travel light, wake early, walk far
“Do you see over yonder, friend Sancho, thirty or forty hulking giants? I intend to do battle with them and slay them.” Don Quixote (Miguel de Cervantes) Hiner Spring, a delightful mountain spring in a grove of pine trees, sits on top of the Ramsey’s Draft Wilderness, west of Staunton, Virginia. It is a terrific place... Continue Reading →
I almost cancelled this Veteran’s Day Weekend backpacking trip. The pre-trip weather report showed the remnants of Hurricane Nicole crashing into our path at the start of the trip, followed by a gale-force cold front dropping wind chill temperatures to the single digits. Wet and frigid weather is an unwelcome combination for a 60 mile... Continue Reading →
https://videopress.com/v/qz1naiku?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true Aerial shot of Spruce Mountain and the Seneca Creek Backcountry, October 30th, 2022. I'm quite fond of the Seneca Creek Backcountry; it's the location of some of my first real backpacking trips when I started dipping my toes into the world of Meetup a decade ago. It's also an area where, thanks to an... Continue Reading →
The annual 4-state challenge in 2021 must not have felt challenging enough since it left a few, including me, thinking what if we stretched the challenge to 50 miles. To make it DCUL’s first trip with a 50-mile day - at least intentionally - we gave it a go this year. And boy, was it... Continue Reading →
We hope you're having a great time on the trails this season! Check out some of our recent trip reports, including: The Yosemite High Route (August 2022) The Loyalsock Link Loop (September 2022) Living Off the Land in Shenandoah National Park (October 2022) Appalachian Trail Over Apple Orchard Mountain (October 2022) In our Fall Newsletter,... Continue Reading →
DC UL Backpacking 