A Late Winter's Day

Yesterday, in central California, I felt a flash of déjà vu. It had rained in the early hours of the morning and the coming dawn showed that a dreary overcast had given way to blue sky filled with intermittent puffy white clouds that stretched from horizon to horizon. A breeze blew out of the northwest and the air was sweet and clean. Off to the east, the Sierra Nevada stood in sharp profile with snow-covered mountains rising above the darker jumble of foothills below. The temperature in Modesto rose above 70 degrees and the day was nothing short of spectacular. As if in a dream, I felt transported back in time and place to those late spring or early summer days camping in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Occasionally, the rain would give way to a day so perfect and fine that the senses stood in awe before the beauty of the mountains. The wind brought fresh clean air and even peaks far removed towered in sharp detail on the distant skyline. On such a day, the spirit rose with each step on the trail as I made my way up towards the treeline in search of the wonder and magic that awaited me on unseen summits.

Oh, it was such a joy to be alive, and I cherish that time of discovery and adventure in the days of my youth back in the East. Yesterday, on a sunlit winter’s day in late March, an old man in Modesto remembered the greatness and grandeur of all those perfect days in New Hampshire so many years ago.

Personal Bestseller of 2011

The White Mountain Chronicles

As 2011 draws to a close, I look back on the year and am thankful for the thousands of people who visited my website and to the many readers that purchased one of my eBooks. I am especially indebted to those readers who purchased a copy of, ”The White Mountain Chronicles", making that collection of stories from the mountains of New Hampshire my personal bestseller for 2011.

I am gratified that this unique volume of creative nonfiction, a simple compilation of travel, memoir and adventure from the Granite State, and the White Mountains in particular, is embraced by readers throughout New England and beyond.

I possess a lifelong passion and partiality for the White Mountains of New Hampshire including the Appalachian Trail, the mountains, the people, the forest and its roads. I look back on those years with an oleo of emotions, but primarily with love, gratitude, and longing for those times gone by. Because of that love and gratitude, I present the stories honestly, leaving the flaws and blemishes intact; the readers can make their own judgments. I also enjoy a great feeling of self-satisfaction over the challenges and obstacles I faced and overcame during my 18 years of adventures in the long shadows of the mountains of New Hampshire.

I appreciate your support and hope you will tell your friends about this unique collection of stories and adventures.

Thank you, and may 2012 be a great year for you! Laudizen King

The White Mountain Chronicles

The eBook is available for only $3.99, and may be purchased and downloaded to your Kindle or Android from Amazon, to your Apple device from the Apple bookstore, or downloaded to the eReader of your choice from Smashwords, Sony, Barnes & Noble or other eBook retailers.


"The White Mountain Chronicles" at Amazon

"The White Mountain Chronicles" at Smashwords

For more information about "The White Mountain Chronicles" eBook, click here

Link to the Laudizen King website

(approx 53,900 words)

'The White Mountain Chronicles', a collection of 22 travels, memoirs, and adventures from New Hampshire, the Granite State.

Chapters
My AMC White Mountain Guides
May Camp
Red Flannel Hash
In the Shadow of Monadnock
Carter Notch in Winter, the First Trip
Through the Past Darkly with Sven Saws and Candle Lanterns
Winter Night at Hermit Lake
How Things Come to Pass
Second Sojourn
Camp 16
Ghosts and Summits
Golden Girls
Pilgrimage
Mt Garfield Dream
Closing Galehead
Remembering Ray Evans, 1909-2001
Mountain Pond and Carter Dome
Riddle of New Hampshire
Mt Carrigain Trilogy
On the Garfield Ridge with Jack Kerouac
Out of the Fog
The 48 Summits

The White Mountain Chronicles - a Review

(Note: a review of my eBook, 'The White Mountain Chronicles' as added to Smashwords on September 16, 2010 by Brian McCarthy.)


The White Mountain Chronicles - a Review

I'm a huge fan of Laudizen King! I've read "The White Mountain Chronicles" at least a 1/2 dozen times. You can't imagine how much I can relate to this work.

I enjoy his writing style and the way he speaks of the White Mountains and the time he spent there. I share so many of his sentiments about the area, but one that stands out most to me is his thoughts on hiking alone, "I'd rather hike alone than share the mountains with someone who does not appreciate them the way that I do".

I'm a bit embarrassed by it, but I often think how great it would be to have a hiking partner like him, someone who loves the whole mountain experience: the drive up as the weight of the world starts to leave your shoulders, the satisfaction of a long hard hike, the pleasure of a warm camp fire and cold beer afterwards, gazing at the stars from a tent in Dolly Copp, and all of the other great things that come with the mountain experience.

I actually just stayed at Dolly Copp on Sunday night before hiking King Ravine on Monday and was thinking of this book. I'm curious what his favorite site was. I was putting up my tent in the rain, remembering the story 'May Camp', of arriving late in the evening at Dolly Copp, and getting his tarp set up in the rain. His writings are so vivid that it's impossible to be in the area and not recall a story or two of his about the area you're in.

Laudizen King's writings mean a lot to me. I think you will enjoy them as well. When your schedule, the weather, or life in general won't let you be in the mountains, Laudizen King's writings are the next best thing to being there yourself!

Brian McCarthy
September 16, 2010

(Use the following link to see the review at Smashwords.)

Review

Laudizen

Red Flannel Hash

Red flannel hash, I made it for dinner tonight in Los Angeles. It was a cold and damp night in Southern California, and I was searching the cupboards for dinner fixings, something to make that was easy and hot, and perhaps a meal a little out of the ordinary that might surprise Shirley. When the idea came, the memories came as well, and I was transported back across the years to those times spent in New Hampshire.

I remember camping on the the Kancamaugus Highway in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, having corned beef hash for breakfast, and driving to Conway for Red Flannel Hash, or corned beef hash with sweet beets. And I remember Jim Olkovikas making Red Flannel Hash from scratch one night in the late 1980s.

Read the story by following the link below.

Red Flannel Hash

Laudizen