Milk & Hiking: A Visit to a Vermont Organic Dairy Farm, plus a Taste of the AT in New Hampshire

First of all, this fair warning: If you visit a regular dairy farm and an organic dairy farm back-to-back, you might never want to drink regular milk again.

To be perfectly frank, the cows looked sickly and pathetic crowded in their barn at the regular dairy farm I visited in Vermont, while they were happy and roaming free on the grass _ with no pesticides or hormones in their bodies _ at the farm a few miles away run by my friends, the Millers, near Brattleboro.

Maybe I just happen to visit the regular farm at a bad time, but still ...

Anyway, I got a chance to visit the Millers again last week. It was a bit of a whirlwind trip as my son and I took the train to Vermont and New Hampshire, where we spent the night on the farm and spent a few days on the Appalachian Trail.

We only spent three days on the trail, staying near the Dartmouth area. Didn't venture near the White Mountains this time, but there are still great hikes and wonderful views to be had. We reached the top of Moose Mountain, where the summit is cleared in part because of a rescue helicopter landing following a plane crash many years ago, and also enjoyed the splendid view at Holt's Ledge. We spent the night at the Trapper John Shelter, named after the M*A*S*H character who graduated from Dartmouth.

There are more photos on our MyHikingVacations Facebook page.

And, of course, if these get your hiking juices flowing, visit our website MyHikingVacations and sign up for one of our 2014 hiking trips. Vermont in on the list, along with Switzerland, Vegas and the Shenandoah.

See you on the trails,
Joseph

A New Look _ and New Adventures for 2014 _ from My Hiking Vacations

Times change fast in the online world. A website that looked so fresh and exciting in 2008 can appear so dated just five years later.

Here at My Hiking Vacations, we like to think we can keep up. We've put the same energy we use for hiking into a redesign of our website, and today we are happy to announce its relaunch.

So take a gander at MyHikingVacations.com. You'll see more than just new colors and photos _ you'll also see our just-released list of hiking/walking trips for 2014.

Check out Vegas/Nevada in May.

And Vermont in June.

And Switzerland in July.

And the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in October.

Vegas? Vermont? Virginia? Yeah, we're stuck on Vs next year. Maybe the Switzerland trip should include a stop at Vers-chez-le-Blanc.

We'll also have more to blog about in the coming weeks. We just returned from a hiking trip in New Hampshire, and recently I hiked in Austria for the first time. (OK, it was only for a few hours, but it was snowy and beautiful.)

See you on the trails.

Joseph

The Appalachian Trail in Vermont

Sure, many hikers dream of tackling the entire Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine, but some of us just do a little at a time.

I completed the state of Vermont this summer _ 150 miles in 10 days from the Massachusetts border to Hanover, New Hampshire.

I've been remiss about posting on the trip in this blog, but better late than never. And, since pictures are worth thousands of words, the best way to do it is to lead you to my Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150257055603632.342337.592008631&type=1

Enjoy the photos. It was truly a great experience.

Happy Trails,
Joseph

Hiking Turned Upside-down _ Another Orienteering Odyssey

Fall, of course, is the perfect hiking season. And, if you want to take it up a notch, it's also the perfect season to try the wonderful sport called orienteering.

Orienteering is essentially what you always wanted to do as a kid: run through the woods with reckless abandon. OK, not reckless abandon, but it is quite a blast negotiating trees, trails, swamps and creeks with a map as you work your way to the finish.

The local orienteering club in the D.C. area is top-notch _ the Quantico Orienteering Club. They put on a full slate of meets with courses ranging from easy to expert.
The photos above are from a meet at Prince William Forest Park earlier this month. I took a group of Boy Scouts, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. My college-age son and I tried a moderate-to-difficult course, and he beat me for the first time. He finished in 14th place; I was 17th. (Oh, the humiliation!)

Here's the QOC website. Check 'em out: http://qocweb.org

Orienteering is also popular in Europe. In fact, if you sign up for our 12-day hiking trip to Switzerland, you can give it a try during one of your free days.

Learn more about our hiking adventure to the Alps _ July 12-22, 2011 _ by visiting our website at http://myhikingvacations.com

Happy Hiking _ and Orienteering,
Joseph

Signal Knob

There's nothin' better than fall hiking in Virginia. (Well, OK, I'm also partial to summer hiking in Switzerland, but we'll save that for next summer.) Our group of 13 _ plus a wonderful dog named Tara _ tackled this hike on Saturday. We had a nice lunch with a view overlooking the Shenandoah Valley. Ah, what a way to spend a day.

Interested in hiking the Alps with us next summer? Check out our website.

Happy Hiking,
Joseph
http://myhikingvacations.com

Facebook Sale!

As we prepare for next summer's hiking trip to Switzerland, some of you have asked: "Why don't you do something special for your Facebook fans?"

You mean, like, a sale or something?

Oh, sure, why not? We therefore present our first My Hiking Vacations Facebook Sale. If you're a fan of our Facebook page, you get a 10% discount if you sign up for our vacation in the Alps next summer. That's a savings of $200 or more! This is good for September only, so you have 30 full days to mull over this great deal!

Or, as they on TV: "Limited time offer!" "Void where prohibited!" (I don't think it's prohibited anywhere, but just in case ...)

If you're not already a fan, become one by visiting our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/MyHikingVacations/147404999999?ref=ts

See you in the Alps!
Joseph
http://myhikingvacations.com

A Lodge in Switzerland

I've just booked the place we'll be staying next summer during the first leg of our hiking trip to Switzerland. It called the Gemmi Lodge, a wonderful spot next to the Kander River and right up against the Alps in Kandersteg.

Check out the photo on the home page of its website (http://www.gemmi-lodge.com). It looks more like a grand hotel than a hostel, but that's the norm for Switzerland. Swiss hostels are among the best in the world, cleaner and friendlier than many regular hotels I've seen in the U.S.

I stopped by the Gemmi Lodge last year and was excited to see that a new High Ropes Park had opened across the street. It has zip lines, rope bridges and all sorts of high-in-the-air thrills. (See the photo above, or visit http://www.kandersteg.ch/english/sport/seilpark.htm.) Looks like an exciting way for some of you more adventurous folks to spend some free time during the trip!

Learn more about our trip _ and sign up now. Visit us at http://myhikingvacations.com. As many trips as I've led over the years, it's always a thrill to make that first booking ...

Happy hiking,
Joseph