Clear Pond Mountain: 08/20/2016

It’s understandable if you’ve never heard of Clear Pond Mountain. As one of several summits in the privately owned 12,000 acre Elk Lake – Clear Pond Preserve, its trail is open only to guests of Elk Lake Lodge. We got a chance to hike the mountain and enjoy its phenomenal views during a 2-night stay at the lodge last weekend.

Adirondack ski areas by the numbers: 2015-16 season

Most eastern skiers would probably prefer to forget about the winter of 2015-16, also known as The Winter That Wasn't. Besieged by mild temperatures, lack of snowfall and one rain event after another, ski areas throughout the northeast pushed the limits of their snowmaking plants and crews to salvage what they could of the season. But you can fight mother nature only so much, and skiers suffered through limited terrain, event cancellations and a shortened season. Skier visits in the northeast were down a whopping 28% from the previous winter. Whiteface and Gore followed that trend, with significant decreases in both skier visits (down 21% and 44%, respectively) and revenue (down 21% and 37%, respectively). Here are the numbers:

Truro Hills and Ponds: Mountain biking and paddling in the Cape Cod National Seashore

It's not like we've uncovered all the locals' secrets, but in the nearly 10 years that we've been coming to the Outer Cape we've gotten pretty good at finding the off-the-beaten-path spots that most of the tourists miss. My ride the other day took me to some of our favorites along the Truro / Wellfleet border.