Category: The Moosilauke Letters

Laurel Highlands Hiking TrailPennsylvaniaOctober  2008 When I take beginner backpackers out on the trail, I introduce them to something I call “food groups.”  Our schedule for their first outing (this being the first lifetime experience of sleeping outdoors for some of them) has us leaving home for the trail on Saturday morning and returning Sunday… Continue reading The Bagel Boys

Walasi-YiGeorgiaJuly  2015 In my time, I have heard wonderful stories, useful gimmicks, legends and lies while on the trail.  Told a few myself.  I learned that butter will keep for days without refrigeration.  I learned that some baby girls are born with three nipples.  I learned that one of the best tasting foods in the… Continue reading Boots IV — The Boot Museum

July 1995 Sometimes hiking hurts.  But it’s still worth it.  So says Abbie (left) and Andi (right.)

the smallest room in the houseJuly  1998 I can’t tell you how many boots I have owned.  I know it’s an even number.  It’s the same number of boots I have worn out.  It’s a fairly large number. But wait.  Take this number and add four boots, the two pair I always have at the… Continue reading Boots II — The Boot Test

Black Forest TrailPennsylvaniaJune  2006 After 9.8 miles, we are back at trailhead, leisurely loading our gear into the back of the car.  I hear peeping in the nearby brush.  I look over to see a subtle rustling of the boot-high grass.  I take a tentative step toward the commotion.  It is at this moment that… Continue reading Look at the Grouse!

Wilderness Survival WeekendThe Uncharted Wilds of PennsylvaniaFebruary  2007 Let’s say you are caught out in the woods and you are lost and you have mostly run out of supplies like food and water, and you didn’t bring a tent and you are by yourself and it’s getting dark.  Y’know, a typical hike. Okay, not really… Continue reading Can You Drink Your Own Pee?  II

Driskill MountainLouisianaJune  2012 It is hot, very hot, the kind of hot that relentlessly sucks the water out of your body.  It is 102° hot.  If you are a hiker, you know that you hike whatever the weather.  It’s what you’ve got.  Especially when you are from Pittsburgh and you don’t get to Louisiana very… Continue reading Can You Drink Your Own Pee?  I

…not quite a hiking article,but my brother Laurence often walked when others rode… I grew up with two older brothers, each one smarter than the other.  I’ve said to each one, “I smile because you are my brother.  I laugh because there is nothing you can do about it.” This is how they see the… Continue reading Brother Wisdom

All Over the PlaceWednesday, February 26, 2020 Two things made this difficult. The first is that on some days, when I felt ill and barely had energy to keep moving, I was able to make it around the block. The second was carving out the time, especially on travel days.  So it became day or… Continue reading 1000

Bigelow WildernessMaineAugust  1992 Ever since I first heard of the Appalachian Trail, and since the first time I carried a backpack through a weekend, I thought of the long distance hike from Georgia to Maine.  I’ve been very lucky throughout my backpacking career, in some seasons spending as many as 80 nights on the trail. … Continue reading Thru Hiker