Ah! A low mileage, summertime hike centering around a mountain-steam-fed lake. The perfect hike for a hot August weekend. What could go wrong? Trouble: Rainstorms Eight of us arrived at the trailhead parking area at 9:20 p.m. on Friday night on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The weather forecast was good, but we still worried about... Continue Reading →

There are some people who delicately peel off adhesive first-aid bandages to minimize pain; some who gingerly wade into the ocean to get used to the temperature before swimming; some who sip and savor Scotch. Then there are DCUL backpackers. We rip off Band-Aids, even from sensitive areas; we jump into the icy ocean without... Continue Reading →

This trip was damned from the start. Chandler (Willy Wonka) posted this trip for June 9, copying the trip I last posted for and completed September 17-19, 2021. I called that trip “Redemption” because when I first attempted this challenging loop four years prior, I could not complete it. The September trip, four years later,... Continue Reading →

“Next year can we hike the ‘Thousand Step Escalator?’” — Anonymous hiker. I don’t curse. However a vulgar word rhyming with “duck” expelled from my frustrated throat with such force that people all the way in California stopped what they were doing to look up curiously. Walking on an excessively rocky ridge overlooking serene, green... Continue Reading →

“It was the best of hikes, it was the worst of hikes, it was the age of endurance, it was the age of blisters, it was the epoch of purpose, it was the epoch of meaninglessness, it was the season of blue skies, it was the season of rain, and it was a time of... Continue Reading →