Portsmouth, NH lies only about 1:15 minutes from downtown Boston, and provides a nice day retreat from the busy city life, to a relaxing and friendly north country coastal town. Portsmouth is a small and quaint town/city that has an overwhelming amount of excellent restaurants and bars that makes it very hard to choose which place. Luckily its close enough that you can come back frequently.

Hello All,
I just wanted to drop a message to let you know that Modern Day Thoreau is still alive and well, and hopefully this spring, summer and fall I will be able to post a large variety of new trails and equipment reviews for you.
Sincerely
The Editor

So after a rather long summer hiatus from hiking of any kind, due to various life events, Erin and I decided to go for a like 4 mile hike during the beautiful Labor Day weekend here in New England. The temperatures have been a farcry from what they were a few days ago, so it was perfect weather for nice day hike.

I decided to put together a collection of identity designs from vineyards throughout New England. This will be a 6 part series that includes NY state as well,  so be sure to say tuned and subscribe to my RSS feed so you know when they each are posted. Also feel free to add a link to one not included that you know of  in the comments.

So i decided that the next lens in my arsenal would be a fisheye lens for those unique situations that call for such a wide angle, 180° to be precise. After looking around I decided to try the Pro-Optic 8mm Fisheye since I didn’t want to spend $1000 on the Sigma 8mm Fisheye if I found It wasn’t a type of photography I used to much. Several of the other Pro-Optic lens’ have gotten pretty decent reviews, but I was hard pressed to find any for this lens. I decided to take the plunge and this is what i’ve found.

Last weekend I bravely decided to go for a winter hike in the cold January weather in the hills of the greater Boston area. Blue Hills Reservation is a great spot that offers numerous trails of all different lengths and skill levels (if you’ve read any of my other post you know I’m quite fond of the spot). On saturday, in the low 20° New England weather I thought I’d try a trail that was a little more flat since the ground was so frozen. So, me, my trusty side-kick Erin, and my camera embarked on a small winter quest. Ponkapoag Pond is located on the southern part of the reservation just south of RT 95 and is on a dead end street right off the highway, so you can’t miss it.

As the winter months approach in New England, I find myself desiring less day hikes and more multi day trips. New Enland in the fall and winter is one of the most beautiful places I know, and as such I feel compelled to travel to all over it to take in as much as I can. This last weekend was my 25th birthday (or as my mother so nicely points out that i’m halfway to fifty) and I decided to take a 2day/1night trip to the beautiful coastal town of Rockland Maine. Rockland is an old fishing town whose roots are planted as deep as the great forests that surround it, and whose citizenry is kind and welcoming to visitor and local alike.

Sterling Pond Trail to Long Trail via Smugglers Notch Pass.

If you fund yourself in the Stowe, VT area during the summer months, Smugglers Notch Resort has a great array of trails for hiking around it’s three different mountains, Morse mtn. Madonna mtn. and Steeling mtn. The trails range from moderate to hard and include x-country skiing and mtn bike trails as well. One thing to note is that the altitude range is from 1100′ and the base to 3640′ at the top of Madonna mtn so it’s important to pace yourself at a pace slower than you might be used to if your not accustomed to higher altitude hiking.

Sterling Pond trail is a great late morning to early afternoon hike that will take about 3 hours or so including so resting time at the top for a beautiful view and some lunch. The trail starts across from the parking area at right in the middle of the Notch and has about a 880 foot vertical ascent. This is about 3 miles south of Smugglers Notch Resort on Rt 108. The start of the trail consists of old wood/rock steps that in some spots are better avoided. Since the trail is pretty popular, it well cared for and easy to navigate as long as you use general precausion on slipperly rocks and such.

Middlesex Fells Rock Circuit is a moderate to hard 4 mile hike that includes an array of ascends and descends. This is part of the greater Middlesex Fells Reservationtrails. The trail runs through the east side of the reservation and its pinnacle (aptly named Pinnacle Rock) overlooks Oak Grove, and in the distance a great view of Boston.

The trail start out on Woodland Road and the best place to park in in the ice rink on Woodland Road. Alternatively there is parking about 100 yards up from the rink on the same side of the road. The entrance to the trail looks like a utility path blocked by a large metal beam. Just go around this and you’ll see the entrance sign. From here you follow the blue marked trail up the hill for about a 1/4 mile until you see the split in the trail for the white trail (Rock Circuit Trail).