travel light, wake early, walk far
Prologue It was a warm late June night, and the sun was setting over the Mont Blanc massif. The last rays of sunlight shined through the Fenetre d’Arpette and reflected off the Trient glacier, giving it an almost otherworldly glow. Snowcapped peaks reflected in the still waters of Lac Blanc. It was a golden hour,... Continue Reading →
IT'S GREAT BEING RED A quick disclaimer that I am not trying to match David O's creative writing prowess of "It's Not Easy Being Green". This is merely an attempt to highlight another humble amphibian that became the unofficial mascot of our Wild Oak Trail hike: Red-Spotted Newt. We've counted 22 of these little guys... Continue Reading →
Number one rule of hiking is "DON'T GET DEAD!". One of the corollaries of that rule is "DON'T RUN OUT OF WATER IN THE DESERT". The issue of water was definitely on my mind as I was planning a backpacking trip to the Arizona's Superstition Mountains Wilderness. This part of Tonto National Forest is rugged... Continue Reading →
It was Tuesday, September 24th, two days before our scheduled 90-mile AT backpack and I was obsessively watching the Weather Channel to get all the details on hurricane Helene. The news was not good … Helene was expected to strengthen into a Cat 4 hurricane before landfall in the bend of Florida Thursday night. The... Continue Reading →
After what seemed like weeks of unrelenting heat with over 100F "feels like" temps and no rain, we got some relief in a form of slow, steady and surprisingly cool rain on Friday. That made the steep uphill trek to the Priest Mountain (3,000 ft up in about 4.3 miles) not just more bearable, but... Continue Reading →
DC UL Backpacking 