travel light, wake early, walk far
Everyone knows of the Black Forest Trail in north central Pennsylvania. Fewer people in the USA know of another “Black Forest” a lot further away—in Germany. Weirdly, the Germans call their Black Forest “Schwarzwald.” (I assume Pennsylvania beat Germany to the trademark rights to “Black Forest,” or Germany’s version is just a knockoff of Pennsylvania’s).... Continue Reading →
You’ve probably heard of us. They are calling us the “Kennedy Peak Four.” I always hated that tag. To my ears it makes us sound like a boy band, as in: “Now opening for the Backstreet Boys, the Kennedy Peak Four!” However, I cannot deny the national interest in us. Most of what you’ve read... Continue Reading →
When our backpacking club, DCUL, hiked a section of the Appalachian Trail south of the Shenandoah National Park last year, we called our trip: “Whale Watching in the Blue Ridge Mountains.” It was really just a joke, though. Whales rarely hide in the trees of those mountains. We simply riffed off the name of a... Continue Reading →
Some day hikers approached us from the opposite direction on this final DCUL backpacking trip of 2023. Mark (“Snake Jumper”) smiled broadly and greeted them more warmly than to most hikers one passes on the Appalachian Trail. They greeted each other by name, exchanged a few words, and wished each other a happy New Year.... Continue Reading →
The first time I saw the Mojave Desert, it looked like an inhospitable wasteland. It was 2006 and I was on I-10, driving across the country with my dad from my college in Orange County, CA back to my hometown, Washington, DC after graduation. The barren, sun-baked hills and mountain ranges seemed like a good... Continue Reading →
DC UL Backpacking 