Category: The Moosilauke Letters

all overmost any time 4the “rules” of trail names –   You don’t pick your own trail name.  Traditional hiking culture dictates that names are earned or bestowed upon you. –   You can say no: While the humorous name is meant to be in good fun, you are entirely allowed to reject a nickname… Continue reading I Didn’t Catch the Name II

all overmost any time You wanted to know this, or at least, you have wondered about this.  Right?  Who names these things? It may be more complicated than you think.  The Domestic Names Committee of the U S Board on Geographic Names is responsible for standardizing the names of places, features and areas within the… Continue reading I Didn’t Catch the Name I

Squirrel HillPittsburghPennsylvaniaOctober  2018 What does it feel like?  There are tons of clichés available to try to describe the experience:  horrible, shocking, enraging, numbing, betraying, confusing, empty.  They are all accurate.  I don’t know any new ways to describe the horror and the heartache of what this feels like. If you want the details, if… Continue reading Never Give In

How dedicated are you?  Hark the common wisdom to ascertain the depth of your engagement with hiking, your level of immersion.  Behold, the M&M Test… Drop an M&M on the Appalachian Trail and watch what happens. –    A day hiker will pick it up and put it in their pack to carry out as… Continue reading Colors of the Appalachian Trail II

Key WestThe Florida KeysJanuary  2018 In 1924, a girl named Grete Zimmer was born to a Jewish family in Wiener Neustadt, Austria.  In 1939, Austria was under Nazi rule so Grete and her younger sisters left the country for America. Once here, they played a name game.  Sister Josefin became Josephine and Grete and sister… Continue reading Embracing Peace

Sassafras Mountain TrailheadSouth CarolinaDecember  2009 This landscape is made up of high rocky outcrops with views to the horizon as well as quiet forests in deep valleys carved through by mountain streams.  The highest elevation along this thing is 3553 feet, the top of Sassafras Mountain, the top of South Carolina, our destination.  We have… Continue reading Forbidden Love

BethelNew YorkAugust   1969 Years ago, after reading my account of my Woodstock experience, (check out my column entitled The Ballad Of Sophie Labowitz published last week,) my friend and columnist Diana passed my name on to a reporter at the local newspaper, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, who was doing a feature on attendees of The… Continue reading Woodstock

Part I:  PerelmanIn high school, I meet this guy named Mike.  I have no idea if we have anything in common, but he is old enough to have a license to drive and I am not.  So we drive around a lot.  We take his parents’ Chevy Impala to cruise, evening after evening, through the… Continue reading The Ballad Of Sophie Labowitz

GeorgiaNovember  2012 You know that this area of the country is in the heart of the “Bible Belt.”  If you don’t know what the Bible Belt is, hark this helpful definition… an area in the southern United States where folks choose to believe in the literal accuracy of the Bible, an area characterized by fervent… Continue reading Steeples

Frick ParkPittsburghJune  2015 I can’t tell you how many times I have walked in Frick Park here in my neighborhood, but it’s a lot.  Four figures worth.  Do something a thousand times and you forget some of the details.  But some do stand out. I remember… There is a particular wide expanse of mowed grass,… Continue reading Four Legs Total