travel light, wake early, walk far
2025 upon us, we ventured out on January 2nd to Shenandoah (SNP) for two nights of backpacking to start hiking in the new year and take in the hunter-free woods on this, the last week of rifle season in Virginia for every public forest in the state not federally protected like this national park. There... Continue Reading →
Photo: Logan. We love our traditions around here. One week after DC UL’s annual Four State Challenge, we launched our third post-presidential election week escape from DC to the 75-mile Quehanna Trail in north-central Pennsylvania. In 2016, I vividly remembered our shell-shocked faces after a surprisingly tumultuous week as we gathered at the trailhead on that... Continue Reading →
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 →
When you start telling people that you want an adventure, you really can’t complain when what you get is, in fact, an adventure, right? Some time ago, I decided that I wanted to reprise my section hike of the Mid State Trail, that epic footpath across the center of Pennsylvania, which DC UL had done... Continue Reading →
The black bear growled loudly, freezing me in my tracks. Seeing bears in the Appalachian mountains is common; having them growl at me is not. For a moment, I considered standing very still and quiet, hoping the bear was growling at something other then me. I then considered running down the trail to make an... Continue Reading →
DC UL Backpacking 