Guides and trip reports for day hiking throughout the world.
My family has spent a week hiking together every summer since I was a child, usually in the White Mountains. I love the White Mountains, but I’ve found it difficult to pull myself away from the local splendor of the Cascades since moving to Seattle. Last August, we compromised and spent a week in the Cascades on the north side of Mount Baker. We rented a house in Glacier, Washington, did day hikes within a short drive.
I frequently come back from vacations wanting a few days to recharge. Despite finding our trips invigorating in many ways, the constant decisions (where to eat? what to do? when to do it?) and moving around can also leave me exhausted.
My family’s trips to Cold River Camp, in the White Mountains on the border between New Hampshire and Maine, always leave me refreshed. My family has made the trip every year since I was about two. Since moving to the west coast, I have not made the trip every year. With Kyle’s first trip to Cold River this summer, though, it seems like a good time to share some notes.
On a 2014 trip to Torres del Paine, a couple advised me that if I had enjoyed that trip, I should return and visit Bariloche and Cochamó. When searching for a March hiking destination for 2016, we returned to this suggestion and booked flights to Puerto Montt, Chile.
In planning our trip, we considered several options before deciding that there was more than enough to keep us busy for an entire week in Bariloche. Rather than lose days to moving between different towns, we decided to make that our home base for the week. What followed was an amazing week of hikes, visiting mountain lakes, and delicious food.