Bethel Adventure Tours

02/25/2025

Nature tour on snowshoes

It was a joy to take Caroline from the granite state out for her first snowshoe. We knew we had a nature enthusiast when she mentioned the museums and gardens she likes to visit. So we spent a lot of time listening to birds, looking at beaver chews, studying mushrooms, and of course the esker and the mighty A.

Interesting how Tom and his gaggle of turkeys were sinking so much in the snow.

Snow is softening and with the current snowpack one needs snowshoes when bushwhacking and without risk post holing even on packed trails.

02/23/2025

Sunset on Round Mountain

It has been a couple years for me on this local treasure, and I’ve never been at sunset or in winter. Katy and Evie have never been here, so they gave me the honor breaking trail.😂

Lots of tracks to enjoy; bobcat, fisher, plenty of small rodents and turkey. Up higher we found ruffed grouse.

Grateful to the owners of this property for the access. The trail layout and signage are also my preferred style, thanks

02/19/2025

Fat biking Bethel

Kudos to this crew for giving fat biking a try. They were smart to wear their goggles.😊

Tough fat biking conditions right now with a mix of deep powdered snow that won’t set up and drifts.

Still, bike riding is always fun in our book.😊

In other news, seems to float like a 🦋

02/19/2025

Sunset on the Esker

We were lucky to have a couple reschedules with this family. The first plan was for mom and daughter but a change brought the whole family 👍🏽. 2nd order effects of high winds and ski lift wind holds resulted in a shift to this afternoon and a sunset tour, which was gorgeous.

Snowshoes are necessary right now, even if a trail has been broken out. We did some bushwhacking to favorite sites and found deep snow.

The ice on the river is fabulous, with a lot of sheets and chunks being pushed around. It changes every time we visit.

Thankful for the access to this spot and being able to share a sunset with guests from away.

02/16/2025

Mahoosuc Land Trust Birdwalk

We got the BAT call to pinch hit for local bird authority and fellow Mahoosuc Land Trust Reddoch at their Winterfest.

The CORVID family was the ostensible focus. Of course we were seeing crows, ravens, and jays all week but only a couple crows came out to play yesterday.

Regardless we had a nice nature walk, highlighted by seeing fresh beaver slides and chews just below their dam.

Anyone have an ID on this s**t? Hint: not a local😎

02/14/2025

Great to take this fun group out again. This snowshoe route met a couple criteria, including immediate proximity as their place is on Bryant pond.

The pond crossing was at the tail end of the storm. We definitely needed snowshoes.

I love this climb as it really has a dramatic shift from the pond environment to a hardwood forest to a dark evergreen forest at the summit.

The fresh snow covered all the tracks so we spent a lot of time talking trees. Of course the namesake birches are gorgeous but the ash trees are really fantastic. Keeping my fingers crossed for them.

The storm broke when we were at the summit and the rest of the hike was calm and the visibility opened up.

Our snowshoe track made the return an easy jaunt.

02/11/2025

This is a benefit tour with proceeds going to Mahoosuc Land Trust and conservation.

There is lots to see on The Esker Loop, but even more off trail. We will explore with a sense of glacial history, culture reaching back to the Abenaki, and nature in the present.

You're invited!

Join Mahoosuc Land Trust and Bethel Adventure Tours on a unique guided snowshoe tour of the 1.1-mile Esker Loop in MLT's very own McCoy-Chapman Forest!

On this two-hour, $25/person tour, guides Alex and Katy Carr will lead you along the familiar and well-tread Esker Loop, but with a wild spin! This mostly off-trail adventure will feature animal tracks, local flora and fauna, and environmental features that are all-too-often hidden, overlooked, and under-appreciated! Don't miss out on this opportunity to experience this trail as you've never seen it before!

The tour will take place on Sunday, February 23rd from 10:00AM-12:00PM. Please RSVP to [email protected] (details on payment and logistics will follow). Space is limited, so reserve your spot today!

02/10/2025

It has been a good winter for noticing and appreciating our bird friends around Bethel. Come tell us what you are seeing and hearing.

Our next Bird Appreciation in Bethel talk with Bethel Adventure Tours is scheduled for February 24th at 9:30AM!

This talk is free!

Winter is not over but who is seeing flocks of Robins?
The big birds (eagles, owls, and turkeys) are active but doing what exactly?
We will discuss our year round resident birds and also the pretty feathered visitors from Canada.

02/05/2025

Bushwhacking Crooked River Headwaters

We took some friends of on an exploration on and around Oversett Pond. Conditions were great for snowshoeing with depths in drifts up to 3 feet. The snow on the pond was about 12 inches.

Everyone in this group had been to the overlook, so instead we went in search of the beaver bogs. We perform annual monitoring of this property for Mahoosuc Land Trust and have found beaver chews around the perimeter of the pond, but today we found a couple dams. Behind the dams were wonderful bogs that are perfect on snowshoes. These areas would be a swampy mess in warm weather. Beavers are a keystone species in that they create wetlands and one really gets that sense in winter when you can traverse them.

Getting to them isn’t easy, thankfully this group was completely game to bushwhacking 😊👍🏽🙏.

So much snowshoe hare activity 🐇🐇🐇

Clean water for southern Maine starts here.

02/03/2025

Cool snowshoe to the peak and pond

Fun snowshoe with this group of grad students from Boston. We delayed our start due to frigid temps and that was all we needed with it being sunny.

There was only one set of foot traffic on the trail which this crew fixed, laying down a sweet snowshoe track. The views were clear to the Mahoosucs and the southern hills and ponds. We had a crew of inquisitive Chickadees stop by for a visit.

The eastern lookout was all untracked fresh snow with gorgeous views of South Pond.

Only one person had been on hard water previously so we went for a walk on the pond. We were the only ones out there. Curious, because the snow was perfect for everything but skating😎.

brought the hot chocolate for mountaintop refreshments 👍🏽😊

01/31/2025

February 15
1:00 PM
Mahoosuc Land Trust
Valentine Farm
Bethel, Maine

01/27/2025

New adventure for Cathie

9th tour for Cathie with Bethel Adventure Tours! Thanks so much😊. She keeps us on our toes seeking the out of the ordinary spots. Today we didn’t see a soul except for the lone ice fisherman scouting his traps, through our binoculars 500 feet above.

This hike has a mixed bag of crossing the lake ice and a semi steep scramble to the overlook. We passed through a gorgeous birch forest and entered a spooky evergreen forest on our way to the top.

At dusk on the return, the sky was full of lenticular clouds coming off the Whites harkening the impending weather.

Don’t ask us for something unique, because that is what you will get.

01/27/2025

XC expedition prep

We took to the pond to add some ungroomed spice to Kim’s prep for Katahdin. The regularly scheduled snow squall arrived on time and helped get us to Tucker Island in no time. The snow was light and fluffy but also blowing into drifts. 😊

It turned into a lovely afternoon as the sun came back out and the wind disappeared on the return leg.

01/24/2025

The Wilder Side of the Esker Loop

Thanks to Summit Society members for joining us on an exploration of The Esker Loop in Gilead.

History was related from 12,000 years ago until today, with excellent information gleaned from .f.chapman.

Our off trail exploration started with evidence of recent storms on the esker, especially the Dec 2023 deluge. We witnessed the deforestation by spongy moths and beech bark disease, while acknowledging the circle of life displayed by fungi and woodpeckers working on dead wood.

We had lots of tracks to see including rodents, fox, and weasel. We had some inquisitive chickadees follow us for a bit and a fly by from our neighborhood Bald Eagle.

The river is completely ice covered now along this section, which is a departure from the last 4 years.

Looping back to the esker, one can get an excellent vantage of its shape in winter without leaves blocking the view.

Thanks to Mahoosuc Land Trust and their generous supporters for preserving land, reestablishing sustainable habitats, and providing access to the river and mountains. Their mission is necessary for the long term viability of this region.