Mount FrissellConnecticutMay 2014 A group of hikers is parked at the nearby pullout. One guy, the loudest one, the one with the New York accent, is holding forth on the terrain, the history and the trails of the area. As there are at least three different trails that go off into the woods here, I… Continue reading The (Secret) Name
Author: asiwentwalking
The BFI
FreeportMaineAugust 2012 On our way north, we drive past the BFI. The BFI lives by the side of the road on Route 1 in Freeport, Maine. He lives there, but I don’t know if you want to call it a living. He just stands there. All the time. He’s been standing there for more than… Continue reading The BFI
The Head
Mount FrissellConnecticutMay 2014 Isn’t this the way it always happens! Well, no. But it did this time. This Highpointing trip includes the summits of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Most of the time we are hiking on rock. Rock and rocks. Not just picking our way through a rocky footpath, but climbing, hand over hand up steep… Continue reading The Head
Freedom of Information
North CarolinaDecember 2005 North Carolina thoughtfully provides an 800 toll free telephone number that you may call in order to request information about the state. It may not be the information you want, but at least you can get it. On the telephone I inform the information office person that during our upcoming trip, we… Continue reading Freedom of Information
He Was a Good Ole Dog
CherokeeAlabamaNovember 2013 How about the Coon Dog Cemetery? It’s in the Shoals in Alabama. The first dog was buried here in 1937. Since then, 185 more dogs have been added to the ground. “We have stipulations on this thing,” says Larry Sanderson, current Vice President of the Coon Dog Graveyard. “A dog can’t run no… Continue reading He Was a Good Ole Dog
Hydroplaning
Blue Ridge ParkwayVirginiaMay 2011 During our trip to the Dakotas five weeks ago, thunderstorms were predicted every day. Didn’t happen. We have just summited Mount Mitchell in North Carolina where we had roughly three drops of water. Now it is time to come home. We’ve chosen a slower but far more picturesque route through the… Continue reading Hydroplaning
Hiking Uphill II
There comes a time when it is no longer self-conscious. You are hiking along and you see the trail take a serious bend up toward the sky and all it means to you is that you will be higher in altitude in a few minutes. The days when you wished for the end of the… Continue reading Hiking Uphill II
Hiking Uphill I
Don’t make any decisions while you are hiking uphill.
Ginseng
Great Smoky Mountain National ParkNorth CarolinaMay 2013 Did I mention the ginseng? Aha! One night we stay at campsite #65 on Noland Creek in the Great Smoky Mountains. #65 is quite broad, large enough for six different groups of campers. Two guys, tall and lean, dressed in blue jeans, white cotton T-shirts and open-front flannel… Continue reading Ginseng
Haboob
ShiprockNew MexicoJuly 2013 We’re almost all the way from the Four Corners Monument to Shiprock, our next destination. We should be seeing this massive rock by now, but instead, we are having an experience neither one of us have ever had before. A month ago, while in Phoenix the night before summiting Humphreys Peak, the… Continue reading Haboob