Buy my novel Take to the Unscathed Road now! Follow me at facebook.com/justinraphaelsonauthor, instagram.com/jraphaelson, and twitter.com/jcxc44! I usually post about trail systems, but every so often a nice urban park comes along that is worth mentioning on this blog! Patterson Park is a cute area a few blocks from the harbor in a city that doesn't have a ton of green space in its immediate vicinity. There are a series of intertwining paths that navigate this park, but I stuck to the outer loop. I actually began this run from a friend's house, so the loop itself is actually closer to 2 m ..read more

Buy my novel Take to the Unscathed Road now! Follow me at facebook.com/justinraphaelsonauthor, instagram.com/jraphaelson, and twitter.com/jcxc44! Cinque Terre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and for good reason. Some call them the most beautiful villages of Italy, and it is easy to see why. The towns have been around since the 11th century give or take, and they are difficult to access by car due to the very narrow roads that access them. There are direct trains to each of the five towns though. My plan for the day was to hike over to Monterosso al Mare (the 5th town) along the ..read more

Buy my novel Take to the Unscathed Road now! Follow me at facebook.com/justinraphaelsonauthor, instagram.com/jraphaelson, and twitter.com/jcxc44! Some days, you know you're not going to get a view, so you go for it anyway. Other days, you shouldn't get a view, but the universe has other things to say. This was one of those days. Imp Face is a 52 With a View Peak that isn't really a peak--it's more just a subpeak in the Carter Range, but it packs a serious punch nonetheless. I began on the northern trailhead, as the Imp Trail is actually one big loop from parking lot to parking lot ..read more

Buy my novel Take to the Unscathed Road now! Follow me at facebook.com/justinraphaelsonauthor, instagram.com/jraphaelson, and twitter.com/jcxc44! Taylor, the pups, and I decided to get a few miles in from his family’s house when I was visiting him to get some work done to my car. Douglas State Forest has always been a fun little spot to explore, and I used to frequent a few other entrances. However, I had never gone down to Wallum Lake before. We started our walk along some neighborhood trails and eventually popped over to Wallum Lake, where we got some lovely views along the shore ..read more

Buy my novel Take to the Unscathed Road now! Follow me at facebook.com/justinraphaelsonauthor, instagram.com/jraphaelson, and twitter.com/jcxc44! Hermann Orchard Trail is a lovely area in an unsuspecting area. JS and I parked across a major road about a block over because it was evident that there was no parking lot. I immediately had questions about the trail, especially after we started to trudge through some deep muddy areas. But as soon as we broke through this area, we entered a forest of tall pines and got some nice views of a pond to the right. Soon thereafter, we emerged int ..read more

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