Category: The Moosilauke Letters

West Virginia/VirginiaJuly 2011 & July 2014 This evening we go for dinner and get prepared for our hike tomorrow. We have enough time for one more attraction.  It’s outside an office building in downtown Wytheville.  While Lisa and I are visiting this attraction, a police officer tells me that this thing, this attraction, has been… Continue reading Mountaineer Expressway:  It’s a Pencil

West Virginia/VirginiaJuly 2011 & July 2014 This gentleman was walking in the other direction from us.  That was good.

FloralaAlabamaNovember  2013 Overheard in a checkout line at the Piggly Wiggly store… womanCarl?  Carl, is that you? CarlOh hi, Emma.  How you doin’? EmmaGettin’ along.  But you know, it’s sometimes hard with a disability. CarlHey, did you see Willa?  Didja hear about her cat?  She… EmmaYeah, too bad.  That cat was weird anyway. me, thinkingIsn’t… Continue reading Didja Hear About Her Cat?

Allegheny Front TrailBlack Moshannon State ParkPennsylvaniaSeptember  2003 First of all, it’s officially called Naked Hiking Day, but I don’t have any idea who the officials are.  Would there even be officials for nakedness? I may not be the only one to claim this ignorance as there are others who call it Nude Hiking Day.  Who… Continue reading National Hike Naked Day

Big Walker MountainVirginiaJuly  2014 Once upon a time there was a lookout tower.Part 1. Let me say this right now.  No, I did not climb the tower.  I started to but when I got to the third tier, it became time for me to come down.  “This doesn’t get any easier, does it,” I thought… Continue reading Big Walker Lookout

North DakotaMay  2015 Our next adventure is to drive the Enchanted Highway, a road flanked by sculptures created by Gary Greff, a local artist.  Personally, I’m thinking that if this highway is truly enchanted, then none of these sculptures would have been manufactured, none would have had a human sculptor.  Enchanted means, to me, they… Continue reading Enchanted Highway

all over Boy Scouts are known for their inventiveness in solving wilderness problems.  To wit… 14    When using a public campground, a tuba placed on your picnic table will keep the campsites on either side vacant. 15    Old socks can be made into high fiber jerky by smoking them over an open fire.… Continue reading Dumb Stuff II

all over Some of what follows is from my own experience, some from the experience of others.  All of it comes from being on the trail.  Consider what you find here as wisdom, or more likely, dumbness. 1    reading a mapOn a topographical map, contour lines which are close together indicate an uphill.  When… Continue reading Dumb Stuff I

the Appalachian Trail It is easy not to get lost while hiking this granddaddy of a trail.  Just follow the blazes, the 2 x 6 inch vertical paint swatches on trees, sign posts and rocks along the pathway.  When the blaze is white, it means you are on the route of the main trail. When… Continue reading Colors of the Appalachian Trail

part I Some time ago, I happened upon an article that announced the fastest time for running the Appalachian Trail.  This means that a guy — Karel Sabbe — ran from one end of the Appalachian Trail, Springer Mountain in Georgia, to the other end, Mount Katahdin in Maine — a distance of 2190 miles.  He… Continue reading The Fastest Among Us