outside WinslowArizonaMay 2018 As you may realize by now, the police keep a constant watch on Lisa when she is driving. I have been her passenger too numerous times to count when an officer has pulled her over. She moves fast, but they’re on to her. This time we’re on Arizona Highway 87 traveling north,… Continue reading Speeding in Arizona
Author: asiwentwalking
The Hills are Alive
Mount RogersVirginiaJuly 2011 We start up the Susan Spillane Trail off the A T to the summit of Mount Rogers. Our trail is thick with balsam fir trees, so many that the place was once named Balsam Mountain. At that time, a geologist/physicist/professor at the University of Virginia was awarded the title of the state’s… Continue reading The Hills are Alive
New England Seasons
VermontAugust 2013 Our weather today is pleasant, comfortable, delightful even. We have wispy clouds, reasonably warm temperatures. It’s August, it’s summer, one of New England’s seasons. Summer is followed by autumn, of course, and then by stick season. When Earth is on the other side of the sun, spring for most, New England experiences mud… Continue reading New England Seasons
Route Finding
Quebec Run Wild AreaPennsylvaniaApril 2016
One Night a Cabin
Red RockPennsylvaniaOctober 2000 One night, we stay in a two-room cabin in Red Rock, Pennsylvania, just south of the natural wetlands, old growth forest and great variety of waterfalls at Ricketts Glen State Park. We stay in this cabin because last night, when we camped out, my toothpaste froze solid. We walk into the office… Continue reading One Night a Cabin
Thixotropy
Shake and shakeThe catsup bottle.None will come,And then a lot’ll. — Richard Armour (1906 – 1989)
Sunflower
GoodlandKansasMarch 2013 Eighteen miles past Kanorado, at Goodland, Kansas, stand the largest sunflowers one is ever likely to see. We are in the car, without directions, but if this flora is as big as I’ve heard it is, we’ll have no trouble finding it. Yep, here we are, next to Bubba’s Meat Block and Bill’s… Continue reading Sunflower
Kit Carson
Wheeler PeakNew MexicoJuly 2013 In order to hike to Wheeler Peak, the highest point in New Mexico, we must first walk in the Carson National Forest. These woodlands were named for Christopher Houston Carson, better known as “Kit Carson.” Lisa hears Kit Carson and thinks of a PTA mom. I think Kit Carson sounds like… Continue reading Kit Carson
Royal Gorge Bridge
Cañon CityColoradoJune 2018 If you want, or if Lisa encourages you, you can walk across a bridge that is 955 feet high. That is, 955 feet of air below you. If your hat were to blow off, or if you dropped your book of Chaucer poems, it would take about nine seconds to get to… Continue reading Royal Gorge Bridge
The Scary, Dangerous Mexican
Big Bend National ParkTexasNovember 2018 The Boquillas Canyon Trail begins at the cul-de-sac of a spur road and climbs up from the parking lot to the top of a cliff overlooking the Rio Grande. The Big River, defining the border between Mexico and the United States, is narrow and unimpressive at this spot. Across the… Continue reading The Scary, Dangerous Mexican