travel light, wake early, walk far
Intro to Packrafting: Pray for Rain Originally I'd planned for this weekend to be the latest Intro to Packrafting trip. DC UL has occasionally done this trip which involves backpacking along part of the Massanutten Trail, camping overnight, then paddling back to the starting point on packrafts. While researching this trip I found helpful trip... Continue Reading →
(Based on a true story) Mark V (“Brightside”) thought he found the perfect way to avoid starring in one of my Trip Reports. We’ll see how that worked out for him. Due to a hip injury Brightside could not hike the 2026 iteration of the “Tour de Sods.” This annual, epic route circumnavigates both the... Continue Reading →
“Stop looking at the GPS and just push through the brush!” Wesal (“WB”) exclaimed. We had been trying to follow an unblazed, wildly overgrown trail in the mountains of Cranberry Wilderness in West Virginia. Nature clearly had reclaimed this trail. Our shins were cut up from brambly, low growth and my thighs started developing red... Continue Reading →
19 Day Colorado Trail Thru-Hike: A Hike Your Own Hike Trip June 29–July 17 • 450 miles The Plan This hike started with a couple of queries to an AI chatbot. I gave it data from previous hikes and asked for an appropriate itinerary for the Colorado Trail, including the best times to start based... Continue Reading →
Dolly Sods is a unique place with an interesting history. Dolly Sods gets its name from a German settler Johann Dahle and the local sods (a term for a field or meadow). Over time the name “Dahle” shifted to “Dolly.” It sits at the edge of Allegheny Front, more or less along the eastern continental... Continue Reading →
DC UL Backpacking 