Meghan McCarthy McPhaul’s love of the mountains was fostered by plenty of childhood time spent on the trails and in the woods of New Hampshire and elsewhere. She learned to ski as a toddler at Cannon Mountain and trudged to mountain summits with her outdoors-loving family during summer outings. After four years of college in mountain-less upstate New York, Meghan fled to the high peaks of the Colorado Rockies and spent 5 years living in Crested Butte, an amazing little ski town nestled into the wilderness of the Elk Mountains. 
    She took a detour on the way Back East, landing in the West of Ireland, where she spent six months leading horse trekking tours, waiting tables, playing soccer with a very fun group of Irish gals, and looking for dolphins frolicking in the sea. Meghan returned to New England late in 2001, settling down in Franconia, a stone’s throw from her parents, and a couple of miles from her little brother. She married a local boy, and they’re busy managing the chaos that comes with raising three small children.

    Meghan started writing for the local weekly Courier newspaper, based in nearby Littleton, New Hampshire, in 2001 and moved on to the daily Caledonian-Record in 2004. Her writing has garnered two New England Press Association awards and the Skade Award from the International Skiing History Association. With the addition of twins to the family in early 2007, Meghan left the often hectic and unpredictable routine of a small-town journalist and began the equally variable work of a freelance writer. Her writing continues to appear in local newspapers, as well as in regional publications, magazines, and two anthologies. She also writes press releases, copy for websites, and blog posts for the New Hampshire Christmas Tree Promotion Board, the New Hampshire Maple Experience, and other organizations.

    When she’s not writing or researching a project, Meghan can be found exploring the fields and forests surrounding home with her son and two daughters, reading a good book, beseeching vegetables to grow in the rocky soil of the backyard garden, skiing the trails at Cannon Mountain, and getting outside to enjoy the myriad adventures available in the mountains of New Hampshire.