>> RICHARD WIESE: I love New England because it's a land of adventure: wild weather, stormy seas, and remote locations.

(howls and laughs) Bring it on, baby!

(cheers) I can fly!

This week, it's up to the highest peak in the Northeast for some of the most extreme weather found anywhere in the world.

>> Now there's, like, nothing between us and the wind.

>> WIESE: Then we're out to sea despite the bracing wind and cold to capture the coveted Atlantic bay scallop.

>> And don't call them "scal-lops."

>> AMY TRAVERSO: Scaah-llops.

>> It's "scaah-llop."

>> WIESE: I'll also be taking off in search of moose on the one and only Moosehead Lake in Maine.

At about 9:00 I see one.

>> Yeah, he's starting to move.

>> NARRATOR: So come along with us for a once-in-a-lifetime journey through New England as you've never experienced it before, a true insider's guide from the editors of Yankee magazine.

Join explorer and adventurer Richard Wiese and Yankee senior food editor Amy Traverso for behind-the-scenes access to the unique attractions that define this region.

It's the ultimate travel guide from the people who know it best.

Weekends with Yankee.

>> Major funding provided by: ♪ ♪ >> The Vermont Country Store, purveyors of the practical and hard-to-find, a family-owned tradition since 1946.

Merchandise and products from around the block, and around the world.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> ANNOUNCER: Family Tree magazine-- articles, podcasts, online courses, and webinar resources for discovering, preserving, and celebrating family history.

>> ANNOUNCER: Massachusetts is home to a lot of firsts-- the first public park in America; the first fried clams; the first university in America; the first basketball game.

What's first for you?

♪ ♪ >> WIESE: The Mount Washington region at peak foliage.

It's absolutely breathtaking, and only about three hours from Boston.

This is my favorite mountain in all of New England.

It's also the highest peak in the northeastern United States, standing at more than 6,000 feet.

To get to the top, you can drive, hike, or take the train, which I'm doing today.

And what you find at the top is likely to be completely different from what you experience at the bottom.

That's because the top of this mountain has some of the worst weather in the world and some of the highest winds ever observed by man.

(howls and laughs) Not bad, top of New England.

I've climbed this mountain more than a dozen times, and I have to confess, I am a weather nut.

Today I'm connecting with photographer and climbing guide Joe Lentini, who's hiked this mountain hundreds of times and understands the risks up here more than anyone I know.

>> I love it up here.

You know, look at this view today.

It's pretty spectacular.

And if you look way over there, the Atlantic Ocean.

>> WIESE: So how many years have you been guiding here?

>> In the winter of 1969, I did my first trip into the mountains.

I was pretty much hooked at that point.

>> WIESE: Now this fog just seemed to have blown in out of nowhere, that must keep guys like you in demand.

>> Being a guide, and also being on the mountain rescue service-- one way or the other, they either hire me or meet me later.

Because if you don't follow the trail really carefully, you can wind up in places you absolutely don't want to be.

>> WIESE: Mount Washington can be a scary place, and being lost on here is no joke.

>> Well, that's why the sign up there, 145 people have died up there.

>> WIESE: Yeah, yeah.

>> You have to think about yourself, what you have with you.

If you all of a sudden lose visibility, how are you going to navigate?

You need just simple equipment to be able to keep yourself reasonably safe.

>> WIESE: Yeah, you can really be seduced on this mountain because you can get caught in a moment of being someplace so beautiful and so unusual.

>> So you have to think.

>> WIESE: I wouldn't mind taking a hike down to Tuckerman's Ravine.

>> Let's go, we'll get some good views, maybe.

♪ ♪ >> WIESE: You know, I think one of the signatures of this particular mountain is rime ice.

>> Exactly.

Water can remain in a liquid form in a cloud down to 40-below Fahrenheit.

As it travels along, as it touches anything, it crystallizes, and then the crystals grow into the wind.

On some days, these will be 18 inches long and cover everything up here.

Then visibility can be really, really bad.

I have the feeling we're not going to get to see Tuckerman's at all.

>> WIESE: No, I know.

>> Cloud, you just see it dropping down into it.

Look at them, down they go.

You know it's there.

And look, it's clear everywhere else.

(laughs) >> WIESE: We're in a good spot right here.

>> We're on the lee side.

>> WIESE: Lee side, there's no wind, but to experience Mount Washington, I think you need to be in the jaws of the wind.

>> Let's go do it.

>> WIESE: All right.

♪ ♪ >> As we turn the corner, we're going to step into the wind.

(Wiese laughs) >> Now we're feeling.

>> WIESE: Amazing how Mount Washington is such a magnet for high winds.

>> Well, you know, it has to do with the shape and the height.

And the winds are being forced over it and being pushed down from up above.

It's being squeezed through.

But now, there's, like, nothing between us and the wind.

Feels good, doesn't it?

A little cold.

I have a friend in the observatory.

Why don't we go in and see what the weather's really doing?

>> WIESE: I would love that.

>> Let's go.

♪ ♪ >> WIESE: Oh, behind the velvet ropes of the observatory.

>> Because this is not open to the public.

Here, I want you to meet Brian.

Brian is an observer up here.

>> WIESE: Hi, Brian, how are you?

>> Hey, nice to meet you.

My name is Brian Fitzgerald, I'm the director of education here at Mount Washington Observatory.

This has been a manned station 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, since 1932, and there are human beings here that are physically measuring, experiencing, and living with the weather conditions on Mount Washington.

The most exciting part of working up here is the wind.

You might get some other examples from thunderstorms to extreme cold to fog the whole year round, but definitely the wind-- one of the windiest places on Earth and the windiest recording station in the United States.

How fast do you think the winds are going right now?

>> WIESE: I think they're probably in the 60s.

>> Want to actually see what they're doing?

>> WIESE: Absolutely.

>> Yeah, come on, let's take a look.

We're actually measuring in inches of water here.

We have to convert it to something we're a little more familiar with.

So let's see, we're at 1.8 or so.

That's about, hey, 60 miles an hour.

Good for you.

Just about an hour or two ago, we hit 72 miles an hour, so just about a category one hurricane.

22 degrees outside, 60-mile-an-hour wind, wind chill's about zero, so you definitely feel that if you have any exposed skin today.

You guys want to go up to the top of the tower and see how bad it actually is?

>> WIESE: Oh, absolutely.

>> Absolutely.

>> Let's go, come on.

>> WIESE: This is neat, it's almost like being in a lighthouse.

>> And just like a lighthouse, we got some tiny narrow little passageways, and watch your head right there.

(wind roaring) >> WIESE: Sounds like a jet engine out here.

(wind roaring) This is totally irrational that you'd want to go in hurricane-force winds, but if you love weather or spend a lot of time, this is an honor.

(laughing) (cheers) For me, this has been a great day.

>> You don't get a day better than this.

You've seen everything.

>> WIESE: I can fly, I can...

This is my Titanic moment.

While the top of Mount Washington was definitely cold, I'm discovering a whole new chill being out on a boat off the coast of Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts.

I usually come here with my family in the warm days of summer, but on this fall day, it feels more like the middle of winter.

I'm here with Yankee food editor Amy Traverso, who suggested we come here.

This is the beginning of the season for finding the small, sweet, and incredibly delicious Atlantic bay scallop.

This is one of the few places left where scalloping is still a viable commercial business.

But in order to eat today, we're going to have to catch our lunch.

When I think of New England and fishing, historically, I think of old guys in yellow caps.

That's an industry that really is alive today.

>> TRAVERSO: It is, and especially here, you know.

The bay scallops that they harvest from the waters around the islands and Cape Cod are some of the most prized in the world.

I mean, there are chefs who are eagerly waiting for these bay scallops that we're going to be harvesting today.

>> WIESE: All right, you dressed warm for today?

>> TRAVERSO: Yeah, I am.

>> WIESE: Okay.

>> TRAVERSO: Hi, Paul.

>> My name is Paul Bagnall, and my title is the shellfish constable, marine biologist, and herring warden.

>> TRAVERSO: So what exactly is a shellfish constable?

>> Well, a shellfish constable... Every town in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has one.

And a brief job description is, we're kind of a cross between a cop and a babysitter.

(laughing) Captain of the boat is Donny Benefit.

>> TRAVERSO: Hi, Donny.

>> This is my deputy, Robert Morrison.

>> WIESE: All right, great.

>> This is Rick Karney, who is the director of the Martha's Vineyard Shellfish Group.

So let's get going.

>> You have another pair of waders?

It's going to get a little windy and bouncy on the way.

♪ ♪ Bring it on, baby!

For anybody looking at this and seeing fairly rough background, for professionals, this is... >> This is a nice day on Cape... >> WIESE: This is a nice day.

>> TRAVERSO: So how far out are we going?

>> This is the island of Chappaquiddick, and then we're going to go into what they call the Gut.

Most of the scallops where they're going to pull the drags is going to be right in the Gut.

>> TRAVERSO: Right.

And don't call them "scal-lops."

>> TRAVERSO: "Scaah-llops."

I can't believe it, I am from New England, and I... >> I'm from Jersey, and I came up here, and the first week I was here, they dragged me in the back room, and they said, "If you're going to stay here, it's 'scaah-llops,' it's not 'scal-lops.'"

>> TRAVERSO: Okay, this will help with the wind.

Now if I can just get my hands out, I'll be all set.

I should have taken my gloves off.

Can you help me out?

Now I can do this.

Whoo!

I'm a fisherman now.

>> All right, what we do is, we have these iron dredges, so as we drag them across the bottom, it catches both adults and juveniles.

>> WIESE: How come the dredges are so small?

I've been up in, like, Iceland, where it's the width of the boat.

>> We are regulated, and this dredge can be no more than three feet wide and can't weigh more than 75 pounds.

>> TRAVERSO: Now you're wearing your policeman hat, right?

>> Absolutely.

Our daily limit for the fishermen this year is three ten-gallon wash baskets.

That's an orange wash basket right there on the cooler.

>> WIESE: What's that worth, something that big?

>> Well, if you're getting eight pounds to the gallon, and you're getting $30, it's worth $240.

>> You know, people would sooner share their spouses than their scallops.

(laughter) >> TRAVERSO: How about we go do some harvests?

>> Okay-- hey, Donny, they're ready to start towing.

>> WIESE: What's interesting about dragging this is one would assume that it would be like an anchor, that it would start catching stuff or pulling a lot of mud, but I feel it sort of just bouncing along the bottom here.

What have we got here?

>> TRAVERSO: Wow, look at those... >> You flip it back, and dump it out.

>> Just throw it right over.

>> WIESE: Eelgrass.

>> TRAVERSO: The whelk!

Crab.

>> WIESE: Whelk, crab.

>> TRAVERSO: Rock, shells.

>> WIESE: Shells.

>> That's the adult.

>> WIESE: Get rid of some of the junk.

>> Then they basically have to have the annulus mark on them.

>> WIESE: Which is what?

>> Well, they have to have at least one good growth ring.

Yeah, so that's an adult.

>> WIESE: That's an adult.

>> Whereas, if you look at the seed here, this doesn't have it.

>> WIESE: This doesn't have one, either?

The little one?

So these go back, right?

>> Yeah.

It has to be a really raised ring.

>> WIESE: This one is relatively small, but it has a ring.

This other one, which is actually a little larger, doesn't have a defined ring.

But you know what's interesting is, in lobstering, you have a definitive length, where here, it's sort of a little bit of a judgement call.

>> Yeah, it is, definitely.

>> TRAVERSO: So you see something moving in there.

Is that a clam?

>> No, the clam is dead, but... >> TRAVERSO: Oh, it's a crab in there!

So that's, like, a little... >> They'll live within the scallop and nip away until they kill the shellfish, and then they're back in there.

>> TRAVERSO: Wow.

>> WIESE: How old is this?

>> Probably about 18 months, that's when they're legal-size.

They sometimes live to be, like, three years, but usually it's about two years.

>> WIESE: Those move along the bottom, too, right?

>> Yeah, these basically, by opening and closing their shells, they kind of, it's almost a jet propulsion.

And they do this kind of... You know, when they close, they shoot the water out.

It's not terribly directional, but they can move.

>> Here's another successful tow.

Okay, now, to open a scallop, slide it in, you got it up on the top of the shell.

There's the muscle, you take and flip the gut out... Cut the shell off, and they're delicious raw.

Chilled by Mother Nature today.

>> TRAVERSO: Oh, my God, mmm.

>> Delicious.

>> TRAVERSO: So perfect, so sweet.

>> WIESE: So this is a piece?

>> Yeah, that's the part that you're going to eat, that's the adductor muscle.

And that's the way to have them, right on the boat.

>> WIESE: It's so good.

>> I'm sorry, I'm going to have to give you a ticket.

Opening scallops on the boat is illegal.

(Traverso laughs) >> So all you got to do is, do that about a thousand times.

>> TRAVERSO: You've got yourself a feast.

>> And you got yourself a whole bushel of scallops open.

>> TRAVERSO: This meat is so delicious, I'm going to go back and just prepare a really simple dish, and we'll have a little feast.

>> WIESE: And I'm not stopping you.

>> TRAVERSO: This is definitely the most interesting kitchen I've ever worked in.

So I'm going to make a little crudo here.

It's a simple raw preparation, where you slice the scallops and put them in a sauce.

We've got the sweet scallops, we've got orange juice for sweetness, we've got lemon juice in here.

We're going to do some chili for heat and some mint leaves for cools.

I'm going to sprinkle some sea salt on there for crunch.

>> WIESE: And here it is, comes lunch.

>> TRAVERSO: All right, a little appetizer.

>> Oh, my God.

>> TRAVERSO: There you go.

>> A little citrus to think we're in Florida.

>> TRAVERSO: Yeah.

>> WIESE: Delicious.

>> And it always tastes better when you've harvested it yourself.

>> TRAVERSO: Right at the source, mm-hmm.

>> You guys ready?

We're going to get the hell out of here, the tide's leaving.

>> TRAVERSO: All right, let's go.

>> We're leaving, the tide's leaving.

>> All right, let's go.

>> WIESE: Well said.

Thank you for taking us out here.

I don't think we'll ever think of scallops in the same way after coming out here.

>> TRAVERSO: No, whole new appreciation.

>> Scaah-llops.

>> TRAVERSO: Scaah-llops!

(laughing) >> WIESE: From Massachusetts, we head north to one of the most remote regions in New England, northern Maine, in search of moose.

In the wilds around Moosehead Lake, these half-ton, six-foot creatures outnumber people three-to-one.

But I've never seen one here, and I'm told they're actually incredibly hard to find.

John.

>> Hey.

>> WIESE: To increase the odds, I've connected with John Willard, a bush pilot who's been running The Birches, a beautiful but remote lodge.

Moosehead Lake, there's got to be no better place to find... >> No, there's pretty much no better place-- we can find one.

The local population is probably 10,000 moose over two million acres.

They tend to go in the rivers and the streams, and they hang out in twos and fours.

You know, they don't stay in big packs.

>> WIESE: You have been observing moose up here for over 40 years.

What do you love about them the most?

>> Oh, I just love the fact that they're just such a large animal and they're so, sort of, grandiose in the woods.

And they mind their own business.

As long as they have food and habitat, you'll never be bothered by a moose, but they're beautiful, they're majestic.

>> WIESE: I'm ready to go.

>> I'm ready to go, too.

>> WIESE: All right, I'm going to take my cup of coffee and let's go.

>> All right.

What a great day for a boat ride.

>> WIESE: It is a great day.

>> You first.

>> WIESE: Thank you.

Wait, quick, grab a seat before someone else.

>> (laughs) Where's your ticket?

>> WIESE: Yeah.

♪ ♪ I feel like I'm looking at a fantastic sunset, but this sunset is an explosion of foliage.

>> Yeah, it comes through the trees and then it reflects off Mount Kineo and it comes right back at us.

>> WIESE: Do you ever get tired of this view?

>> No, never.

It's just spectacular.

This lake is the largest lake in the country in any one single state.

It's 40 miles long, 20 miles wide.

And from here north and northwest, there's almost nothing, which makes it kind of like luxury on the edge of the wilderness.

>> WIESE: Every time I have ever gone out looking for animals, you have to sort of train your eyes.

>> Yeah.

>> WIESE: How do I train my eyes to look for moose?

>> Well, you want to look for dark.

A dark moving object, maybe their head in the water, or maybe the side of the moose, would be much darker than the shoreline.

♪ ♪ And also the moose really like to be in the lowlands and the wetlands, so you'd want to look for a place where it's low.

There might be a little pond in back.

>> WIESE: Do you think maybe we should...

Fly?

>> We'll take the boat back, and we'll get the airplane.

We have the perfect light, why don't we do it right now?

>> WIESE: You read my mind.

>> Good, let's go.

♪ ♪ Okay.

>> WIESE: Okay, I got you.

Hey, John, do you keep, like, chewing gum underneath in case you have to fix something?

>> (laughs) >> WIESE: I love this old kind of plane.

>> Oh, it's a cool plane.

>> WIESE: It's very cool.

♪ ♪ Got liftoff!

We're off the ground, whoo!

Let's find a moose!

>> Yeah, go looking.

>> WIESE: Whole new perspective from being up in the air.

>> Once you lift up, you can start to see 30, 40 miles away.

>> WIESE: If you've never seen full fall foliage here, you really haven't experienced one of the great splendors of nature.

This is art from the air.

♪ ♪ >> See this little valley right here?

It's a very, very good place for moose because there are hardly any roads.

A pretty little stream coming up right through here.

That's prime moose habitat right there, I'll tell you.

>> WIESE: Unless you're looking for them.

>> Well, you know, it's all about timing, you know.

We're only here for five minutes and they're here all day, so... See the moose tracks back there in the water, there's a lot of them.

There should be a whole bunch of them up, coming up along the beach.

They run these beaches.

>> WIESE: I'm actually happy that they're that elusive.

It makes me feel like you have to earn it.

>> Yeah.

>> WIESE: At about 9:00 I see one, I think.

>> One right there.

>> WIESE: Yeah, I think I see him, too.

>> We got one.

Looks like a bull moose.

>> WIESE: Yeah.

We're seeing movement in a bog, very dark male.

But he's... >> Right there at the edge.

>> WIESE: Yeah, he's right out there on the edge of the bog.

Whoo!

(plane engine roars) It's the first time I've seen a moose in New England.

But it's very exciting to think that a big, majestic animal like that is wandering through the woods as if no humans exist.

They are looking at thousands and thousands of acres of pristine forest, and it's doing its thing like it has for thousands of years here.

♪ ♪ I would have liked to have seen some more moose, but I saw so many other things that were so memorable.

I mean, the sky and the foliage, it was just unreal.

>> It was great to have you.

I wish you'd come back and see a moose again sometime.

>> WIESE: I will, I feel I need to earn the experience.

>> Good, great to have you.

>> WIESE: Thank you.

>> See you next time.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: For exclusive video, recipes, travel ideas, tips from the editors, and access to the Weekends With Yankee digital magazine, go to weekendswithyankee.com and follow us on social media, @yankeemagazine.

Yankee magazine, the inspiration for the television series, provides recipes, feature articles, and the best of New England from the people who know it best.

Six issues for $10.

Call 1-800-221-8154. Credit cards accepted.

>> ANNOUNCER: Major funding provided by: >> ANNOUNCER: The Vermont Country Store, purveyors of the practical and hard-to-find, a family-owned tradition since 1946.

Merchandise and products from around the block and around the world.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> ANNOUNCER: Family Tree magazine-- articles, podcasts, online courses, and webinar resources for discovering, preserving, and celebrating family history.

>> ANNOUNCER: Massachusetts is home to a lot of firsts-- the first public park in America; the first fried clams; the first university in America; the first basketball game.

What's first for you?

♪ ♪ >> WIESE: I can fly!

I can fly!

♪ ♪