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Family Biking, Kayaking, Canoeing
Rafting, biking, kayaking, camping, canoeing
by Stephen Jermanok
Stephen Jermanok, travel writer and father of two young children, reveals his favorite family adventure spots. Get ready for New England's best adventures in biking in Massachusetts, mountain biking in Vermont, sea kayaking in Rhode island, camping in Maine, and canoeing in New Hampshire.
Mountain Biking: Vermont
We make an annual pilgrimage to the Northeast Kingdom to bike the 100-plus-mile web known as the Kingdom Trails. We pedal across fertile green pastures, past immense red barns still standing from the early 1900s, and sweep up and down on soft forest trails dusted with pine needles, all within arm's length of fragrant spruce and fir trees.
The exhilaration of biking these trails has never dulled, especially now that Jake and Melanie can lead me on the gently rolling terrain, swiftly cruising by dilapidated sugar shacks that seem lost on the land. The routes vary from narrow, challenging single tracks to wide dirt roads, created by loggers decades ago.
Grab a trail guide at East Burke Sports on Route 114, head up the slope to any of the trails that lead from Mountain View Farm on Darling Hill, and you'll quickly understand the attraction.
When You Go
East Burke Sports, 439 Rte. 114, East Burke. 802-626-3215; eastburkesports.com
Sea Kayaking: Rhode Island
When our kids were younger, we rented double kayaks from The Kayak Centre in Wickford, on the western side of Narragansett Bay, and paddled past the docked yachts. Soon we were out in the quiet harbor, coasting alongside the oyster beds and sea grass meadows that make up the puckered shoreline.
We could see century-old houses, a handful of fishermen, and Rabbit and Cornelius Islands out in the bay. Cornelius is a fine place to stop, picnic, look for shells that haven't been picked over by the gulls, and go for a swim. Now that the children are older, they can skipper their own single kayaks.
Beginning Memorial Day weekend, the Centre offers instruction ($55 per person) for families whose children are at least 8 years old and also features a kids-only paddle for ages 9 to 14 ($90).
When You Go
The Kayak Centre, 9 Phillips St., Wickford. 888-732-5292, 401-295-4400; kayakcentre.com
Camping: Maine
Most parents gauge the growth of their children by penciling their heights against the bedroom wall. My wife and I can tell the kids are getting on in years by what they accomplish at Acadia each summer.
We start by setting up camp. Acadia's more popular campground, Blackwoods, sits off the congested Park Loop, so we opt for Seawall, four miles south of Southwest Harbor on Route 102A. Tent sites are nestled in the woods, and the campground is only a 10-minute walk to the tidal pools. After setting up camp, the first meal is always at Beal's in Southwest Harbor: the requisite lobster roll ($12.95) with clam chowder ($4.95-$10.95). Then we're ready for all the adventure Acadia holds.
My wife and I first brought Jake and Melanie to Acadia when they were 6 and 4. We began with the easy hikes up North and South Bubble, peaks that stand less than 1,000 feet, with the reward of freshly baked popovers at nearby Jordan Pond House afterwards. We also paddled on placid Long Pond to picnic on a pine-studded island. Each time we returned, the kids' confidence grew, and we climbed more challenging peaks, including Acadia Mountain, where they've spotted bald eagles and viewed the precipitous cliffs of Norumbega Mountain sliding into Somes Sound, creating the only fjord on the eastern seaboard. Now Jake, 11, climbs up vertiginous rock walls on iron rungs on so-called trails, such as Precipice and Beehive, and his parents are the ones who are nervous.
It's not all about climbing. We bike the shores of Eagle Lake, where a carriage path (one of the gravel roads that crisscross the eastern half of the island) circles for six miles under towering firs and over century-old stone bridges. We've gone on half-day sea kayaking jaunts in the Atlantic, where we've gone eyeball-to-eyeball with harbor seals and searched for sea glass on deserted Frenchman Bay islands. And we always book a day with Diver Ed, who goes scuba diving with a camera attached to his head, only to return to the boat with goodies such as sea cucumbers, starfish, crabs, and lobsters.
When You Go
Seawall, Rte. 102A, Southwest Harbor. Rates: $14-$20 per night. 207-288-3338; nps.gov/acad
Beal's Lobster Pier/The Captain's Galley, 182 Clark Point Rd., Southwest Harbor. Prices: from $2.00. 207-244-3202; bealslobsterpier.net
Jordan Pond House, Park Loop Road, Seal Harbor. Open mid-May to October. Entrées: from $15.50. 207-276-3316; jordanpond.com
Dive-In Theater, College of the Atlantic, 105 Eden St. (Rte. 3). Prices: $30 adult, $5-$20 children. 207-288-3483; divered.com
Acadia Bike, 48 Cottage St., Bar Harbor. Rates: from $18 per day. 800-526-8615; acadiabike.com
Coastal Kayaking Tours, 48 Cottage St., Bar Harbor. Rates: $37-$69 per person. 800-526-8615, 207-288-9605; acadiabike.com/kayakingpage.html
Biking: Massachusetts
We're big fans of the 22-mile Cape Cod Rail Trail, especially when you take it in bits and pieces. But to be frank, the actual ride, even after the route's recent refurbishment, can be a real yawner for kids. It's a former railroad line, straight with very little grade.
We like the ups and downs of biking -- which is why we prefer the five-mile Province Lands Bike Trail at the tip of the Cape. This undulating route dips in and out of sand dunes, weaving through scrub-pine forests and along beaches on one of the most glorious bike paths you'll ever ride.
The loop starts at Herring Cove Beach and heads inland through the Beech Forest, where the trees are often home to colorful warblers. Before sweeping downhill to the Province Lands Visitor Center, we always stop and look at the mounds of sand as they roll to the ocean.
Afterward, we take a dip at Race Point Beach, where the spit of land curves back toward Massachusetts, making it the only spot in New England to watch the sun set over the Atlantic: a perfect ending to a perfect day.
When You Go
Province Lands Bike Trail, Provincetown. Access from Cape Cod National Seashore. 508-487-1256, 508-349-3785 (HQ); nps.gov/caco/index.htm
Province Lands Visitor Center, Race Point Rd., Provincetown. 508-487-1256; nps.gov/archive/caco/places/provincelandsvc.html
Canoeing: New Hampshire
At the junction of Routes 16 and 26 in Errol, Northern Waters Outfitters rents canoes. Grab one and put in north of town on Route 16 to find out why Umbagog was named a National Wildlife Refuge.
A short paddle on the Androscoggin River brings you to a deserted island, where atop one dead pine tree is a large nest. Every year since 1989, a family of bald eagles has called this nest home, giving birth in springtime to their young. The eagles arrive in early spring and stay until the Androscoggin freezes over in early January.
We've been to Umbagog three times, usually in August when the white heads of the parents guard the nest as their little ones learn to fly. Loons, Canada geese, and herons lounge in the waters of this quiet lake on the Maine border, yet it's the pair of nesting bald eagles that keeps us coming back.
When You Go
Northern Waters Outfitters, Rte. 16, Errol. 603-447-2177, 603-482-3817 (summer); beoutside.com, serioussports.com/sacobound/index.html
Reader Comments
Comment from Carl Pecchia on April 14, 2008
During the spring and summer you can fly kites at Bretton Park in New Port RI
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