New Year's Eve Traditions

Now that my brother and I are grown up, we end up with these hybrid holiday mash-ups at my parents' place, whenever we can get together and do it. Last year, we had a "Christmas" turkey one Saturday in February, and I kept wrapped Christmas presents for 13 months to give on this Christmas. We're also more likely to have Thanksgiving dinners with friends sometime in early November. It all starts to feel a little bit schizophrenic.

I'm ready now to start 2012 off right. And most New Year's traditions and customs seem to revolve around the belief that what happens on the first day of the year sets the tone for the next 364. So what do I need to do on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day to make sure I don't blow the whole thing?

My grandma believes in the "First Footer," a Scottish tradition. She used to insist that a short, dark-haired man be the first person through her door after midnight (before anyone leaves), that he walk through the house and exit through a different door. Most traditions suggest that the First Footer should be a tall dark-haired man, instead, and that he should bring small gifts, like a lump of coal or some salt.

The way Grandma tells it, the shortest, darkest man in town can have a pretty great night walking in the front and out the back door of each house in the neighborhood, stopping for a drink on his way through and bringing a year's worth of good luck to all his neighbors.

My friend Amy tells me that putting your wallet outside in the last moments of the old year and bringing it back after the clocks strike 12 will bring money into your life in the New Year. I tried it with her one year, and I can't say I struck any notable windfalls. Oh well.

My mother always serves ham on New Year's, because her mother did, too. Although her reasoning is more logical than mystical, (we had turkey for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and two turkeys in a week is too much) some people believe that pigs bring good luck, because unlike other livestock, they root with their snouts while moving forward. Plus, they are delicious.

Then there are the traditions that we just follow because they are delicious, fun or safe. When we were kids, after my parents decided that even driving across town on New Year's Eve was too much to pull off, my mom made a big batch of homemade Chex mix and my dad picked up frozen puff pastry appetizers and an endless stack of Keystone Cops, Marx Brothers and Monty Python movies. I try to preserve some of that.

My favorite New Year's celebrations have been small parties with board games, low-maintenance snacks and ample beverages, where no one has to drive anywhere. I'm hoping to start 2012 off with those traditions this year, with as little anxiety as possible about "doing it wrong."

Good luck to all of us!

10 Ways to Get Into the Holiday Spirit Without Spending a Fortune

The older I get, the shorter the time between Halloween and Christmas becomes. When I was a kid, the months of November and December were endless, even with all the days off from school. What is there to do between the time you hit the bottom of the Halloween candy bucket and the time you open your stocking on Christmas morning, while your exhausted parents slurp their coffee and bake last-minute Christmas treats?

Now I can't seem to find time to catch my breath, let alone catch the holiday spirit. There's the cooking and travel of Thanksgiving (not to mention all the dishes!) followed immediately by Christmas shopping, Christmas travel and cleaning for all the holiday company.

In years past, I found myself wandering the mall, foot-weary and wild-eyed, spending too much money on uninspired gifts for people I didn't care enough about to justify the stress I was experiencing. And with no snow yet, it all just seems pointless.

Even if you are without religious commitments for Christmas, there is still plenty to celebrate, including the end of another year, time with friends and loved ones and the Winter Solstice, which is on December 22nd this year.

Here are some ways to enjoy the magic of the holiday season without being caught up in religious or retail activities.

1. Watch something. Try a holiday classic for the whole family like A Charlie Brown Christmas or Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas. Charlie Brown is available on Hulu right now, and Emmet Otter is available for streaming on Netflix. If those are too wholesome, enjoy Die Hard, The Holiday, or Love Actually.


2. Mull something. Wine or apple cider, warmed with spices like cinnamon, cloves and cardamom pods makes your house smell cozy and inviting.

3. Give something. Collect your gently worn clothing and winter coats and donate them to Goodwill or to a local coat drive. Someone will be warmer this winter because of your effort and you will get a head start on your "Out with the old" New Year's resolution. Or set up a small, regular donation to a local food bank or other charity of your choice. A few minutes spent this season will help your favorite organization throughout the year.

4. Bake something. Ask your mom or grandma for your favorite childhood cookie recipe. Or, heck, search the internet for something chocolate-y or cinammon-y that you can share with friends and co-workers, or polish off yourself while watching Miracle on 34th Street for the 34th time.

5. Decorate something. Put up a tree, or if that's out of your budget (trees are expensive, dude) decorate your doorways or string a frame of lights around a window or section of wall. Hang garland, ornaments or holiday cards around the lights. Don't forget to get some mistletoe!

6. Walk somewhere. If you're not up for decorating your place, enjoy someone else's decorations. Walk down Main Street to see the decorations in the stores and at city hall or at the local park. Stop and ponder just how long it must take to light all the trees on the town common. Or bundle up and find a neighborhood with excellent lights and ogle them. Travel mugs of cocoa (with peppermint schnapps, if you'd rather) make this a little warmer on windy nights.

7. Plan something. Christmas is pretty much the end of the year. Take some quiet time to think about what you're proud of this year and what you'd like to do differently. Because if you wait until January 1st to make your resolutions, you might end up with "drink less" and "eat less Brie and more vegetables" because those are the sins on your mind. You are getting the gift of a whole new year to do amazing things, so taking an hour or so to decide what's important is a small investment.

8. Wear something. Pick out a cozy sweater or a shiny blouse in  red or green or silver. Find some dramatic snowflake earrings or an outrageous wreath pin. If you can't do it earnestly, organize an ugly holiday sweater event with your co-workers, and invite everyone to wear their most outrageous Christmas-wear. Look for something good at the thrift store when you donate those winter coats.

9. Make something. It doesn't matter if you are a master knitter or if your medium is magazine scraps and Elmer's glue. Decorate some cards or make a gift for someone special. Quick items like warm slippers or a handmade washcloth given with fancy soap make a thoughtful (and inexpensive) gift for a friend or relative.

10. Wrap something. It's tempting to wait until the last minute to wrap the gifts you bought and made this December. I mean, it's just paper, right? And isn't it more environmentally friendly to just give your presents in their shopping bags? Right, sure, but they look so nice all wrapped up, either under your tree or tucked in a corner of your living room. Put on the Christmas carol station on the radio and wrap gifts a few at a time.

Before you know it, Christmas will be here, and you, my skeptical, over-busy friend, will be ready. Happy Holidays!

Walden Pond

Walden Pond Reservation is one of my favorite parks in central Massachusetts. It is perfect for a summer beach day, if you don't mind the crowds, it is beautiful and quiet for a quick swim on a fall morning, and it is beautiful for a walk when the weather is too cold for swimming. It's easily accessible from Route 2, and parking is $5 per car.

It turns out it is also amazing in the fall. Walking trails wrap all the way around the pond.

Walden Pond also has the unique opportunity to see a replica of Henry David Thoreau's cabin, the place where he wrote Walden. 

The original cabin site is there too, further into the woods on the other side of the pond.

Anyway, Kevin and I went west along the pond from the main beach and then went up to the Esker trail when we reached the boat launch area. There were tons of families with young kids, couples, teens and other, larger groups all around the pond, but once we got up to the Esker trial, people were more spread out and it was a very nice walk. The leaves remaining on the trees were beautiful, and so were the golden leaves all over the trails. 

Two roads diverge in a wood...I know, wrong New England writer.

I really like this shrub, so much that I wanted to see the pond through it. Don't judge me.

Wyman Meadow is a little damper than I usually like my meadows, but it is supposed to be top notch for wildlife viewing.

We got to the MBTA railroad tracks that border the north edge of the pond.

Then we followed the pond around to Thoreau's Cove and the site of his original cabin. Apparently people bring rocks to the site to commemorate...something... This is where they thought the original house was, until they found the remains of the chimney in 1945.

                                      

These stones mark the boundaries of the original cabin. 

From there we crossed a cute little boardwalk, then accidentally ended up back at Route 126. We ducked back into the woods and took the Ridge Path and the Sherwood Trail (maybe?) back to the beach.

See how happy we were about it?

Back at the main beach, I lost my ever-loving mind, took off my shoes and socks and waded into the pond. Confidentially, that was my plan all along, and if it hadn't been quite so leafy, and if I had remembered my towel , I would have waded in a little further. It was beautiful! And it made a passerby say "Hot diggity!" People are strange.

Moderately chilly.

The pond itself is a glacial kettle-hole, 102 feet deep at its deepest point. That's one reason swimming across it is forbidden, which, um, I didn't know...on my last visit. I am bummed that I missed the chance for an October swim this year. Maybe I can get back in the early spring, before the crowds of sane people dust off their beach towels.

This is right after Kevin said "Be careful or you will get your pants wet." It is clearly too late.

Once my feet dried a little, we went back to the cabin replica, and I checked out the signage while Thoreau looked confused about Kevin's phone. 

Oh, I always wondered what my pond looked like from the air!

Here is a really cool post describing the construction of the house and giving some stats. The cabin is cozy and it makes me want to buy a Kindle and retreat from real life for the winter. Which, I'm pretty sure, is the modern equivalent of what Thoreau did. He was all, "You guys, stop being so commercial! It's way lame! Hey, Emerson, can I borrow some money and land so I can be Transcendental for a while? BRB and I'll dedicate my book to you, I swear!" 

Excuse me while I fantasize for a moment about ditching all my belongings and moving in here. 

Anyway, I highly recommend this as a day trip. In the summer, DCR recommends that you call ahead and make sure they haven't hit their cap of 1,000 visitors at a time. I've never had this problem, but I avoid going when it's super hot. The main beach features a building with bathrooms and changing areas. There is often an ice cream truck on site when you're all heated up from swimming or hiking. I get why Thoreau picked it, even if I think he might have been a selfish tool. A great writer, don't get me wrong, but a tool.


Total time: 2 hours
Distance: Nearly 1 mile along the Esker Trail, about 1 mile around the east side of the pond. Total: A bit less than 2 miles.
Cost: $5 for parking
Words of Wisdom: Bring a map because the trails are not clearly marked. It's very difficult to get lost, but we had a lot of questions and uncertainty along the way.

10 Best Things to Do Now that Daylight Savings Time is Over

I always get so excited when it's time to "fall back" in November. An extra hour of sleep? Yes, please! And then 4:30 pm comes and the sun is low in the sky and I think, "Wait, I take it back. I would rather have the daylight." It turns out I'm not the only one with mixed feelings. Nationally, daylight savings time was first established in 1918 in the U.S., but that law was repealed. The practice was popular again during World War II as an energy saving measure. It was finally standardized in 1966, but states can choose whether to play along. Study all this, because there will be a quiz.

It feels like the real start of winter for me. It's the beginning of dark, cold afternoons and limited hours to get yard work and errands done. But it's also the beginning of long, cozy evenings. To celebrate, try:

1. Building a fire: Bundle up and make s'mores around a campfire or fire pit on your patio. Or if you are really lucky and have a fireplace or a wood stove, it's time to get it cranking.
2. Making mulled cider: Whether you heat a whole gallon in your slow cooker or fancy it up on the grill like Bobby Flay, it's a perfect way to warm up a cold evening. This fancy Betty Crocker version is delicious for a fall party. 
3. Simmering some soup: No, not all my ways to celebrate the end of daylight savings time involve food, I swear. But a bowl of hot soup is the perfect dinner for a chilly, dark evening.
4. Baking homemade bread: To go with the soup! Try this one that does all the work on its own while you enjoy the precious hours of daylight.
5. Getting up early: If you're like me, you've been getting up in the dark for weeks now and you survived. Try setting your alarm a little earlier now that the sun is coming up earlier. Drink that coffee in an honest-to-goodness ceramic mug and get a jump on the day. Among other factors, increasing exposure to sunlight can help to improve mood during the grim winter months.
6. Going outside: Make the most of your daylight hours by taking a walk somewhere pretty before it gets too cold.  
7. Star-gazing: Go out and check out some fall constellations without staying up past your bedtime. Download an iPad app if you are as clueless as I am. Or go out and see the Leonid meteor shower on November 17th.
8. Playing Manhunt: Manhunt is a variation of hide-and-seek played in the dark. If your neighborhood is safe or you have a campus or park to play in, gather a bunch of friends. One person is "it," the Manhunter, and all the other players hide. Pick clear boundaries and keep it safe with rules about legit hiding spots. Pick an ending time so the champion isn't left hiding all night long. 
9. Making a night of it: Have a fall party combining several of the suggestions above. Or check out these other fall party ideas for kids or adults
10. Going to bed early: Round up your loved one or someone friendly and warm and enjoy some early evenings. The busy holiday season is coming, and soon spring will be here. Before you know it, you'll be busy with all kinds of parties and engagements. Take this opportunity to hibernate a little while you have the chance.

Cross-Country Skiing in Massachusetts

As I've said before, I go through phases where I berate myself for never doing anything and decide I need a hobby or a skill or a membership or a cause. Since this often happens in the middle of the night, I am usually more or less fully recovered by morning. (The exception is The Couch-to-5K Debacle of January 2010. But I will spare you the heartbreak and awkwardness of that adventure.)

Anyway, it snowed last night and I feel like winter has started without me. My lawn furniture is still in the yard and we never even pulled the tomato plants from the garden, or mowed the lawn one last time. So here I am with my Lazy Person's Mocha (instant cocoa and instant coffee) listening to Josh Ritter and thinking it's time to do something fun this winter.

My friends have tried to get me to try downhill skiing, but I took a few lessons in middle school and I've fallen down in the snow enough since then that I know having slippery feet on purpose is not my thing. I prefer much more control over my momentum, especially in cold conditions. Which leaves me with cross-country skiing. I have loved it the times I tried it, but never seem to have the time/money/transportation/company I need often enough to make it a habit.

These are some of the best places for cross-country skiing that I have found in central/eastern Massachusetts:

• Weston Ski Track off Rte 30 in Weston. They have 15 km of trails (how metric of them!) and sell trail passes and rental packages for $15 each for adults. The 3-day pass (any 3 days, not 3 in a row) for $39 looks like a good deal, as does evening skiing for $12.75. 
• Great Brook Ski Touring Center in Carlisle is a little more out of the way, but is accessible from 495 or Route 2. It might be worth it though because their trail pass is $12 on weekends and $10 weekdays and evenings. Their adult ski rental package is $13. The season pass is only $60, but I'm not sure I could get up there at least 5 times to make it worthwhile.
• Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation lists lots of state parks and forests with trails open for cross-country skiing, which works if you have your own equipment. Five dollars for parking, at most, gets you into any of these parks. 

Everything else was too far from Worcester, and not a good choice for snowy weather or exhausting activities. I guess this year I am limited to Great Brook or Weston, and maybe I'll find out I'm a skier and buy equipment for next year. Maybe. 

Playing Tourist in Your Hometown

Gather 'round, children, and I will tell you the story of my youthful naivete. When I was 17, I chose a college in Boston because, hey, it's Boston. I looked at other New England schools and the selling point on each tour was that it was "only X hours to Boston." So if that's where everyone is headed, why not go there? I had been to a Red Sox game as a kid, and to the Museum of Science, the Public Gardens, and the Common, and I loved it all.

So I packed up all my worldly possessions (everything was purple - picture it) and my parents moved me into an old apartment building cum dorm (I've always wanted to use "cum" that way in a sentence) in Boston. And then I got busy. I had new friends, lots of homework, and a job or two. I spent most of my meager income on pizza and bus tickets home to New Jersey. (Oh, and laundry. Never have quarters seemed so precious.)

Sure, we took walks and occasionally saw a show or had dinner, but I pretty much stuck to my campus and neighborhood. I loved Boston, but I rarely ventured further than Downtown Crossing because, heck, we had cable in the dorm. And after about two years of that, I was burned out on school so I quit and joined the circus took a year off and got accepted into AmeriCorps.

I spent a year in various towns and cities in the Southeast U.S. We worked hard for room, board and a stipend (but at least we didn't have to come up with laundry quarters, I think they covered that for us) and spent weekends looking for cheap entertainment. We hiked and visited historic sites. We called our families from beaches in November and I, personally, read a lot of books and wrote a lot of letters. But I came out of that year vowing to look at my home city in a new way and take advantage of all it had to offer. I made lists (lists are a big thing with me).

Then (you're hoping I learned my lesson by now) I moved back to Boston and (lather, rinse, repeat) I got busy. I graduated, moved to Montana, hiked a little and drank a lot of beer, moved back to Massachusetts to be closer to my family and any hope of a full-time job in my field, and pretty much stayed busy.

I rarely go into Boston anymore, unless I have company in town. I am about an hour away, but there is always something to do in the house, or kittens on the internet! But I'm still trying to enjoy my local area when I can.

Let's band together, put on our sandals, hike our black socks up to our Bermuda shorts, smear zinc oxide on our noses and shuffle aimlessly through our hometowns noticing things and taking pictures of them. For effect, it helps if you stop and ask directions to the place you are standing in front of. It's charming, I assure you.

Halloween Sight-Seeing - Salem, MA

This historic fright site gets extremely crowded around Halloween, because of its reputation as the site of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. It is currently home to the Salem Witch Museum, The New England Pirate Museum, Nathaniel Hawthorne's House of the Seven Gables and countless other museums and tourist sites that capitalize on Salem's haunted history. The Haunted Happenings website offers detailed information on Salem's attractions, so in lieu of reinventing the wheel, I will suggest that if you must go during October, you avoid Halloween and the weekends surrounding it, take public transportation and skip the wax museum, which is cheesy at best.

If you (or your out-of-town guests) insist on visiting Salem during October, your best bet is the Peabody Essex Museum, which is a beautiful art museum featuring the incredible 200-year-old home of a Chinese merchant, relocated to the museum. Like everything else, it is probably mobbed during the Halloween season, but it should be a relative oasis of calm in a sea of costumed teens.

Wachusett Mountain BBQFest

This weekend was BBQ Fest up at Wachusett Mountain. The mountain is an easy day trip from Boston or anywhere in central Massachusetts. There were awesome barbecue vendors, lots of booths selling food and crafts, and a beer tent with Shocktop, Sam Adams and Woodchuck Cider. I had a 1/2-pound hot dog with melted cheddar and pulled pork from Firefly's Barbecue. (I swear I shared it with Kevin!) My brother and sister-in-law said it was very similar to the layout and vendor assortment of Applefest last weekend, so I am glad I didn't get tickets for both. Later in the afternoon I had fried dough and a Woodchuck cider. Why is it that in Connecticut, you can get fried dough with marinara sauce and Parmesan cheese, and in Massachusetts it only comes with powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar? What is this world coming to?

Kevin and I rode to the top of the mountain on the Skyride (ski lift). The views from the top of the mountain were fantastic. I went to the top once before, during Taste of Wachusett a few weeks ago and that was a little better because the skies were clear.  But even on a cloudy day with intermittent rain showers, we could see the Boston skylilne, Mount Monadnock, Worcester, Springfield, and probably the Presidential Range of the White Mountains. We saw Mount Greylock to the northeast and identified the windmills in Winchendon that we kept passing on our camping trip in July.

Basically, the view from the top of Mount Wachusett is a to-do list for other trips I want to take in Massachusetts. Seeing them from 2000' up makes them seem so close! There was also a terrific view of the foliage. Kevin and I agreed that we need to climb Mount Wachusett sometime soon, too, instead of taking the slightly alarming trip up in the chair lift.

On the way out, I bought an assortment of dip mixes from one of the vendors: a super-garlicky one, pumpkin dip and gingerbread dip. I'm thinking ahead to holiday parties this year, for a change. We got a shuttle bus from the parking area to the event, which made parking painless. Overall, I wish BBQFest had a few more BBQ  vendors and a few fewer miscellaneous vendors, but the quality of the food was excellent and the setting is unbeatable. Music from The Volunteers (whose website lists them as the "premier touring show band" of the U.S. Army) made the long lines for lunch at each food vendor less monotonous. This is a great event for families, couples and friends, and I hope they do it again next year.

Foliage vs. Raking Leaves

I love fall...mostly. I love the cooler air and the fact that it is neither too hot nor too cool for most outdoor activities. As a teacher and life-long nerd, I love the beginning of the school year and all its sharp pencils and new shoes. I love leaf-peeping and apple-picking and cider donuts and hay rides and Halloween costumes.

But all of that comes with a price. I hate raking leaves. I get blisters from the rake; I finish the day tired and usually sweaty. And then, to add insult to injury, the leaves on my locust trees fall about 3 weeks later than all the other leaves in the yard. And then the neighbor's red maple drops its leaves after that. And then the locust drops its long, thin seed pods. Is it all worth it?

One October, a long time ago, I was in Charleston, South Carolina. Although the mornings were chilly, the days warmed up to the 80s and we spent the whole afternoon stripping off layers as we worked. I was in Miami by Thanksgiving and we had a campfire after our turkey and stuffing and roasted marshmallows on stripped palm fronds.

Another year, I was in Montana, which gets plenty of cool fall weather (it dropped to about 15 degrees on Halloween night that year) but has few deciduous trees up in the mountains. I took this right around this time in October, at Hyalite Reservoir near Bozeman, MT.

In both places, I missed the leaves changing colors. I missed stomping the crunchy ones on the street, and nesting in the piles. Driving through New Hampshire last weekend, and cruising up I-84 this weekend, I loved seeing the leaves start to change to arresting reds and startling oranges.

I've seen it all, from the disturbingly warm to the dishearteningly cold and rocky, and here I am, dreading the annual leaf drop while I stare out the window all day, watching the world prepare for winter. Well, at least my compost has it pretty good. It will never be starved for brown material this winter.

Walktober

In a modern suburban world of parking lots and gym memberships, it seems like no one walks anymore. But The Last Green Valley is trying to get everyone out to play. The Last Green Valley, a Connecticut and Massachusetts non-profit organization, is in the middle of it's annual Walktober event, which is a month-long series of walks in 35 towns stretching from East Brookfield, MA to Norwich, CT.

How is it that after growing up in Connecticut for 15 years, I have never heard of the Last Green Valley or this 21-year-old walking event? Looks like I've been missing out.

This is the part of Connecticut and Massachusetts where I never get off the highway.  I-84 runs through the northeast corner of the region on its way out of Sturbridge, and I-395 runs through the Green Valley from north to south. This makes the walks convenient for drivers coming from central Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. And it looks like it's worth the trip, since The Last Green Valley, Inc. describes the area as 78% farmland and forest, with more than 130 miles of trails and 118 historic sites and museums. This is my kind of walking, a mix of tamed and wild land with some history thrown in for good measure.

Looking at the pictures from last year's Walktober - which had a turnout of 25,000 walkers, according the Hartford Courant - I think I'll wait until another time of year when these trails aren't so crowded. I learned that lesson (once again) at Purgatory Chasm this September. I'll pass on crowded walks with great foliage and wait until it gets cold and quiet, or lush and green in the spring.

Quechee Gorge

OK, it hardly counts as a hike because Kevin and I got out of the car, walked halfway across the bridge that crosses the gorge, walked a quarter-mile of the trail to the bottom of the gorge, got stopped by an orange plastic fence and a "Keep Out" sign, and dragged ourselves back to the top and got back in the car. A good portion of the trail, and a noticeable amount of soil along the banks of the river, had been washed away by the recent flooding. Everything was generally damp and muddy and not very pretty.

I would love to go back on a) a day cooler than 85 degrees, b) a day that is not the beginning of a foliage season holiday weekend and c) a time when we could wander all the trails. This weekend it was just one stop on a long apple-picking and family-visiting adventure.

Nonetheless, Quechee Gorge is very impressive. Or maybe I'm just a nerd for rocks. When I was a kid, my uncle got me a rock tumbler, so my dad bought me a full-sized rock hammer. (I say that as if someone makes rock hammers specially sized for 9-year-old girls with purple backpacks, but I do not believe those are currently available.) We used to take walks through various trails and parks near home and I would collect a bag full of rocks, or chisel out bits that looked interesting.

I managed to do this for several years without learning anything about geology, except how to identify quartz. The best way to identify quartz is to go outside in New England and point at a rock. There is about an 80% chance you are pointing to some kind of quartz. At least that's how I remember it.

So, considering the views obstructed by tourists and the fact that my ample common sense (read: fear of heights) prevented me from seeing much over the bridge railing, I have to take the state of Vermont's word for it that the gorge was formed by glacial activity.

Even as a quick road-trip stop, the gorge was worth seeing, but it definitely deserves more time on another trip.

Back to Leominster State Forest

Last week, my brother met me at work and we drove back to Leominster State Forest. I figure there are only a few more weeks before the sun starts setting too early for afternoon hikes, and I am trying to get in some extra time in the woods before winter sets in. Plus, I love Leominster State Forest because it's so close to home, and it's so easy to feel lost in the woods.

This time, we started off on Wolf Rock Trail, hiking east toward Rocky Pond Road. The trails in this part of the forest were a little better maintained than Ball Hill Trail I took last time. There was a set of logs laid across a low, wet part of the trail, and a boardwalk on another section. The trail is still more rocks than soil and Sean and I felt like we were cheated out of some nice scenery by watching our feet the whole trip.

I wish I could tell you which trail we were on at that point, but I couldn’t figure it out, even with the map in my hand. From Wolf Rock Trail, we took a sharp left up a hill and took a beautiful hike up through fields of ferns, and then came down a steep, boulder-strewn slope. It may have been Berry Hill Trail.

I’m glad Sean grabbed the bug spray, because there were some serious mosquitoes down by the water. But all things considered, this was an excellent after-work hike.

Total time: 50 minutes

Book Review – Turn Right at Machu Picchu

After years of working as a travel writer, Mark Adams decided to follow the route of early-twentieth-century explorer Hiram Bingham through Peru to Machu Picchu. Bingham, sponsored by Yale University and the National Geographic Foundation, was considered the discoverer of Machu Picchu after his first trip in 1911 (despite the facts that farmers were growing crops on the site when he arrived).

Machu Picchu has been a place of conflict and mystery from the 1600s when Incas fled there to escape Spanish conquistadors up to the present day. What was its purpose? Did Hiram Bingham steal artifacts that are now part of Yale University’s collection? Who owns the land on which Machu Picchu sits? Adams’ book is thoroughly researched and explores many of the major theories about Machu Picchu, although some mysteries remain unresolved.

While the historical parts of the book were interesting, the best parts described the trip itself. Adams has decided that he wants to retrace Hiram Bingham’s expedition, and in his initial meeting with his guide, John Lievers, he throws out the idea of hiking the Inca Trail. From this starting point, Lievers rattles off a suggested route for a one-month hike that sounds intimidating, if not impossible.

They set off from the city of Cusco, Peru with a crew of four local men, six mules, and a giant bag of coca leaves, which are used in Peru to treat the symptoms of altitude sickness.

Adams is thrown into the world of the serious outdoorsman with little hiking or camping experience, which makes for an entertaining book. Some stories are hilarious and others are wince-inducing, like the day he learned to wear two pairs of socks under his boots after destroying his toes on a long downhill hike.

By the end, Adams reaches Machu Picchu, appreciates the spectacular architecture and astronomical alignments, pooh-poohs the mystical attraction that draws pilgrims from all over the world to the site’s New Age energies, and climbs Huayna Picchu, a mountain peak at the north end of Machu Picchu to see the sun rise over the ruins.

I don’t love the idea that it took one expert guide, six mules and a four-man team to get Adams to Machu Picchu, because I like my adventures a little more self-sufficient. But it was an entertaining read and although the historical exploration isn’t really my thing, I learned some stuff about the politics of discovery.

Did the book inspire me to book a ticket to Peru? No. But it did made me think that maybe I won’t wait until I’m turning 41 like Mark Adams to take off and have more adventures. 

Leominster State Forest - September

The second weekend in September, we hiked the Ball Hill Trail at Leominster State Forest. It is about 30 minutes from Worcester, up I-190, with plenty of parking along Route 31 in Westminster. The location is convenient, with a picnic area by the pond, a swimming beach at Crow Hill Pond and trail maps available at the parking lot. I am glad we took a trail map, because the maps posted on the trail were outdated.

Ball Hill Trail is a bit more than 4 miles long, and begins and ends at the parking lot near the beach. It has an elevation gain of 400 feet, and some parts of the trail are fairly steep.

We found the trail poorly maintained, with ferns growing close to the sides of the trail and much of the soil washed out among the rocks in the hilly sections. We also encountered a lot of water on the trail, both in mud puddles and trickling across our path. I had encountered this problem here before during the spring, but didn’t anticipate how much water the week's rain would leave on the trail. We came out with muddy shoes and legs, and damp socks.

The trail crosses at least 6 stone walls and passes through some pretty clearings full of ferns and some interesting boulders. I wondered what the land was used for before it became part of the state forest. The coolest part of this hike was seeing toads hopping across the trail at regular intervals on some of the low parts of the trail. 

According to the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, Leominster State Forest covers 4,300 acres of land and there are many more trails to explore. Although there is a fee for parking in paved lots during the peak season, parking is free between after Labor Day and before Memorial Day. This makes it an especially appealing hike in the cooler fall and spring months. The forest is also open to snowmobilers and cross-country skiers in the snowy months. 

Bring water, bug spray, and a bathing suit and towel if you want to swim in the pond. The water looked a little murky, but there were people swimming and sitting on the sandy beach when we finished our hike.

Total time: 2 and a half hours

Purgatory Chasm - Labor Day Weekend

OK, so maybe choosing a location rated 4.5 stars on Yelp and Google for a Labor Day weekend hike was short-sighted. Purgatory Chasm State Reservation in Sutton, MA, comprises 3.25 miles of trails, including the .25-mile Chasm Loop Trail that runs through the chasm itself. On the Sunday before Labor Day, the Chasm Loop trail was mobbed, but the other trails were lovely.

I had happy memories of my previous trip to Purgatory Chasm, making my way through the chasm, climbing over boulders and through narrow openings. I am far from a rock-climber, but I managed to scramble over some of the larger rocks and pick my way among smaller rocks on the trail through the chasm with little difficulty. On my first trip, I finished the hike with a sense of pride and a few minor scrapes from slippery rocks and minor missteps.

Our recent trip was another story. There was plenty of parking in the lot and many family groups at the playground and pavilion around the chasm. Once we got into the chasm, though, we hit a major traffic jam. My boyfriend and I took different routes through the initial obstacles, each hoping to find a way past the herd of parents and children and leave the crowd behind. No luck.

We retraced our steps out of the chasm and took the other leg of the Chasm Loop Trail, which runs above the chasm and provides great views of the rock formations. It was much less crowded and comfortably cool as we hiked into the trees. Heading off the main trail to the colorfully-named Devil's Corn Crib and Fat Man's Misery, I was impressed by the view, especially the tree roots clinging to the rock ledge.

At the end of the chasm, we joined the Charley's Loop trail and headed back along the opposite side of the rock ledge, enjoying viewpoints including Lover's Leap and Devil's Pulpit.

Parts of the trail are steep, but the trail is relatively even. There are sections where you need to climb over rocks on the trail or use a series of stone steps to navigate a slope. There are many places where you can step off the trail to appreciate the view and catch your breath.

This hike is a great trip for individuals, adult groups or families. I loved seeing fathers encouraging their young daughters to scramble over rocks. Personally, I wouldn't advise children to climb the large rock slope in the parking lot and slide down on their butts, but many parents were helping their kids to do so. The rock formations on the Chasm Loop Trail provide varying levels of challenge. Choose your own adventure by going over, around or through the tumbled boulders.

This is a great hike in spring, summer and fall. Choose a dry day to avoid slippery rocks. Even in the summer heat, the rocks stay cool and many of the trails are shaded.

Bring water in a hands-free container if you have one, or plan to pass it off to a friend while you tackle some of the more challenging parts of the Chasm Loop Trail. Boots aren't necessary for this hike, but make sure your sneakers have good tread. Sunscreen is always recommended, but not imperative on this trip. Same for bug spray; we had no major insect problems. Pack a picnic lunch to eat at the picnic tables near the parking lot, or under the pavilion.

Total time: 1 and a half hours