, trip, or story from the past year that stands out?

My son and I spent 16 days camping, fishing, hiking and canoeing in the North Maine Woods. He kept track of the wildlife we saw. There were nine moose, five bears, three deer, three fox, and a mink came into our camp early one evening. He fished rivers, streams, ponds and lakes and lived off a steady diet of trout. We found an abandoned airstrip and he got to drive (15 years old) for two days up and down the runway. It was hot, cold, dry and wet and we had a blast.

[dudley]

I spent the majority of my outdoor recreation time out at our camp
We built a shed, moved rocks and stumps, cut trails, leveled campsites, worked on the swimmin' hole, and generally cleaned up the forest.
I see myself doing much the same this year as there's a collapsed foundation that needs to be dealt with and an old well that needs to be drained (the bodies cleaned out ) and relined. Plus we need some sort of pavilion type shelter

[Ben Smith]

I'd say the climb I did this August up the Whitney-Gilman ridge on Cannon Mountain (and the subsequent bushwhack down in rock climbing shoes ) would definitely have to rank as the best hike/climb for me this year. This was my first year out climbing on rock, so it was really rewarding to bag such a classic, and was my first ever experience with truly butt-puckering exposure. The whole forgetting my hiking boots and climbing back down in rock shoes was just icing on the cake (especially when trying to run across I-93 ).

Here's to a New Year of outdoor adventures everyone!

Whitney-Gilman trip report

[Ben Smith]

Did everyone else just have a miserable hiking season?!