Mind the Moss

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Don't let them take this from you

Jan 18, 2025 | mindthemoss.com | Miles Howard

You’re not the only person who exclaimed, “Are you fucking kidding me,” upon learning that Donald Trump’s second inauguration would happen on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. After a long year of bad news, as corporate greed and ethnonationalism joined forces to torpedo liberal governments across the west, this was too much.
A night under the town

Jan 10, 2025 | mindthemoss.com | Miles Howard

Usually, when weather turns deadly, our natural response is to flee the scene for safe havens. One of the more horrifically conceivable scenes that came out of LA this week involved hundreds of stranded motorists stuck in gridlocked traffic on the freeways, abandoning their cars, and continuing on foot as the ongoing wildfires crept closer. But in 1993, Malibu-based Pepperdine University took a very different approach to wildfire survival.
Where I end and we begin

Nov 13, 2024 | mindthemoss.com | Miles Howard

The first time I really got to gaze across a border into the wilds of another country, I was underwhelmed. It was a piercingly cold October morning and I was at the tip-top of the Granite State, feeling my lungs burn from taking in the brisk air as I huffed my way up Magalloway Mountain; one of the most remote peaks of New Hampshire. A modest 3,383 feet above sea level, Magalloway is not a mountain that you climb for bragging rights.
A big new trail in Little Rhody

Nov 1, 2024 | mindthemoss.com | Miles Howard

A few weeks ago, I wrote a feature for Outside about the rise of Instant Urban Trails; beautiful urban hiking routes created by curating walkable spaces, such as park paths and interesting streets, with free trail maps and directions available on a dedicated website. One of the earliest examples of an Instant Urban Trail is Worcester’s 14-mile East West Trail, which runs across the city’s bounteous parks ecosystem from Lake Quinsigamond to The Cascades.
NOPE

Oct 25, 2024 | mindthemoss.com | Miles Howard

Content Warning: This week’s Halloween newsletter is about a hiking destination with a history of murders and strange happenings. If this doesn’t sound appealing, consider a trip through the Mind The Moss archives this week. Those of you who’ve been reading Mind The Moss since the newsletter’s inception in 2021 know that I have a penchant for hikes that evoke a sense of creeping dread, and that I like to spotlight these hikes around Halloween each year.
Smashing pumpkins revival

Oct 17, 2024 | mindthemoss.com | Miles Howard

Pumpkins are a peculiar breed of vegetable—big and brightly-colored orbs of winter squash that are hefty enough to fracture your toe, and chock full of squishy, stringy innards and seeds that can improve hair growth, sleep quality, sperm quantity, you name it.
Towers and tingles

Oct 12, 2024 | mindthemoss.com | Miles Howard

Of all the jobs that require spending prolonged amounts of time in the forest, being a fire watchperson might be the most mysterious. The mountains of New England are prickled with rusting fire lookout towers of yesteryear. Most are no longer being used to detect forest fires. By the 1960s, advances in satellite and aircraft technology had begun to put fire watchpeople out of jobs. But technology has its limitations and the vastness of the backcountry has a way of testing those limits.
Dankness on the edge of town

Oct 4, 2024 | mindthemoss.com | Miles Howard

In case you haven’t heard, Portland (our Portland) is a wonderful place for a hike. The coastal Maine citadel is to urban ramblers what Amsterdam is to cyclists; a maze of car-free paths connecting natural and built features of the cityscape, including the edible destinations for which Portland is renowned.
Peepers appreciate silence

Sep 27, 2024 | mindthemoss.com | Miles Howard

In the late 2010s, when I was working in the backcountry as an AMC hut manager, my crew members and I had this weird habit. On the occasions when we would shower, shave, and briefly venture into the Real World for a couple of days, we would case city streets, athletic grounds, or wherever we found ourselves, searching for interesting signs to plunder after dark.
Lost highway

Sep 20, 2024 | mindthemoss.com | Miles Howard

Of all the forces and objects that have taken a destructive toll on cities, it’s tough to beat highways. In U.S. cities, highways will often cleave through entire neighborhoods, subjecting residents to relentless air and noise pollution. Worse yet, the decision to route these highways through residential neighborhoods was often rooted in racism.