Stephen Regenold
Outdoor Pros Pick 10 Top Trips
On the island of Guadalupe, south of Antigua in the great eastern archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, John d'Arbeloff signed the charter documents on a 44-foot yacht and started drifting south with his wife and first mate, Ginny. Wind fluttered the sails. Clouds sat over a hazy blue horizon. A wake soon began to rise off the boat's tracking stern.
"We were off for 12 days of freedom and exploration," said d'Arbeloff, the 46-year-old president and founder of RailRiders Adventure Clothing in Watertown, Mass. A veteran sailor, d'Arbeloff journeys every year into the chop of international waters. It's how he sees the world.
"Nothing can match the independence of what you can do and see from the deck of a sailboat."...
Outdoor Pros Pick 10 Top Trips
On the island of Guadalupe, south of Antigua in the great eastern archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, John d'Arbeloff signed the charter documents on a 44-foot yacht and started drifting south with his wife and first mate, Ginny. Wind fluttered the sails. Clouds sat over a hazy blue horizon. A wake soon began to rise off the boat's tracking stern.
"We were off for 12 days of freedom and exploration," said d'Arbeloff, the 46-year-old president and founder of RailRiders Adventure Clothing in Watertown, Mass. A veteran sailor, d'Arbeloff journeys every year into the chop of international waters. It's how he sees the world.
"Nothing can match the independence of what you can do and see from the deck of a sailboat."...
Stephen Regenold Outdoor Pros Pick 10 Top Trips On the island of Guadalupe, south of Antigua in the great eastern archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, Joh... more
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1
Hiker's Haute Route
French/Swiss Alps
Kimberly Coupounas, CEO, GoLite LLCLinking Zermatt, Switzerland, to Chamonix, France, via a precipitous and endlessly scenic path, the Hiker's Haute Route is an alpine adventure. Traveling through wilderness as well as villages in the Mont Blanc region, the 100+ mile trail is a civilized adventure, according to Coupounas. Quaint Swiss villages, inns and alpine huts offer all manner of gourmet meals, chocolate, bread, cheese and wine. "The joke is that all you need to hike in the Alps is a day pack and a credit card," Coupounas said. "We found that to be not far from the truth!"
2
Windsurfing Raglan
New Zealand
Jim Holland, CEO, Backcountry.comOn the rugged West Coast of New Zealand's North Island, Raglan is a "hip little town with some surf shops, cafes and coffee shops, as well as some outrageous windsurfing and kiteboarding," said Holland. People come to Raglan for the waves, which cascade in from the Tasman Sea in a left-hand surf break at Manu Bay. Giant kiore trees, the green backdrop of a volcano, and black sand beaches don't hurt either. "When I'm in New Zealand, I often feel like I've landed in the middle of a dream," Holland said.
3
Eco-Agriculture tour
Commonwealth of Dominica
John d'Arbeloff, Founder/President, RailRiders Adventure ClothingThe Commonwealth of Dominica, a remote Caribbean island of the Lesser Antilles, is a lush dot of land on a clear-blue sea. Mountainous and draped in rainforest green, Dominica beckons hikers inland and uphill, where rare plant and animal species exist undisturbed. On a recent visit, John d'Arbeloff hired a guide from the local Cobra Tours to lead him and his wife deep into the hills in search of eatable earthly delights. "Winston, our guide, had a machete," said d'Arbeloff, who toured for hours around the northern part of the island in search of berries, coconuts, butternuts, papayas, squash, plantains, wild bananas, coconuts and exotic vegetables. "Every ten minutes Winston would hack off a fruit or some berries, explain the items and ask us to eat them; I thought I was going to explode."
4
Deep woods solitude
Tomahawk, Wisconsin
Kim Miller, CEO Scarpa North AmericaThe Great North Woods of central Wisconsin spreads out in all directions from the town of Tomahawk, a 4,000-person hamlet in the center of the state. For Kim Miller, the area epitomizes a get-away-from-it-all destination, with rolling green hills, thick forests and endless lakes dotting the landscape. "Tomahawk has the best swimming, water skiing and crayfish hunting in the world," he said.
5
Canoeing Adirondack State Park
New York
Peter Worley, President, Teva FootwearCovering a swath of land the size of Massachusetts, Adirondack State Park is a macrocosm of mountains, lakes, rivers and tiny towns dotting the woodsy landscape. For Peter Worley, a recent canoe trip in the park--from Long Lake, down the Raquette River and into Tupper Lake--was unforgettable. "We spotted something like 30 deer, 12 otters, six wolves and only two other humans the whole trip!"
6
Heli Skiing the Wasatch Mountains
Utah
Steve Rendle, President, The North FaceUtah's towering Wasatch Mountains are blanketed each year with more than 500 inches of the oft-proclaimed "greatest snow on earth." Steve Rendle recommends foregoing chairlifts and accessing the fluff via a helicopter with a company like Wasatch Powderbird Guides. Fresh snow and powder face shots are guaranteed in the Wasatch, where guides keep close track of weekly wind and weather to assure each turn cuts through virgin snow, deep and airy, for thousands of vertical feet a day. "There's really nothing like heli-skiing," Rendle said.
7
Salmon Shark Fishing
Prince William Sound, Alaska
Naomi Shapiro, President, Creative Brilliance CommunicationsThe salmon shark is a top-of-the-food-chain predator, weighing hundreds of pounds and devouring its namesake prey with ravenous efficiency. In Alaska, salmon shark are legal game "fish," though Naomi Shapiro, the owner of an outdoors communications firm who recently chartered a trip out of Valdez in Alaska's Prince William Sound, says pursuing these creatures is more akin to big-game hunting than rod-and-reel fishing. "You troll and mooch for the salmon shark using double hooked rigs with a 30-foot steel cable leader," she said. "When the shark is brought close to the boat, you harpoon it and use a shotgun to put a slug into its head before even thinking about bringing it on board."
8
Surf Playa Grande
Costa Rica
Stephen Sullivan, founder, Cloudveil Mountain Works Inc.Facing full into the endless blue of the Pacific Ocean, Playa Grande in Marino Las Baulas National Park on Costa Rica's north-central coast is an epic tropical getaway. Stephen Sullivan comes for the warm weather, the friendly local culture and the surf. "We stay at a house right on the beach and traipse up and down the coast looking for waves." Sullivan, who visits Playa Grande with a group of friends from his home town of Jackson, Wyo., has hired boats to take the group offshore to remote surf spots like Witches Rock and Ollie's Point. "It's a pretty deluxe way to surf," he said.
9
Swimming the Rivers of Oregon
Oregon
Kirk Richardson, CEO, Keen FootwearThe appeal of swimming in a mountain stream--swirling clear water, pure and cold on the skin--is irresistible to Kirk Richardson, a climber and mountain hiker who makes a river dip requisite after each day of adventure in his home state. "River swimming is the refreshment needed after a day of climbing routes in the Cascades, Blues or Elkhorn Mountains," he said. Richardson's top Oregon rivers include Steamboat Creek, the Umpqua, McKenzie River, Santiam, the Deschutes and John Day River.
10
Culinary Exploration
Tabasco, Mexico
Lara Merriken, Founder/CEO, Humm Foods Inc.As the creator of her namesake Larabar--a raw and unprocessed neo-energy bar--Lara Merriken embarks on culinary sojourns in search of new and unique ingredients. Last winter she journeyed through the state of Tabasco in search of chocolate right from the source. "You can go to the markets and buy raw cacao pods, which is where chocolate comes from," she said. Cacao is grown on farms in this region, processed, exported and also served up in local dishes.
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