Montague Miles

On Saturday, for one of the few times in recent memory, I took a ride on Montague Miles.

What's that, you say? You've never heard of Montague Miles? Alas, I suppose that's due to a signage failure by the otherwise reliable North Carolina Department of Transportation.

Montague Miles is the 38-mile stretch of Interstate 95 from Exit 107 in Kenley to Exit 145 in Gold Rock. It opened in 1979 and was promptly named for John Merle Montague, salutatorian of the Bertie High School Class of 1978. John's one of the finest fellows I've ever known, and it's always puzzled me that NCDOT still hasn't found time to put up the signs.

To help give John his due, I emailed him a few years back and asked for his thoughts on the stretch of highway that bears his name. Here was his reply, verbatim:

"I have been told by travelers that Montague Miles ranks as the most boring stretch of interstate between Maine and Miami…and that's saying a lot considering it outranks I-95 in South Carolina. Feel free to use that quote!! Really, I’d like to thank all the little people who made that breathtaking stretch of freeway possible. I am happy that it represented one of the final links of I-95 in North Carolina."

I don't get much of a chance to enjoy the stark pavement of Montague Miles anymore. As a hiker and outdoors guy, I'm more partial to scenic backroads, but my son and I found ourselves on that very highway on the way back from visiting family in North Carolina at Thanksgiving. Maybe next I'll find time to ride on other great NC highways, including the Cherry-Constable Freeway near Wilson. (Or is it the Constable-Cherry Freeway?)

As this is a hiking blog, one that helps promote hiking tours to Switzerland, I suppose I need to work in a hiking reference. (Before that, however, for you Montague Miles fans reading this blog for the first time, here's the shameless plug for the Website: http://myhikingvacations.com/). I'll make the connection by pointing out that North Carolina is where you'll find a village called Little Switzerland. I remember going there as a kid and seeing the sign that listed the population as the "square root of negative 1." Wonder if that sign is still there.

Happy Hiking. And, with all due respect to John, my fullest sympathies if you're having to spend a lot of time on Montague Miles during the busy holiday travel period ...

Happy Thanksgiving

I haven't done a Thanksgiving Day hike, unless you count the leisurely walks through the woods we sometimes do when my family gets together in our little village of Gatlinsville in rural eastern North Carolina. Instead, we usually work off the big meal with the traditional front-yard touch football game. I'm sure we'll do that again tomorrow. Look out for the bird bath when going out for a pass!

I love family holidays, so this is definitely one of my favorite times of year. As much as I enjoy traveling in Europe, I always felt a twinge of sadness if I couldn't be home on Thanksgiving Day. I'd try to find somewhere to have a turkey dinner, but it's just not the same.

Wherever you are, Happy Thanksgiving. And Happy Hiking.

That photo on your right ...

I've been asked quite a few times where the photo that accompanies this blog was taken. It was at sunset at a Swiss mountain hut called Fründenhütte, at the end of one of the greatest hikes in the world. You spend the entire hike rising about this pristine Alpine lake, with spectacular views at every turn. Eventually you're above the tree line, and it seems as if you'll never reach your destination as the trail gets steeper and steeper.

But then you turn a corner _ and there it is! A welcome mountain hut ready to serve you a great pasta dinner and give you a place to spend the night at 2,562 meters above sea level! The prices are reasonable, the people are friendly, and there's a huge glacier right behind the hut. The place is so isolated that it can only be serviced by helicopter. (In other words, clean your plate! Those leftovers are expensive for the hut's owners _ because the flying garbage service charges by the pound.)

The hike is about 2 1/2 hours from the lake (called Oeschinensee) if you're a Swiss juggernaut. Most Americans, even the ones in good shape, need about 3 1/2 to 4 hours because they are unused to the steep terrain and the altitude. It's best to take your time, anyway. Don't race up the mountain _ take plenty of breaks, break out the camera and soak it all in.

Fründenhütte is the on the list of hikes for our July 2010 trip to Switzerland with http://myhikingvacations.com/. We'd love to have you along ...

A Hike Under the Stars ... Well, Almost

Light pollution is a major bummer here in Northern Virginia, and I got a fresh reminder of how bad it is this weekend when I took a group for a short stroll Saturday night around 9 o'clock, out to a big field near the area where we were camping at Dennis Farm.

Essentially, we were celebrating the fact that the clouds had finally disappeared after five straight days of rain in the area, so we figured we would to do some stargazing. Yet even among the woods and fields of Dennis Farm, the stars were no competition for the intrusion of light from nearby Leesburg. We could barely make out the Little Dipper, and parts of the southern sky had only one or two stars visible.

That's too bad. The stars have wonderful stories to tell through their shapes and colors. An hour or so looking at the heavens with good company on a clear night beats watching television anytime, but our cities and towns and houses waste light (and therefore money!) like nobody's business. There's even a group called the International Dark Sky Association (darksky.org, if you're interested) that does all it can to promote more efficient lighting for roads, houses and other buildings. Maybe one day we'll get our nighttime back!

Of course, much of my hiking has been done in Switzerland, which begs the obvious question: "How's the stargazing over there?" While the Swiss are more efficient with their lighting, they can't do anything about the big problem: Those big mountains block the view of much of the sky! That said, if you're at a mountain hut on a perfect summer night _ and you don't mind staying up late _ the view of the stars can be tremendous. We hope to have some nights like that when we do our next guided hike to Switzerland next July. Go to our Website (http://myhikingvacations.com/) to find out more.

Happy hiking!

Happy Friday the 13th Birthday

Happy Friday the 13th birthday to Lou Ann, who was actually born on Friday the 13th. Lou Ann is a good friend of MyHikingVacations (http://myhikingvacations.com/) and was in a group we took to Switzerland in 2006.

Happy trails, Lou Ann.

Return to Dennis Farm

While Switzerland is my favorite place to explore (and I'll gladly direct you to http://myhikingvacations.com/ for more info if you wish to go with us to the Alps next summer), I'm always thrilled whenever there's an invitation for a good hike or camping trip.

This weekend, I'm headed to a place called Dennis Farm, a spot near Leesburg, Virginia, that has a wonderful story behind it. It's a gorgeous spread of forest and farm that overlooks the Potomac River, privately owned by the Dennis family. They could make millions many times over in an instant if they sold it to developers in rapidly growing Loudoun County, but they have remained steadfast in their desire to keep the land in its wonderful, natural state. They allow Boy Scout troops to camp there for free _ because the Scouts know how to take care of the land _ so I'll be there to help as an adult leader with Troop 1018 from Dranesville.

Mr. Dennis passed away recently. Very sad news. He would always walk down to visit us at the campsite. I can't wait to see Mrs. Dennis again. I feel for her loss, but, knowing her, I bet her spirit remains strong.

Salmon and Sauerkraut Pizza

It's amazing how many great hiking stories revolve around food _ and
thus I present to you the true tale of the Salmon and Sauerkraut Pizza.

It was 2007 in Colorado Springs. I was helping lead a group of Boy
Scouts on a backpacking trip to New Mexico. I never like to eat at fast food restaurants or any sort of familiar chain when I'm on a trip _ no
use traveling that far to have an eating experience that I could've had
back home _ so I took the group to a place called Giuseppe's Depot
Restaurant. It's a great spot, an old railway depot turned into a nice but not-too-over-the-top restaurant near the heart of downtown.

The menu was excited and varied. There must have been 25 different
pizza toppings! A Scout named Quinn and I decided to be adventurous, so we picked a topping twosome that, we're quite sure, had never
existed on a pizza before. That's right: salmon and sauerkraut.

The rest of the group cringed, but Quinn and I enjoyed our treat. (And, yes, a few of the others had a bite, too.) The salmon was salty; the
sauerkraut was chilled. Truly and unusual combination of flavors.

When I got home, I Googled the phrase "salmon and sauerkraut
pizza." No matches found. Surely, therefore, I had played a part in
creating a new food. Just before I wrote this blog entry, I checked
again: No exact matches found for the phrase "salmon and sauerkraut pizza."

Of course, now that I've finished writing this blog and hit the
"Publish" button, that will change. Salmon and sauerkraut pizza will
have Internet immortality. I wonder if the people at Giuseppe's realize
what they started ...

Next year, I'm leading hiking trips to Switzerland. (Go to

http://myhikingvacations.com

for details.) You're invited to join us, but I'm afraid our Colorado
Springs dining experience won't be replicated there. Just thinking,
though: Maybe we can order a fondue with those two ingredients ....

Happy hiking!

"Honey, Should I Bring an Umbrella?"

One of the toughest decisions on the eve of any vacation: "Should I pack this or not?" From my experience, most people overpack when they travel -- yet those same people still manage to leave behind many of the essentials.

Packing for a hiking vacation can be just as challenging. You'll hear experts telling you to "pack light," but they'll also implore you to "pack everything you need."

So what's on the list and what's not? You can find the list we've compiled on the following link, which takes you to the "What to Pack" page of our Web site, MyHikingVacations.com. This will be the packing guide we give people who go hiking with us to Switzerland next year.

http://myhikingvacations.com/packing.php

Notice anything you think is missing from the list? Anything you don't think is necessary? Drop us a line. And maybe, just maybe, you'll be tempted to join us for our trip to the Alps.

And, no, you don't need the umbrella ...

MyHikingVacations.com Goes Live!

It's quite a landmark day. After months of hard work, years in the making, the Web site MyHikingVacations.com went live in the early hours of this morning. My Web friend, Will Donnell, has been burning the midnight oil to make sure everything is up to scratch. Please take a visit, tell your friends. Better yet, think about signing up for our inaugural hike, July 13-23 in Kandersteg and Grindelwald, Switzerland.

I'll be using the blog in the upcoming days to take about various details about the trip, along with the kinds of adventures we're bound to encounter. We hope to see you on the trails with us in 2010!

Return to the Scene of a Swiss mini-golf disaster ...

The Web site is only days away from going live. Meanwhile, I've been busy researching some of the hikes and hostels that will make up our inaugural My Hiking Vacations trip to Switzerland in July 2009. I'm especially excited to return to Grindelwald, a special little Swiss town (aren't they all special?) south of Interlaken and not too far from the Jungfrau.

Odd as it seems, I'm looking forward to revisiting a miniature golf course in that area. In Switzerland, mini-golf is often played on a cement-like surface rather than fake green grass. It's a difficult change-of-pace for us Americans, and it threw me for a loop. There was one hole I never was able to complete because the ball kept rolling away from the cup. It was too embarrassing for words. I want to get back to that course and finally get the ball in. Then I'll probably vow never to pick up a putter in Switzerland again _ and stick to the hiking trails instead.