James P. Taylor Outdoor Adventure Series
For more than one hundred years the Long Trail has inspired Vermonters to seek adventure in the Green Mountains and beyond. The James P. Taylor Outdoor Adventure Series, named after the man who first envisioned the Long Trail, brings such adventures to you through stories, photographs, and videos. Join us for inspiring presentations that will transport you to mountains and waterways near and far as we celebrate twenty-five years of the Taylor Series — a great way to spend an evening!
Admission is $5 for members and $8 for nonmembers; kids under 12 are free. Tickets are available at the door only. Proceeds support local sections and the GMC Education Program.
The Taylor Series is over for 2017. Check back later this year for 2018’s schedule.
The Taylor Series is sponsored by GMC’s fourteen sections, local businesses, and other friends of the club.
$1,000+ Business Contributors
$500 – $999 Business Contributors
Previous Taylor Series presentations from this year:
Rock Climbing Abroad and At Home
Andrea Charest
Thursday, April 27, 7 P.M.
GMC Visitor Center, Waterbury Center
For Andrea Charest, climbing is a way of life. She has woven climbing into her job, her relationship, her free time, and even her dog’s life. Andrea owns Petra Cliffs Climbing Center in Burlington with her husband Steve, where they have helped to grow the climbing community. When she’s not working at the center or guiding—you guessed it—she’s usually climbing rock or ice, sometimes with skis on her back. Andrea has traveled across the country and internationally for work and play. She returns to Vermont with a new perspective and appreciation for climbing routes in New England. She will share her perspective on life from the side of a wall and discuss some of the most impressive features our natural landscape has to offer, some in our own back yard.
Trail Magic: The Grandma Gatewood Story – Film and Discussion
Friday, April 21, 6:30 P.M.
Montshire Museum of Science, Norwich
Many hikers know Emma “Grandma” Gatewood was the first woman to solo thru-hike the Appalachian Trail, but little more of her story. Prior to a screening of Trail Magic: The Grandma Gatewood Story, there will be a short panel discussion featuring a recent AT thru hiker, and touching on the AT in the Upper Valley: its history, its maintenance, and the activities of the Upper Valley Trail Angels.
Day Hiking the Lofoten Islands of Norway
Ashley Spooner
Thursday, April 6, 7 P.M.
GMC Visitor Center, Waterbury Center
In June of 2016, Ashley Spooner spent 8 days hiking in the Lofoten Islands of Norway, located above the Arctic Circle. In order to reach the islands, numerous flights and a four hour ferry ride were necessary. The midnight sun illuminated the skies nearly all hours of the day, while the turquoise Norwegian Sea seemed to melt into the high peaks that make up this archipelago. All aspects of the islands make it a magical place; from the local hospitality and daily changing dinner menus to the friendly felines and endless trails. The Lofoten Islands may as well be their own little world.
Interesting Vermont Plane Crashes and Stories
Brian Lindner
Thursday, March 30, 7 P.M.
GMC Visitor Center, Waterbury Center
There is normally so much more to the story of a plane crash than what appears in the media in the days after the accident. Often there is heroism, drama, suspense and even humor in many of these crashes. One amazing crash during the Cold War was once the Vermont News Story of the Year but is now nearly forgotten. There are great stories of survival – and of arrogance. When one looks there are even several crashes with an element of humor. This talk plucks the more interesting stories from Vermont’s aviation history and is intended for a general audience.
History of the Whites
Elizabeth Kane
Thursday, March 23, 7 P.M.
GMC Visitor Center, Waterbury Center
The siren song of the sublime landscapes of the White Mountains of New Hampshire has invoked terror, awe and inspiration for countless artists, homesteaders, trekkers, outdoor enthusiasts, entrepreneurs and tourists alike. The human handprints and footprints on the region have indelibly affected the history of the forests and peaks. Follow images, artifacts, and historical reports along a timeline from virgin forest to pastoral farmland to grand hotels to logging wasteland to our modern recreational paradise. We will become familiar with some of the grandest and most egregious characters, companies and organizations of the past 350 years. One may argue that the question still remains as to is what was so swiftly lost to us able to be regained? Was the community battle for reclamation of the forests from the timber industry effective enough to save what had become a near wasteland? Entire populations shifted, trees fell by the thousands, whole towns disappeared and new boundaries appeared. Still, we explore.
The Physiology and Psychology of Wilderness Survival
Mark Kutolowski
Thursday, March 16, 7 P.M.
GMC Visitor Center, Waterbury Center
What is truly needed to survive in the wilderness? This presentation moves beyond the high drama surrounding popular fascination with survival to look at the physiological and psychological dimensions that determine who lives and who dies in a wilderness survival situation. We will cover the real human needs of short term (4 days), medium term (4 to 40 days) and long term (40 days+) survival conditions.
Hiking the Trails in the Worcester Range in Summer and Winter
Steven and Heather Bailey
Thursday, March 9, 7 P.M.
GMC Visitor Center, Waterbury Center
The Worcester Range is often neglected in favor of the better known main spine of the Green Mountains and New Hampshire’s White Mountains, but the picturesque Worcester Range has something for everyone. From White Rock Mountain in the south to Elmore Mountain in the north, the range has great hiking trails and wonderful vistas. Mount Hunger, the star of the range, offers spectacular views in almost every direction. Mount Elmore boasts one of the few remaining fire towers in Vermont. The Skyline Trail, linking Hunger Mountain to Worcester Mountain, provides solitude unmatched on the Long Trail. The Catamount Trail crosses the range near Elmore. The history of the range contains some fascinating stories. Did you know that a road was built from Middlesex to within a half mile of the Mount Hunger summit in 1878? Montpelier Section members Steve and Heather Bailey have hiked, snowshoed and skied the Worcester Range trails, including the least traveled. They will share photos, experiences and fascinating historical information.
Day Hiking in the Dolomites, Julian Alps and Tatra Mountains
Sheri and Rich Larsen
Friday, March 3, 7 P.M.
Richmond Free Library
On two trips to Europe Rich and Sheri Larsen hiked in the well-known Dolomite Mountains in northeast Italy, the less known Julian Alps in northwest Slovenia, and the Tatra Mountains in southern Poland and northern Slovakia. They will describe the logistics of day hiking on their own in the three ranges, and will show slides from favorite day hikes in each region.
5+ Weeks in Patagonia
Norma Norland
Thursday, February 23, 7 P.M.
Champlain Valley Unitarian Universalist Society, Middlebury
The famed “W” circuit in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile was one of the highlights of a five week-plus trip to Argentinian and Chilean parts of Patagonia that Norma and her husband undertook several years ago. Besides time spent in Buenos Aires, they visited northern Patagonia where estancias are measured in the hundreds of thousands of acres, trekked in Glacier National Park in Argentina, a famed climbing destination, and rounded off the physical exertions of the trip with a cruise through the Beagle Channel and Magellan Strait. Join us in viewing and learning more about this remote and beautiful part of the world.
Cycling in the Himalayas
Ferdinand Lauffer
Saturday, February 18, 7 P.M.
Montgomery Town Library
Ferdinand Lauffer of West Berkshire and his cycling partner Ercan Tursun of Hamburg, Germany, met on the internet. Both wondered whether they were up for a bicycle tour in the Himalayas at altitudes above 5,000 meters (16,404 feet). They began their 1,075 kilometer (668 mile) ride in Shimla, once the summer seat of the British colonial administration, and rode through the Lahaul, Kinnaur, and Spiti Valleys to Rohtang La pass near Manali, the capital city of Himachal Pradesh. From there they followed what is often called the world’s most dangerous road through breathtaking scenery to Leh, the capital of Buddhist Ladakh. A ride to the western Kashmiri city of Srinagar had to be scrubbed because of the volatile political situation there, so they replaced it with a week of trekking through the Markha Valley.
Trail Magic: The Grandma Gatewood Story – Film and Discussion
Tom McKone
Thursday, February 9, 7 P.M.
GMC Visitor Center, Waterbury Center
Many hikers know Emma “Grandma” Gatewood was the first woman to solo thru-hike the Appalachian Trail, but little more of her story. Following a screening of Trail Magic: The Grandma Gatewood Story, Tom McKone, executive director of Montpelier’s Kellogg-Hubbard Library, will lead a discussion of Emma’s story and other thru-hiking tales. The thirty-fifth thru-hiker to complete the trail, Tom actually met the legendary Grandma.
A Driving, Hiking, Camping Tour Along the Dalton Highway from Fairbanks to Deadhorse and Prudhoe Bay, Alaska
Marge Fish
Friday, January 27, 7 P.M.
Manchester Community Library
GMC Manchester Section President Marge Fish will relate highlights and show photographs of a ten-day group tour from Fairbanks through the Brooks Range to Deadhorse via the Dalton Highway. Experiences included days hiking terrain from woods to tundra, an afternoon of paddling, an evening flight through the Brooks Range to a native village, a visit with a trapper in Wiseman, a visit with dog sled breeder and racer in Manley, observations of the Alaska Pipeline, a tour of Prudhoe Bay, and a swim in the Artic for the daring.
Walking Te Araroa: A 3,000 Kilometer Tramp through New Zealand
Matt Shea and Kelsea Burch
Friday, January 20, 7 P.M.
GMC Visitor Center, Waterbury Center
Join GMC Field Supervisor Matt Shea and Kelsea Burch as they relate the tale of their five-month odyssey traveling the length of New Zealand on foot. Opened in 2011, the Te Araroa is one of the world’s newest long distance trails, and it is quickly gaining popularity in New Zealand, Europe and beyond. Experience the world class beauty and astounding ruggedness of the route as it traverses city streets and forest paths, ocean beaches and mountain passes. The couple will take you from Cape Reinga to Bluff, sharing pictures, stories and the light hearted and slightly nutty humor that made the journey possible, one day at a time.
Exploring Baxter State Park
Ryan Linn
Thursday, January 12, 7 P.M.
GMC Visitor Center, Waterbury Center
The crown jewel of Maine’s North Woods is known by most as the home of Mount Katahdin—the end of the Appalachian Trail and Maine’s highest peak. But Baxter State Park is also an expansive paradise of lakes, ponds, mountains and streams in the deepest wilderness of New England. Ryan “Guthook” Linn has explored almost two hundred miles of hiking trails in the park. He will share highlights of backpacking and hiking there, as well as pointers for using the park’s reservation system to plan your next backpacking, day hiking or camping trip.
Hiking and Other Adventures in Southern Patagonia and the Atacama Desert
Sheri and Rich Larsen
Friday, December 16, 7 P.M.
GMC Visitor Center, Waterbury Center
Last January Rich and Sheri Larsen traveled to the southern part of Patagonia, a region that lies in southern Chile and Argentina. They hiked the famous “W” trek in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile, did day hikes in the Fitzroy Range in Glacier National Park in Argentina, walked on a glacier, and searched for wildlife. After their Patagonian adventures, the Larsens traveled to northern Chile to visit the very different landscape of the Atacama Desert. Spend an evening in South America viewing Sheri’s photos and listening to their informative narration.
