Mystical Moose of Mt. Washington

I have always dreamed that Mt. Washington was protected by some magical force, or creature. Maybe that's why I came up with the story  Minders of the Mountain. A group of people who hold powers and dedicate most of their lives protecting Mt. Washington from great evil. But when I started writing my book, I found this picture at a yard sale of a moose on top of Mt. Washington. I didn't know a moose could travel so high up or want to go that high away from the protection of the trees.

 I was so amazed by this picture that I placed it up in my bedroom. You can see how high the moose is up, I swear this picture was taken right out from my story, when Sara and Joey come across the Mystical moose on Mt. Washington. Its so beautiful. And if you look closely you can see the AMC Lake of the Clouds Hut behind it in the picture. Here is a closer look:

 Now, I have encountered a  Moose and her young on the trail before but it was much lower and in the thick of the trees. I can't image meeting a moose this high up on the trails. Have you ever come across a moose this high up? What was it like if you did? I would love to hear people's story here or through my twitter feed :)

Happy Hiking! 

Hiking up Mt. Washington (forth time around) New: Taking Jewel Trail down

This is a view from up above on Mt Washington, you can see the cars coming up the Auto Road. It was a beautiful day for a hike.

Started up the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail to the the AMC Lake of the Clouds Hut. The trail was great to hike (as the last three times) It was my friends first time up to the top of Mt Washington so we started early (8:30am). I wanted to show her some of the locations my characters travel and live at, in my new book Minders of the Mountain such as the Gem Pool (where they get their crystals for power) and small trail to the cascades (where they live in caves). She loved it. The views were amazing since there was very little clouds at the time, and the weather was 80 degrees at the bottom and about 65 at the hut.

Us on the Ammonoosuc Trail

We made it to the Hut a little before 11:30am since we really enjoyed stopping to see views on the way up and then hiked the Crawford Path to the top. There was NO clouds at the time. Sun was strong and we grew tired. Since it was such a hot, nice Saturday, many were traveling the trails.
It was about 1:00pm when we reached the top, at that point I was tired and wishing I had put on more sun block. The soups at the top are amazing, I (of course) had the clam chowder with crackers. We walked around, visited the gift shop, took a few pics of the view, by now we were wearing light jackets. It was about 50 degrees at the top.

After visiting the top, we decided to take Jewel Trail back down, which I had never taken before. I loved hiking by the cog as it came down the tracks. I enjoyed seeing the Great Gulf on the Gulfside trail heading toward Jewel trail. Here are a few pictures on the way down...

Great Gulf

The cog in its way down

hiking over the tracks

 We made it down by 6:30pm to our cars. We were ready to go home and relax. I was glad I brought my flip flops for the drive home. The hike was 9.5 miles round trip. My legs were feeling sore for at least three days but it was worth it. The views were amazing!

Please check out my book and Kindle version at Amazon
My authors page:  amazon.com/author/srmartin
Thank you and Happy Hiking!! 

Minders Of The Mountains - A Story Based in the White Mountains

  

The Soft Cover Book

  "Six million people, each year, travel to New Hampshire to visit the White Mountains. Six million people spend their vacations traveling up to Mt. Washington, either by foot, cog or car. Six million is a lot of people, and not one of them knows the true story of this beautiful area or have ever ran into a protector of the Mountain. This story of a girl, Sara, who's name was written on the rocks in the mountains that would make her a legend. The one who is to save Mt Washington from dark evils that live in the White Mountains with other protectors. Of course those of us as humans know them as 'Trail Angels' but they have a larger propose... To save this world from Kione, an evil creature that has dark plans for this world, and to use Mt. Washington's energy to destroy human kind. So, six million people visit the White Mountains and not one knows what really is going on around them... until now."


Since I was a child I have wanted to write a story that I could be proud to share with the world. I have always written ideas and thoughts down, short stories and then one day an idea hit me. It was over five years ago, I took my first summer off from working and decided to explore of trails in the White Mountains with a friend. I would see plaques on the trails, visited the huts and then decided to read a few books about some of the stories that had happened in the White Mountains. This of course, sparked my interest and my ideas started to flow....what if some of these stories were connected?

Kindle Version

What if there was one big story and people didn't know it?
      I started to share some of my ideas with my hiking friend and then my family. I felt like I had a good idea and come up with a few characters for the story. The main being Sara, a hiker, loves taking on adventures, driven person and how she has to pick a path in life. Her wonderful parents, George and Cici, are a proud father and a very worried mom... but both loving and kind. Then came her Minder friends...Rose, Joey and Thomas. They are a group of protectors...like Guardians, who are given special crystals that hold great power. Their main mission is to protect Mt. Washington from the Lackens that are controlled by Kione... an evil man who wants to control the Powers Mt. Washinton has on the weather system that could create weather distracts which could hurt ManKind, or even destroy it! Sara finds out by the Minders that she is a Legend in the Mountains, her name being written on the rocks above, that she is the one that holds the greater power in defeating Kione. But the Mountain is still giving her a choice....does she want to take the path, or continue her own ideas of what she wanted to do after college. Is all up to her?
     This idea was so exciting for me to embark on, and I couldn't stop writing. I just wrote and wrote. Five years in the making! After 250 pages, I noticed I had a story I wanted to share. Now, given that English is not my best subject, I asked my husband and stepson to read and edit this book. I had looked into editing by a person outside, but coming up with a few thousand couldn't be done.  So editing took longer, but my stepson mainly pulled through and told me he enjoyed the characters and ideas. He even started drawing out a few of them on how he thought they looked in real life. This gave me hope.
    As my stepson would say, Its an Adventure/Action book. Takes you places all over the White Mountains and towns that reach around it. You will fall in love with the characters and next time you find yourself hiking  in the White Mountains will be hoping Minders are around protecting...and that you don't run into a Lacken!!!

Please check out my book and Kindle version at Amazon ....
My authors page:  amazon.com/author/srmartin
Thank you and Happy Hiking!!

Hiking up Mt. Moosilauke 4802 footer!

In the White Mountains, and town of Benton. Tenth Highest Mountain in NH. Called the The Gentle Giant, Mt Moosilauke is  4802 feet. I have never hiked this mountain before so I was excited about this new adventure! Parked on the dirt road that was near the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge which is owned by Dartmouth College. The bathrooms were clean and the people were very friendly. The most popular trail is Gorge Brook, which is the one we hiked up. As some point we had to follow Snapper Trail because a part of the Gorge was washed out by rain. Hiking up was 3.7 miles to the top and beautiful. Here are a few pictures from the day: 

The Lodge

It was sunny skies with a few clouds near the top, light winds

Signs to watch out for Vegetation

All Smiles from this HIKE!

Taken near the top

Places to hang low when windy

The top!!! We made it!

 Over all the hike was a huge loop, started on the Gorge Trail up to top then headed down Carriage to Snapper, which is all together 7.4 miles. Great hike. The views are amazing. We spent a hour up at the top, but I could have stayed there all day!

Dogs loved it too!

 Happy Hiking!