MINDERS OF THE MOUNTAIN Book 1 and 2

 Two books have been published on Amazon. You can read them now.

SIX MILLION people visit the Mt. Washington Valley each year. SIX MILLION people take a ride through the Notches of the White Mountains. SIX MILLION hike through the forest and up on the ridges of the mountains.... And not one of them knows the story of the Mt. Washington's Minders and how they came to be.... until now. Sara is just a normal college student who loves to hike in the White Mountains of New Hampshire with her friend Trish. She has big dreams for her future after college graduation. During one of her hikes Sara stumbles upon a woman named Rose, who after getting to know her, tells her, "The Mountain is call you. It's time for you to join us." Sara later discovers that 'us' is a group of Minders that was formed over a hundred years ago to protect the Mountain from an ancient looming darkness. She must make an ultimate decision whether or not to join Minders like Joey, Thomas and Rose, and unreal the puzzle of magic she must master. Will Sara change her future plans in order to join the Minders and protect the Mountain? Better yet, from whom does the Mountain need protection from?

• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 226 pages

It was written for easy reading. A few of my readers have read it while traveling. Its light reading that takes you into the heart of the white mountains with fantasy, adventure, and excitement. 

This is the link below if you are interested in buying the first book of the series. The second has now been published and a third is in the process. 

Enjoy the Adventure

Minders of the Mountain: Martin, S R: 9781537209029: Amazon.com: Books

Sara Martin: Where Fantasy Meets the White Mountains

Minders of the Mountain follows the story of Sara as she begins her
journey to become a special protector of the White Mountains. Author
Sara Martin shares her story.

 Book is on sale at Amazon! Come and enjoy the adventure!

New Book in the Minders of the Mountain Series: The Adventure Continues

Next Book in the Minders of the Mountain series in now available online at Amazon.
Second book: Sara and Joey hike over to the Franconia Notch in search of their Minders friends that have disappeared and bring them back to Mt. Washington. Along the way, they run into some new characters and have to face a very difficult situations that almost cost them their lives. 
"I love writing about the Mt Washington area because its were I grew up and still live now. Hiking in these mountains over the years have brought me to think of fantasy stories and I wanted to bring one to life," author S. R. Martin.
So adventure over to Amazon and check out Minders of the Mountain and start your adventure through the White Mountains today! Happy Hiking!

A picture taken from me on top of the Franconia Ridge, a great adventure!

 

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!

 

Adventure up the Kancamagus Pass, 2855 feet up, in December

 Hasn't snowed much this winter up here in the White Mountains. To see snow, I traveled up the Kancamagus Pass this past week to see the a few inches of snow that had fallen on the mountains.

There are a few places to stop and check out  the views on both sides of the Pass when traveling through. The areas are still plowed which is great. These are a few of the pictures I took while visiting. The Temp at the bottom was 45 degrees while at the top it was near 34 degrees.

A fun fact below:

Hiking Mt. Monadnock

Mt. Monadnock

 This past weekend, I had the pleasure of hiking Mt. Monadnock in Jeffrey NH. We (Myself and friends) started at Park Headquarters, which we each paid $5.00 each to enter the park. The park is very clean with a small store, visitor center and bathrooms. The trail we started on was the White Dot Trail and followed that up the mountain. Most of the trail was rocky, starting off easy and getting a little more difficult as you get closer to the top. It's a very busy trail, many hikers use this trail when hiking the mountain. When you enter the park, they will give you a map that has all the trails, so you can pick a not so busy one if you would like.

My first view when reaching over the trees

The view when getting past the trees

When reaching over the first hump near the top

Getting closer to the top

Hiking up the Rocky Trail

View from the top

Marker on the top of Mt. Monadnock

After viewing at the top, we took the White Cross Trail down. Rocky trail and a little longer then White Dot Trail. The hike was about 5 hours all together. Great day for the hike, sunny with some clouds at times. Beautiful views and many other happy hikers to chat with along the way!

At the Top! 3165'

Adventures on Mt. Avalon in Crawford Notch

I have now hiked up to Mt. Avalon twice. Once in early spring with snow still three feet high and now in early summer. Both have been enjoyable, though this time I didn't have to worry so much about ice in the steep parts. The trail to hike in the Avalon Trail and it trails up 1.3 miles before turning left another .5 miles to Mt. Avalon.
 The view is amazing! You can see Mt. Washington in the distance and on the other side the valley of Crawford Notch. I was very happy it was a sunny day and could see all over. There are boulders to sit and eat lunch as you glance around. Hiking was a round trip of about five hours with time to eat lunch and take pictures. If you haven't hiked Mt. Avalon, I would say put it on your To-do list for hikes in the White Mountains. Park below near the Crawford Depot.

Here are a few pictures of the adventure:

Mt. Washington in the distance

Crawford Notch Valley

Climbing up the boulders we ate on at the top

A small acquaintance we hiked into a long the path

Happy Hiking and enjoy the views this summer!!!

Aerial Tramway to the Summit of Cannon Mountain and Rim Trail

If you haven't been to Franconia Notch State Park and want to visit this summer, you might enjoy a trip up Cannon Mountain on the Aerial Tramway. The Tram runs from 8:00am and to 4:00pm. I enjoy going in the morning and when it's quiet. So this year I visited the tram in early June. The weather was fair, sunny and cool on top of the mountain. The views were beautiful and I enjoyed walking along the Rim Trail on top which is part of the Kinsman Ridge Trail. The trail takes visitors to the tower which is set high to give you a 360 view of the area. It's well worth the $16.00 dollars to ride as an adult. You can see stunning views from New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, New York and Canada on a perfect sunny day. I wanted to show a few pictures of my adventure this year up the mountain.

Leaving the station on the tram

The view of Echo Lake from the Tram

View of Eagle Cliff

The view of Fanconia Notch State Park and Parkway

One of the many views from the Tower

Another breathtaking view from the Tower

The Tram coming up to the summit

 There are two Trams, one being yellow called "Mustard" and the other one red called "Ketchup". One shown in the picture above is Ketchup. Both are the same, just different colors. The ride up has some swinging at the poles but the ride down in smooth. Great visit.

Happy Hiking and Visiting the White Mountains of NH!

Visited Arethusa Falls and the Willey House over the weekend

Hiked up to Arethusa Falls this weekend. It was beautiful as always. Its an easy hike. The road if off route 302 for parking. The trail is 1.5 miles to the falls. There is a side trail if you want to see Fawn Pool, Bemis Falls and Colliseum Falls. The side trail is called Bemis Brook Trail, it hooks back on to the main trail to see Arethusa Falls. Arethusa Falls is the tallest in NH, 176ft. This time of year there are many visitors.The Falls was crowded. It only takes about 45 mins to an hour to reach the top. The trail is well taken care of. If you want more of an adventure, after the Falls you could always hike over to Frankenstein Cliffs, which is another 1.5 miles away. There you can see a view of the Mountains. Here are a few pictures below.

If you look closely on the Xlarge picture of the Falls, you will notice a person on top. He hiked around the Falls and went on top. Not the safest thing to do but if you are daring and have no fear of heights, then you ca take a chance, I prefer to enjoy the Falls from below!

Then I went and had ice cream at the Willey House which is also located in Crawford Notch, up the road from the Falls. There is a pond on the other side of the road which has trails to follow and a pond. Here are a few pictures. After a great day hiking, a stop for ice cream is always a great idea!

The pond

The house with ice cream and gift shop

The baby fox that lives near by. He didn't mind his picture being taken.

Happy Hiking and enjoy some yummy ice cream when you can!!! :)