Travel

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Kingdom Trails | Vermont Mountain Biking

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East Burke, VT | In northeastern mountain biking communities Vermont’s Kingdom Trails is talked about as if it’s a myth or a paradise off in a far land. Everyone who has ridden Kingdom Trails comes back with a huge smile on their face, stories of epic riding, and the urge to go back. Simply put, I’ve never heard a bad thing about Kingdom Trails. So, I decided to organize a trip.

The hype is real.

After a 3 day weekend at Kingdom Trails I too can join the smiling, ecstatic, addicted, and epic riding story telling group of Kingdom Trails alumni. It’s true. There is no hype when it comes to Kingdom Trails. The trails are perfectly built with flowing momentum filled runs, relaxed climbs, and views that showcase Vermont’s beauty. The town is clean, the locals and guests are polite, the food is great, and the beer is tasty.

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The Best Fall Catskills Camping Road Trip.

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New York City to the Catskills Region and then to New Paltz, NY is the perfect quick 2-3 day trip for any adventure-seeking New Yorker! It’s an even better trip when you’re exploring the region with New England’s famous peak fall foliage. For our trip, we only had two days.

We definitely took full advantage of our time off work and the unseasonably warm weather. On this trip we (slowly) drove my 1992 Land Rover Defender 110, which gave us the option of rooftop camping overnight, and spending as much time outdoors as possible.

We started our trip hiking the Hunter Mountain Fire Tower hike (6.5 miles round trip). From atop the fire tower were overlooked a very popular New York region ski resort, Hunter Mountain. We then camped 40 minutes away at North Lake South Lake. The following morning, we woke up bright and early to make breakfast. We then slowly made our way back South towards New York City.

On the way back, we stopped in New Paltz, NY for the day. Once in New Paltz, we found some coffee and headed off to hike Bonticou Crag. Bonticou Crag is part of the better known Mohonk Preserve. This hike offers a fun and challenging rock scramble. Once at the top you are greeted by views looking out every which way.

After the hike we grabbed lunch at the Main Course Marketplace (a favorite of ours) before heading back to the city.

1 hour : 47 minutes later we were parked in Manhattan. Right back where we started 36 hours prior.

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Biking Brooklyn For Fun

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Biking early Sunday morning from the Upper East Side to Brooklyn’s Prospect Park is a quick 15 mile ride. On this day, I was heading to Prospect Park to ride with several of my college friends (GO BEARCATS!). My route took me up over the 59th Street Bridge and then down along the waterfront through Long Island City, Greenpoint, Williamsburg, and finally Park Slope.

Riding to the park versus driving or taking the train was an easy warm up, and an easy way to tack on a few extra miles. At 9am we all met at Grand Army Plaza before heading in to the park. After a few laps of the park we decided to head out in to Brooklyn and explore. As a group we rode along the waterfront in to Red Hook, then Dumbo, Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and finally East to Bushwick.

After beer and burritos we rode back. The guys went their way back towards Prospect Park and I made my way towards Manhattan, where I first started my ride. 50 miles in the books!

Upstate NY Travel

Mattice Lake Outfitters - Northern Ontario Fishing

The perfect summer fishing trip is with Mattice Lake Outfitters in northern Ontario, Canada. Their fly-in fishing & hunting trips are professionally organized and expertly run. When we went in late July we could not have asked for a better experience. From Don, the owner, to our pilots and their support staff everything we could ever need was organized. The fishing was superb. We caught walleye and pike ranging in varying sizes.