Buy my novel Take to the Unscathed Road now! Follow me at facebook.com/justinraphaelsonauthor, instagram.com/jraphaelson, and twitter.com/jcxc44! Day 9, Part 2: The Dolomites to Venice to Florence When I arrived back at the Venice airport from the Dolomites, I hopped on a boat and walked to the train station where I dropped my bag with my ski gear in a convenient locker about a 5 min walk from the train station.  I had some time to kill, so I got lunch at a quick spot called Caffe Internazionale for lasagna and bread for just 10 euros, which is exactly what I needed to hold me ..read more

Buy my novel Take to the Unscathed Road now! Follow me at facebook.com/justinraphaelsonauthor, instagram.com/jraphaelson, and twitter.com/jcxc44! Shira and I went for a few hikes near Tilton on our way back from the Whites. I had never hiked in this area, but it’s a good midway spot on the way back home, and had some easy access areas right off 93. The hike starts off flat as you head toward Haul Road, which then climbs gently up a muddy field if it’s been wet recently. We trudged through some nasty mud on our way up. We weren’t too thrilled with the conditions and almost turned around, but ..read more

Buy my novel Take to the Unscathed Road now! Follow me at facebook.com/justinraphaelsonauthor, instagram.com/jraphaelson, and twitter.com/jcxc44! Shira and I did a fun little tour of Red Rock Canyon for her first time there while we were in town for a music festival. Rather than go into significant detail about the four mini hikes we did, I’ll briefly touch on all of them. Calico Hills is a personal favorite of mine. It’s one of the first parking lots from the park loop road, but it can get quite crowded. It’s home to many climbing areas, like all of the other trailheads we went to. You can a ..read more

Buy my novel Take to the Unscathed Road now! Follow me at facebook.com/justinraphaelsonauthor, instagram.com/jraphaelson, and twitter.com/jcxc44! I have had my eyes on the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge Area for years. It’s so close to me, yet I always thought that the trail systems were too short to justify a trip to. Boy was I wrong. I started my journey along the shores of Mirror Lake, with the intention of walking until I could walk no more (as I am still injured). I took the Mirror Lake trail system until it terminated at a road. I saw that this road led to another trail system and I s ..read more

Buy my novel Take to the Unscathed Road now! Follow me at facebook.com/justinraphaelsonauthor, instagram.com/jraphaelson, and twitter.com/jcxc44! On a cloudy March afternoon, Shira and I wanted to get a few miles in on the way back to Worcester. As has been customary in recent months, we scoped a conservation area out that we had never been to. Delaney Flood Control is only about 15-20 minutes from where I grew up but somehow I had never been. There are a number of trailheads, but we picked one that had less foot traffic on the corner of Harvard Road and Finn Road. The trail starts off in ..read more

Buy my novel Take to the Unscathed Road now! Follow me at facebook.com/justinraphaelsonauthor, instagram.com/jraphaelson, and twitter.com/jcxc44! Red Rock Canyon, to me, has the best concentration of quality, accessible multi pitch climbing in the US. There are few major cities in the US you can hop off a plane and be 30 minutes or less from some of the best climbing in the world. For all of its sins, Vegas can sometimes breed beauty. I was joined by Harriet and Jeremy for this adventure. I was in town for a music festival with Shira, her brother, and my brother and his girlfriend. No trip ..read more

Buy my novel Take to the Unscathed Road now! Follow me at facebook.com/justinraphaelsonauthor, instagram.com/jraphaelson, and twitter.com/jcxc44! This tour of Sandwich Dome was the ultimate solo trail run of the fall. I loved every moment of this journey, and it was my last long, half marathon plus run of the year. Let me preface it by saying that hands down, my favorite area of the White Mountains is the Southern Whites, or more specifically, the Sandwich Range Wilderness. It’s an area I have spent a considerable amount of quiet time in over the years. As the weather has been crazy latel ..read more

Buy my novel Take to the Unscathed Road now! Follow me at facebook.com/justinraphaelsonauthor, instagram.com/jraphaelson, and twitter.com/jcxc44! It’s been almost five months since I competed in the Alterra Half Marathon World Championships, and given this is a hiking blog, I felt the need to write about it! Besides, I track all of my New England 4000 footer adventures and I would be doing myself a disservice if I didn’t reflect on this journey. I qualified for the race randomly. I raced twice in Arizona on two weekends that I was in Phoenix with my buddy Aaron, and the rest is history. Of ..read more

Buy my novel Take to the Unscathed Road now! Follow me at facebook.com/justinraphaelsonauthor, instagram.com/jraphaelson, and twitter.com/jcxc44! Crotched Mountain has long been on my to-do list of hikes. I’ve skied it a few times over the years and my uncle and aunt have a place near there, so it’s been on my radar for quite some time. I got the opportunity to do it when Shira was doing a ski lesson at the mountain. I decided to hike it from the other side and got a good 6 mile adventure in. I started in the Crotched Mountain Town Forest parking lot, which follows the Quarry Loop to the Lin ..read more

Buy my novel Take to the Unscathed Road now! Follow me at facebook.com/justinraphaelsonauthor, instagram.com/jraphaelson, and twitter.com/jcxc44! Shira and I wanted to get a quick hike in on the way home from a ski weekend at Killington. We scoped out Bald Mountain, which wasn’t too far from where we were staying. Bald Mountain is a gentle hike with some elevation gain at the start, but it’s generally pretty moderate. Once you turn on the Bald Mountain Trail from East Road, you climb through pretty pine forests. Eventually you come to the North Vista, which is the first viewpoint alo ..read more