On the drive from Mount Driskill to Mount MagazineLouisiana to ArkansasJune 2012 Highpointing racks up a lot of miles on the road. Brings up random, but essential, existential issues. To wit… Kermit + whiskey + cigarettes = Yoda. Or alternately… Kermit + Tom Waits = Yoda.
Author: asiwentwalking
How Tough Is It?
Shenandoah National ParkWhiteoak Canyon TrailheadMay 2023 Some recreational areas place signboards at trailhead. These vertical information centers inform you of what to expect on your hike: route finding, elevation, distance, landmarks, hazards, attractions and maps. As we approach this particular trailhead, and therefore a signboard, we encounter a woman with a furrowed brow, staring at… Continue reading How Tough Is It?
Stringbean
Clingmans DomeTennesseeMay 2013 Getting our gear and lunch together, we leave our car in a small road-side clearing on Clingmans Dome Road, step into the woods and within a hundred feet, onto the Appalachian Trail. We turn left onto this granddaddy of America’s long trails, the famous and fabled A T. Our destination, Clingmans Dome,… Continue reading Stringbean
Brother Time
Cohutta WildernessGeorgiaSeptember 1992 Steve is my brother, ten years older and so much wiser than me, in his mind. Even though he spent time in the trenches in Vietnam, he was still willing to go out into the wilds of north Georgia with me. We planned a three-day backpack trip in the Cohutta Wilderness, just… Continue reading Brother Time
Snake Butt
Boyce Mayview ParkUpper St ClairPennsylvaniaSeptember 2017 Lisa and I are on a training hike in Boyce Mayview Park, not too far from home. At the highest point of a loop, where several trails converge, a cute little dog comes bounding from the brush, happy as dogs usually are. Following behind is a hiker. Or a… Continue reading Snake Butt
Herman Melville & Friend
Pittsfield/Mount GreylockMassachusettsMay 2014 Herman Melville was the author of the big fish story called Moby Dick. One of the stops on our drive from Mount Greylock, the high point of Massachusetts, is a home in Pittsfield. It’s called Arrowhead and this is where Herman Melville, the writer, lived. We briefly tour a small part of… Continue reading Herman Melville & Friend
The Father of Rock ‘n’ Roll
ClevelandOhioJanuary 2018 Section 5E, Lot 383-0, Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland. It’s quiet here. Of course it’s quiet. It’s a cemetery. This quiet is in contrast to the way this particular plot’s occupant lived his life. Who lives here in this burial place? Alan Freed. Alan Freed was born in 1921 in Windber, Pennsylvania, 59 miles… Continue reading The Father of Rock ‘n’ Roll
Sneakers
Mount MitchellNorth CarolinaJuly 2011 Clearly, wilderness trails in the eastern United States are nothing like the sidewalk by your home, nor anything like the tiled floor of the mall. The trail is rough and uneven, an irregular surface marked with dips and holes, roots and rocks. Hikers often realize that, for the past twenty minutes,… Continue reading Sneakers
Slugs
my own gardenPittsburghSummer 1993 Carol said, “Put a dish of beer in the garden. It will attract the slugs and keep them from eating our vegetables.” She even gave me a couple of attractive ceramic bowls. After getting over the initial shock of feeding beer to anything non-human, and well aware that slugs have bad… Continue reading Slugs
Wind
Guadalupe PeakTexasMarch 2013 You won’t ordinarily find the Guadalupe Mountains on lists of “windiest places.” And yet, the Guadalupe Mountains are known by some to be relentlessly windy. How windy is it? I think back to my telephone conversation with Ranger Hal. I called him weeks before our trip to get some preliminary information. It… Continue reading Wind