Articles by Brad Viles
Christmas reflections on a hiking year
Tomorrow’s the day I look forward to all year. Christmas Day I’ll join my closest relatives in our traditional celebration. My son, my cousins, their wives and my dearest aunt will exchange a few blessings. Some will be in the form of simple, modest gifts. The most valuable gift we’ll ...
ROCKFEST a hit at Washington County Community College
If you had stepped into the St. Croix Hall Gymnasium on the campus of Washington County Community College last Saturday, you would have heard sounds that you might not expect coming from a gym. Instead of “Shoot!” coming from a basketball player, you would have heard, “Climb!” coming from a ...
BRAD VILES
Visiting Baxter State Park in winter
If you plan on visiting Baxter State Park this winter, it’s important that you know the rules and regulations. The winter rules went into effect on Dec 1. The park has a website, baxterstateparkauthority.com, that explains it all, but people still have questions. Questions such as: Do I need a ...
Quaggy Jo in Aroostook State Park a rewarding moderate climb
For a small mountain, Quaggy Jo in Aroostook State Park, just south of Presque Isle, rewards hikers with outstanding views of the landscape that are unique to The County. But it’s not just views that make the mountain a fun hike. The terrain is perfect for a family hike, beginning ...
BRAD VILES
Lincoln Search and Rescue can be a lifesaver for climbers
If you’re a hiker needing rescue in Maine’s mountains, it’s comforting to know that the people sent to help you are trained and skilled. The Lincoln Search and Rescue unit out of Lincoln is one of several volunteer teams across the state that is a member of the Maine Association ...
Packing out a ridge runner
It was a long summer for Krisdin Diehl. From mid-June until last weekend, she has worked for the Maine Appalachian Trail Club as a ridge runner. Her job was to patrol the trail from Monson to Logan Brook, near Jo-Mary Road in the “hundred mile wilderness,” a section of trail ...
BRAD VILES
Some tips to prepare for fall hiking
This year Maine’s fall weather has shown hikers one thing: It sure is changeable. One day it’s summerlike and the next you need to wear your mitts and wool hat. Sometimes it happens in the same day. That’s typical in fall, the second-most changeable season after spring. Expecting conditions to ...
BRAD VILES
Chimney Pond in the rain
Pamola must not want me to do this hike, I’m thinking on my way up the Chimney Pond Trail last Tuesday. Pamola is the deity who the Penobscot Indian people believe controls the weather on Mount Katahdin. I’m not sure how I offended the part moose, eagle and human creature, ...
Laurie’s Ledge on Indian Mountain
Named after a past president of the Appalachian Mountain Club, the Laurie’s Ledge Trail started off fairly easy as it wound up through the young beech forest at the base of Indian Mountain, some 8 miles as the crow flies northeast of Greenville. Because it follows an old wood-cutting road ...
Turtle Ridge
One of the benefits of living in Maine is exploring the sheer number and variety of public lands that provide hiking trails. They each have some unique feature; something that sets one apart from the other. One place in particular, Nahmakanta Public Reserved Lands, is really extraordinary. Located in the ...
Foundation proposes Katahdin region outdoor program for schools
TOWNSHIP 1 RANGE 8 — Representatives from communities that make up the Katahdin region were introduced to a new concept in outdoor education Wednesday at the new River Drivers Restaurant outside Millinocket. The Butler Foundations held the event to introduce an outdoor education center for area schoolchildren. Gilbert Butler, CEO ...
Developing the next generation of wilderness leaders
The students were gathered at the picnic table at South Branch Pond when I arrived last Saturday morning. There were 10 of them and two trip leaders. The Baxter State Park rangers, Marcia and Gabe Williamson, were explaining the principles of Leave No Trace. After the training, one of the ...
Keeping it cool: Debsconeag Ice Caves
If you’re looking for a place to escape the summer heat, don’t head to the beach. Think about this: Head underground. Specifically, hike to the Debsconeag Ice Caves, located in the Debsconeag Lakes Wilderness Area managed by The Nature Conservancy. The cave is a cool place, deep in the woods, ...
BRAD VILES
Baxter Peak shines on a fine summer day
MILLINOCKET — I first felt Katahdin’s pull in 1976. I was dating a girl at the time, and when she said, “Let’s climb Katahdin,” I couldn’t refuse. We camped on Omaha Beach, on the bank of the Penobscot’s West Branch. The next day we climbed the mountain. It was June ...
Tarp camping 101
Maybe this is you. You’ve got all the latest and lightest in backpacking equipment. Your empty pack weighs in at a little over a pound and a half. Your stove weighs ounces. Everything you carry is the lightest stuff you can find on the market. But you still carry a tent that ...
BRAD VILES
Maine Appalachian Trail Club ridge runner ambassador for Leave No Trace
Krisdin Diehl, 27, has an enviable job for a hiker. Now in her second year as a ridge runner for the Maine Appalachian Trail Club, she works by hiking a section of the Appalachian Trail. It’s her job to patrol her assigned length of the trail from her base camp near the ...
Martin Ponds overnight a great season opener
If there’s a better way to celebrate the start of the hiking season other than taking an overnight backpacking trip, I haven’t found it. Sure, a day hike is fun and rewarding in its own way. Any hike is a great hike. But to really kick off the summer right, ...
HIKING WITH BRAD VILES
Hiking through geologic time
Most Maine hikers probably don’t think much about the ground beneath their feet. I know I never gave it much thought until I picked up a geology book on my thru-hike in 1994. I bought the book “Underfoot: A Geologic Guide to the Appalachian Trail” by V. Collins Chew in Harper’s Ferry, ...
BRAD VILES
Spring wildflowers
The phrase “stop and smell the flowers” must have been coined by a hiker. When you’re hiking, stopping and smelling the flowers comes easy. After all, no one ever accused hikers of participating in an adrenaline sport. The pace is just way too slow to increase that adrenaline flow. Slow enough ...
BRAD VILES
It’s here — spring!
If you’re a hiker in Maine, spring is the season you wait for all year. The ground is greening up, right along with everything else. Trees are starting their leaf-out, and migrating songbirds are arriving in droves. Trails are snow-free in most of the networks, at least at lower elevations. In ...
Police seeking tips about pickup truck possibly connected to Glenburn teen’s disappearance
Since 1971, seven Maine children reported missing have not been found
Apartment squeeze in Portland: Single renters, immigrants, poor hardest hit
A better way to help people escape welfare
A letter to Michelle Obama in light of military sex assault epidemic
Five steps to remedy IRS wrongs
Manchester 15-year-old off to impressive start for Earnhardt Jr.’s JR Motorsports
Houlton council, community still concerned about costly Millar Civic Center
Bangor’s Marcus Davis hopes to counter opponent’s height, reach advantage in Lewiston MMA main event
Kitchen Nightmares meltdown or: How to lose an argument online
Farmers markets embracing food stamps with the help of USDA
Arguments over gun control and abortion will never be settled
For those who are too fat for Abercrombie and Fitch
A spot of tea, a spread of treats, at Camden’s Fromviandoux