Appalachian Spring Fling-

Don't cry for me Argentina!

Great! Thanks to South Carolina governor Mark Sanford, the next time I head off on the Appalachian Trail for a few days my wife will be checking to see if I have Yerba tea stains on my teeth when I return. Luckily for me the last and only time I was in Argentina was with my wife! And she has joined me on the AT too! Heading out on the AT for a week has got to be an all time new excuse for covering up an affair. At least Sanford chose a healthy pursuit to cover-up for a less-than-healthy for your family and career pursuit.

Yep-another politician caught cheating on his wife. What a surprise! But what makes its worse here-it is another hypocritical Republican espousing family values then heading down the drunk frat boy highway. At least president Clinton never talked about family values, Gov Sanford you are a disgrace-and you had such a career ahead of you too. Didn't Eliot Spitzer's demise warn you enough to keep it zipped? Well at least your affair was with a woman. Not that there is anything wrong with being gay-it is just when a social conservative gets caught in a gay affair the hypocrisy level goes through the roof! So, Mark start singing-Don't cry for me Argentina- the truth is that I never hiked the AT- just did a little wango-tango in Buenois Aires and am now left with lots of bad air in the Palmetto State.

Hang your head in shame Sanford-maybe its time you did go hike the AT and do a lot of thinking while you are on the trail!

Let Freedom Ring

from the hills of New Hampshire

I just received the great news a few minutes ago from Washington Trail Association's Andrew Engelson that the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 passed the house. The yes vote was overwhelming, 285-140. A pox on WA Representative Doc Hastings (next to Jim McDermott, my least favorite congressperson from the Northwest) for trying to derail the vote with a controversial gun amendment. And no, I am not against guns-it is just the proposal to allow firearms in National Parks should be debated on its own merit-not slipped in as an amendment threatening to stall this important bill. Now, President Obama will assuredly sign this bill and I await his signature-perhaps the first act of his that I welcome. I've written about national historic trails and wildernesses that will be created under this bill, but there are plenty of other great public lands and designations in it as well. Among them, the Freedom's Way National Heritage Area close to where I grew up in southern New Hampshire.

What is the Freedom's Way NHA all about?

According to its website:

This theme is about the land: the geological events that shaped the landscape of the Native Americans for thousands of years. It is also the story of the changes wrought by the past 300 years and the development of a conservation movement that includes Henry David Thoreau, Benton MacKaye, and the present-day efforts of people like Marion Stoddart and John Hansen Mitchell. In addition to local conservation trails, there are rail trails in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts, some connecting. And there are Great Meadows visitor/education centers and trails, US Fish and Wildlife Refuges, State Reservations, Audubon sites, and The Trustees of Reservations sites. There are greenway trails too.

And plenty of wonderful historic sites and conservation areas that are dear to my heart. Benton MacKaye, if you don't know who he was, is the founder of the Appalachian Trail, the nation's first long distance national scenic trail. And in this bill, two new national scenic trails join the AT. How sweet is that? I'm looking forward (as always) to returning to the home front to check out how this new designation will play out in my beloved New England. Now it's time for that Chianti!

(photo- old Monson Village, one of NH's first interior settlements, a SPNHF preserve and part of the new Freedom's Way NHA)

In Support of National Scenic Trails There was a front page article in the Seattle Times yesterday on the prospects of the Pacific Northwest Trail becoming our newest National Scenic Trail if the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009 becomes law. The same bill also contains a provision for the creation of the New England National Scenic Trail. As someone who hikes frequently and loves the trails of both my home state New Hampshire and adopted state Washington, I couldn't be happier about the prospects of two new great long distance trails traversing my favorite hiking haunts.

Most Americans- folks from all walks of life support these trails. And it would seem that they are pretty non-controversial, right? Well, you'd never know it based on some of the idiotic posts on the Seattle Times article. Most of the drivel came from far right kooks convinced that the National Trail Act is a land grab or yet another way the Federal government is undermining a state's rights. Far from it! Most of the land that the trail traverses is already public land. Where it traverses private lands, the owners have consented to its placement there granting an easement. The owner does not relinquish his right to do what he pleases (within the confines of the law of course) with the rest of his property. And land grab? All that is purchased for a national trail in most cases is just a narrow corridor. Once again only from willing sellers and at fair-market value.


The National Parks Service has jurisdiction over the trail but maintains a very small role. Local land managers of lands that the trail traverses still make the land use decisions for those properties. Land managers work together- and that is a good thing- but the trail and surrounding lands are by and far managed by local people. And there is a huge amount of private participation in the form of financial donations and trail work. Most of the National Scenic Trails have private conservation groups working on their behalf-these groups are not funded by Congress, but by private citizens like you and me. So, will the anti-conservation, anti-trails, anti-public lands kooks stop sipping the kool aid for minute and actually do a little research on what they are so against? And then perhaps actually get out on one of these trails and see just what a great asset they are. Far better than another race track, mall, casino, and second-home development I assure you!

(photo- granddaddy National Scenic Trail, the Appalachian Trail)

Romano's Favorite Hiking Haunts No. 2

Northwestern Connecticut

The state of my birth, where I spent the first eight years of my life, Connecticut is rife with trails, green spots and wonderful parks and forests. Hard to imagine uh?- Especially when you consider that the Nutmeg State is one of the most densely populated. But if you go beyond Hartford and Bridgeport and New Haven-head to the state's northeast and northwest corners, you'll find some of the prettiest rural countryside anywhere in America. Especially the state's northwest corner. Here the Appalachian Trail winds along the Litchfield Hills and Taconic Range (some of the oldest mountains in North America) and darts in and out of charming villages sporting church spires, inviting commons and inns and some of the most beautiful colonial homes in the country. The peaks aren't high, but the hiking experience is top notch. I recently spent some time hiking with my brother Jeff on the AT and in the Peoples Forest where the Wild and Scenic Farmington River makes a deep cut across rolling verdant hills. Jeff is completing work on his second book, Classic Hikes of New England (Mountaineers Books: spring 2009). You'll find some great Connecticut hikes in that book as well as great hikes in the other New England states, all among my favorite hiking haunts.

(Jeff overlooking Farmington River in Peoples Forest State Park-May 2008)