Sassafras MountainSouth CarolinaMay 2013 A Highpointers bench has been placed here at the top of Sassafras Mountain, the high point of South Carolina, perfect for Lisa to lie down and take a nap, which she does. It’s a thing. Whenever you get to the top, or to water, or to a broad flat rock on… Continue reading Black Throated Green
Author: asiwentwalking
Notes from the Desert — Death Valley National Park
CaliforniaMarch 2019 Death Valley National Park, a place of silent beauty, a starkly stunning natural medley of mud and salt flats, sand and towering mountains and dangerous extremes. Daily temperatures easily top 100° in the summer, and if you are a desert dweller, it gets uncomfortably cold in winter. The gravel and loose dirt at… Continue reading Notes from the Desert — Death Valley National Park
The Black Fly
MaineJune 2019 Lisa spent the first part of her life in Maine. I asked her how she handled the black flies when she was a kid. She scoffed. “My friends and I compared, we held contests. Who could not scratch for the longest time, who could get the most bites, who could hold out the… Continue reading The Black Fly
The Rescue
Caesars Head State ParkSouth CarolinaJune 2001 Stepping off the Appalachian Trail at the Fork Ridge Trailhead after summiting Clingmans Dome, we decide to take a drive to the place where 99% of the people who visit Clingmans Dome begin their summit hike. This “trailhead” is three and a half miles to the end of the… Continue reading The Rescue
Walkin’ Cat
PittsburghPennsylvaniaJuly 1999 I dated Betsy three times. The middle time, I parked in front of her house and walked up to the door, rang the bell. When she opened the screen door for me, a white and brown spotted kitty cat ran past me, out of the house. Betsy and I talked on the telephone… Continue reading Walkin’ Cat
Paleontologists Get Down
OklahomaMarch 2013 This area of the country has long been a hot spot for geologists and paleontologists who like to get down. Y’know, they dig for remains of dinosaurs that date back to the Jurassic and Triassic periods, as long ago as 245 million years, give or take twenty minutes. More than 18 tons of… Continue reading Paleontologists Get Down
What to do With a Bear
anywhere that’s not home You’re in the woods. A bear shows up for its appointment. What do you do? Essentially, don’t panic, but do what you do when you do panic. Jump around, make noise, scream like a shrill little kid. Especially if you are a shrill little kid. Bears respond to sincerity. Also, stand… Continue reading What to do With a Bear
What to Wear in Hawai’i
Hawai’iJune 2016 It’s warm in Hawai’i. It gets warm at home in the northeast too. But the Hawai’ians, to all appearances, are smarter. “Formal wear” in Hawai’i can be an Aloha shirt. In most of the rest of the country, “formal wear” includes a shirt too, but also another, thicker layer on top of that,… Continue reading What to Wear in Hawai’i
White Butte Trailhead
White ButteNorth DakotaMay 2015 We sit in the car trying to decide whether to drive up the 1000-foot driveway to the house, or to walk. Our indecision is based on the cold wind picking up and the cold rain falling down. Nasty, unpleasant. We wait. We stop waiting. We walk up the driveway. Richardson ground… Continue reading White Butte Trailhead
Snoopy!
WikieupArizonaJune 2018 It is 103°. We are driving US-93 in Arizona, 23 minutes south of Wikieup, the self-proclaimed rattlesnake capital of Arizona. At last count, 350 people live in Wikieup. Or maybe it is 133 people. Another source lists the population as 108. Or it might be 190. One source counts 6363 residents, but I… Continue reading Snoopy!