Leave the leaves

Hiking is poetry, at least at the Robert Frost Interpretive Trail near Middlebury, VT. The walking is easy, the views are lovely and the poetry inspiring.   Would you rather be raking the lawn or admiring the views? Thanks to the falling leaves, any little hill can have spectacular views at this time of the year. This overlook on King Mountain in Gatineau Park in Quebec has placards to describe the geology and natural history of the landscape below.

“This is the outdoor police! You, with the rake! Yes, you! Put the rake down, now! Step away from the rake and there won’t be any trouble.”

Seriously, these late autumn days are so beautiful that wasting them on yard work should be considered a prosecutable crime.

There’s only so much bare-ground and open-water time left before winter sets in. This is the perfect time for a hike, a bike ride, or a paddle down a lazy river.

Even if you absolutely have to spend part of a day on your yard work, there’s still time to do something fun. After all, you’ve already gotten a pretty good workout by raking and hauling leaves, so you don’t have to work quite as hard. Instead, you can just concentrate on the fun.

Heading to the high mountains at this time of year is a major expedition. You’d better be fully prepared for winter conditions, and that means a heavy pack toting shelter and survival gear, food and plenty of warm clothing.

Don’t think it’s necessary? It’s snowing hard on Sugarloaf, Mount Washington, Mount Mansfield and Whiteface as I write this. It’s pretty safe to assume that conditions are much the same on the nearby high hills of northern New York and New England. Anyone on top of a mountain today without winter gear is in trouble.

But the lower hills are particularly inviting at this time of year. There is almost always time to throw a jacket, hat and your raingear in your pack (don’t leave home without it!) add a flashlight or headlamp because it gets dark early and quickly now, and take off for the nearest hill or ridgeline

It doesn’t have to be anything major to be fun. Any stroll is better than none. Everywhere I go lately, I seem to find short trails with markers and plaques that will teach you something about the land you are walking through or the people who once lived there.

I recently found a beauty called King Mountain Trail in Gatineau Park (www.canadascapital.gc.ca/gatineau ) just north of Ottawa, Canada. The trail was only a mile and a half long round trip (perfect for little kids and people who don’t get along quite as spryly as they used to) but the views were spectacular and the information on the plaques along the trail detailing the different biomes and plant life and the landscape and geology were first rate, Check it out if you are up that way.

Or check out the Robert Frost Interpretive Trail  in the Green Mountains National Forest along Route 125 just east of East Middlebury, VT. It’s a flat, easy 1.2 mile stroll with gorgeous views and bits of poetry to inspire you as you walk. Perfect for this moody time of year.

Out on Cape Cod the Salt Pond Visitors Center at the National Seashore in North Eastham there are a couple of short trails well worth walking. For a stroll, try the 1.2 mile trail which skirts the Nauset Marsh and provided beautiful views. Or, try the Buttonbush Trail which is only a quarter-mile long and accessible to anyone. A guide rope and Braille signage allows blind visitors to explore this entirely on their own.

Of course there are short trails on the hills near your home. Every town in this region has a hill nearby. Most of those hills have a trail. You just have to put down the rake and find them. Life isn’t a spectator sport. Get out and enjoy!

MOUNT WASHINGTON MAGIC

It only happens at this time of year and only on a few very, very special days. So you have to be on your toes and ready to go when the time is right. You have to wait for one of those beautifully crisp autumn days, after a cold front has passed through, when the skies are that endless blue that you never see at any other time of year. That’s the day to see magic.

“Magic” in this case is the summit of Mount Washington, all covered with snow and shining in the sunlight while the rest of the landscape is most gray and brown.

Though lots of hills will offer you a view of the northeast’s highest peak, my personal favorite is the summit of Mount Monadnock (here’s a pretty cool “unofficial” website about the mountain). Monadnock is an amazingly popular hiking destination, and if you’ve never been up it, you should. It’s the only spot from which you can see all six New England states.

Mount Washington is, as near as I can calculate just about 100 miles or a little more from the summit of Monadnock. Most of the time, you can’t see it. Even something as massive as a mountain can get lost in the brown haze that tends to collect on the horizons these days.

But if you choose the right day to climb Monadnock, the summit of Washington shines so brightly, right there in front of you, that you wonder how you could ever have missed it. It looks like the cloud lands from a fairy tale, but it’s real. With binoculars, you can even see the summit buildings and towers.

Worth the trip, and certainly more fun than raking.