Welcome to True Northeast

When Ernest Hemingway hit a wall with his writing, he’d give himself some simple advice: "All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know."
Here’s one: If I’ve already hit a wall, I’m in big trouble.
But unless it’s in a climbing gym, I don’t plan on hitting any walls for a long time. That’s because the mission of this new column is to bring you Connecticut outdoor sports each week, and while our state may be one of the smallest in the nation, it still somehow holds 250 miles of coastline, 51 state parks, 15 state forests, 700 miles of blue-blazed hiking trails, 8,400 miles of rivers and streams and over 6,000 lakes and ponds. Here in Central Connecticut, we have an almost unfair claim to these natural resources.
The Mattabesett and Metacomet Trails run right over the traprock ridges of the state’s midline, and together with the Monadnock of Massachusetts, are on the verge of marrying into the family of National Scenic Trails. With only eight such trails in America, and with the legendary Appalachian clipping 53 miles of Connecticut’s Northwest corner, few states are lucky enough to have two nationally protected trails within an hour of each other.
Then there is the Connecticut River, that watery spine of New England that begins way up in Canada and endures four hundred miles to the sail-spiked horizon of Long Island Sound. Central Connecticut’s smaller rivers don’t just feed the Connecticut’s Soundward flow, but also the appetites of adventure-hungry paddlers. Throughout the humid summers, the Farmington River is dotted with rafts and canoes, while kayakers and flyfishermen share the same spring-swollen currents of Salmon River State Forest.
But where there are lots of parks, there are lots of people. The fact that Connecticut is the third densest state in the nation with over 700 people per square mile may seem detrimental to the natural resources listed here. In some cases it is, but there are also some positive ironies to this paradox. The next time you’re sitting in traffic, count the cars that are outfitted with bike racks and boat trailers, or that have Appalachian Mountain Club stickers in the windows.
This dense population is a resource in itself. In other words, responsible recreation is the key to preservation; these adventurous Nutmeggers are stakeholders in the land and are often the same people who comprise land trusts, maintain trails and volunteer at river cleanups. I know, because I’ve already met a bunch of them.
Two years ago, I began working with New Haven Register Sports editor Matt Pepin on what he envisioned to be a smaller, local version of National Geographic Adventure. What followed was a series of over a dozen outdoor features, each nearly 2000-words long and embedded with exciting photography, graphics and profiles of some of the state’s most skilled outdoor enthusiasts.
Working for the Register taught me a lot- especially that adventure can be found everywhere. Although I’ve traveled to some of the most exciting destinations in the world, from the pastoral Lake District of England to the windy peaks of the Sangre de Cristos, Connecticut still comes up while exchanging adventures.
My assignments for the Register brought me deep into limestone caves, had me skimming along on snowshoes, found me working the back of a sailboat in a regatta, battling surf in a kayak, winding down forgotten rivers in canoes, discovering ruins in the bare, autumn landscape, and, of course, my favorite, hiking through some of the most beautiful woods in the world. All within our state’s borders.
Matt Pepin has since taken on the role of Executive Editor of The New Britain Herald, The Middletown Press and The Bristol Press. Now we have a new vision, which is to give Central Connecticut readers a content that is just as exciting, but that is more focused and more frequent.
I say, "Welcome to ‘True Northeast,’" but you’ve been here all along. I chose this name because in Central Connecticut we find a true sample of wild New England. Sure, there are wilder places north of us, and therefore the name leaves us some room to wander throughout the region. After all, adventure and wayfaring go hand in hand.
But like a wayfarer’s compass, True Northeast will guide readers with the most accurate journaling of trips and the most honest reviews of books, guides and gear.
People have always turned to the woods to find truth and the Northeast has been notorious for such reflection. It was Thoreau who wrote in Walden, "rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth."
Come back each week, and I’ll try to. That’s about the truest thing I know right now.