Author: Steve Holt
The greenhouse effect has caused the Earth’s average temperature to rise 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit since such records were first kept in the late 19th century. This may not seem like a significant increase, but even incremental climate fluctuations can and do affect many facets of life on Earth, from where we live to where we […]
Each winter, when snow blankets a normally mild region of the country or a polar vortex sinks large swaths of America into a deep freeze, the questions begin. They mostly boil down to a central idea: If the climate is warming, then why is it so cold outside? These questions, even when asked in […]
Nearly all scientists agree: the global climate is getting warmer. According to NASA records, Earth’s average surface temperature has risen 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit since the late 19th century. All but one of the 16 hottest years in NASA’s 134-year record have occurred since 2000. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which includes more […]
I’m standing in the dining room at AMC’s Madison Spring Hut, and even though it’s late August, I can’t get warm. Two friends and I have just returned from Mount Madison’s 5,366-foot summit, where a sturdy gale-force wind battered our sweat-soaked bodies already weary from a climb that covered 3,500 feet of elevation in […]
AMC purchased its first parcel of land in Maine’s 100-mile Wilderness in 2003. Today, AMC owns nearly 75,000 acres of land in the Maine Woods, achieving landscape-scale conservation goals, creating a new outdoor recreation destination, partnering with local communities on economic development and environmental education, and inventing a new model for land ownership that is […]
AMC’S century-plus commitment to maintaining hundreds of miles of recreational trails in the East has received a big boost with the renovation of the Camp Dodge Trails Training Center, which closed in 2017. Located four miles north of Pinkham Notch Visitor Center on Route 16 in New Hampshire, Camp Dodge has been a hive of […]
The 1960s were a time of reckoning for humans’ relationship with the planet. The world population ballooned, straining resources. Three centuries of unregulated industrialization and urbanization had poisoned Earth’s air, waters, plants, and wildlife. Rachel Carson’s groundbreaking 1962 book, Silent Spring, awakened the nation and its leaders to the ecological hazards of agricultural pesticides. […]
Here’s a paddling workout you can do in your living room or backyard, courtesy of Kathy Ellis, M.S.—a licensed personal trainer, certified yoga trainer, and volunteer Class 2 excursions leader with AMC’s New Hampshire chapter. Ellis has trained clients of all fitness levels in every setting, from private studios to corporations, and currently works […]
Try these exercises to stay in paddling shape or this at-home rock climbing workout. Whether you’re still in the depths of winter or entering mud season, there’s a good chance you haven’t been doing much hiking recently. For a dose of inspiration and some hiking exercises you can do in your living room or backyard, we caught […]
Adhering to physical distancing and stay-at-home advisories means we’ve hopefully all postponed the weekend day hikes along a popular route or even the afternoon escapes to crowded local parks, farms, and nature preserves. While we know we’re doing the right thing and that this quarantine won’t last forever, we still sometimes feel cooped up and […]
During a vigorous day hike, an adult may burn as many as 6,600 calories—but not all calories are created equal. Our bodies require a scientific combination of hard-working nutrients to sustain normal function. What’s the secret recipe? We asked Nicole Cormier, a registered dietitian whose clients include backpackers and athletes (and adviser on AMC’s Real […]
Seventy percent of Maine’s 1.3 million residents regularly participate in outdoor recreation, with many more coming from out of state to enjoy Vacationland’s mountains, lakes, rivers, and iconic coastline. All that hiking, fishing, and paddling is big business. The outdoor recreation industry employed more than 40,000 Mainers—that’s 6 percent of the state’s population—and manufactured $328 million worth […]
Before dawn on January 12, the temperature at the summit of Mount Washington—famously home to some of the world’s worst weather—had already hit an eerily balmy 43 degrees Fahrenheit, nearly 50 degrees higher than the average mid-winter low. It was part of a two-day winter warmup that sent temperatures into the 60s and 70s across […]
When Itzamary and Noe Caban attended their first Outdoors Rx event three years ago in Chelsea, Mass., they assumed the AMC program’s primary beneficiary would be their young daughter, Khalani. After all, it was Khalani’s pediatrician who’d referred the family to Outdoors Rx—which organizes free, structured outdoor experiences for families living in several under-resourced Greater […]
Well, we did it. On Friday, August 23, two friends and I finished the adventure for which we’d been training for more than a year: we completed a single-day Presidential Traverse in New Hampshire’s White Mountains, running as much of it as we could. I’ll save the more harrowing tales for the magazine feature, scheduled for […]
Terri Werning’s biggest fear while hiking isn’t elevation, bears, or losing the trail. It’s men. Werning, 47, who has completed several sections of the Appalachian Trail (AT) over the past four years, says that were she to be attacked by a man while hiking in a remote area, she easily could be overpowered. It’s why, […]
If a hiker, skier, or cyclist is seriously injured in New Hampshire, Vermont, or Western Maine, there’s a good chance they’ll be cared for by Dr. Thomas Trimarco. An attending emergency department physician, Trimarco is the emergency medical services director for Dartmouth–Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H.—the North Country’s only level 1 trauma center. He […]
As J.R. Harris likes to tell it today, the first time he saw grass, he tried to smoke it. He’s joking, of course, but the rib illustrates how shocking an introduction to the backcountry can be for a 14-year-old city kid. Climbing off the bus at Ten Mile River Scout Camps in Narrowsburg, N.Y., […]
A fitness revolution is afoot, and it has nothing to do with the gym. Wellness aficionados around the world are spurning the pricey monthly memberships, terrible music, and iron-pumping meatheads filling so many gyms. Instead, more and more people are opting to join friends for fun outdoor fitness routines that capitalize on the natural and […]