Hike advice
Ledyard’s Steve Fagin offers information on the best day hikes in the region in a revised, expanded book
You’re setting out on a day hike you haven’t done before. You’ve heard the area is beautiful, but what about the details? Where exactly is the trailhead? At a certain point, should you turn left or take that path to the right? How challenging is the hike, and how many miles does it run? If you bring your dog, will they be able to handle it?
A newly revised book, “AMC’s (Appalachian Mountain Club’s) Best Day Hikes in Connecticut & Rhode Island,” offers pretty much all the details a hiker would need to tackle one of the 60 sites featured.
The book is a new, expanded edition of earlier ones done by Rene Laubach and Charles W. Smith. Steve Fagin reviewed and revised what the previous authors had penned, and he added 14 hikes in Rhode Island as well as most of the eastern Connecticut ones that are highlighted.
“It’s a really hiker-friendly format,” Fagin said. “It’s tried and true. The ACM is the gold standard for these guidebooks. It’s a huge honor to be considered even to contribute to it.”
Fagin, an avid outdoorsman who lives in Ledyard, is a former Day reporter and editor who writes the “Great Outdoors” column for the paper. He is also book editor of Appalachia journal, published by the Appalachian Mountain Club, and has written for the New York Times and Runner’s World.
“AMC’s (Appalachian Mountain Club’s) Best Day Hikes in Connecticut & Rhode Island” breaks down information about each hike. It boasts summaries of the time, distance, and difficulty. It includes GPS coordinates for every trailhead and detailed directions. It offers information on universal accessibility and what the best options are for hikes with kids.
Fun facts are part of each entry, too. For Napatree Point in Watch Hill, the “Did you know?” section states that “dense woods covered much of the peninsula until trees were swept away during the Great September Gale of 1815.” The Cliff Walk in Newport segment notes that, in May 2023, the median listing home price in Newport was $995,000.
There are short essays sprinkled through the book about such topics as “Saving Haley Farm — and the Birth of an Environmental Movement” and “Stone Walls: An Enduring American Indian