Category: The Moosilauke Letters

Myakka River State ParkFloridaFebruary  2002 Reminds me of the time I was backpacking in the Myakka River State Park on the Gulf coast of Florida.  Florida, as you may know, is flat.  The swamps where we hiked were nothing like the rolling forests of the northeast or the mountainous hikes we have done in New… Continue reading Waterlogged

Crowders Mountain State ParkKings MountainNorth CarolinaJuly  2018 they’re in here It comes up in a random discussion as we hike to the top of Kings Mountain in North Carolina.  What’s the difference between carpenter bees and bumblebees?  It is a warm afternoon and we have our sampling of both. Both carpenter bees and bumblebees are… Continue reading Bees and Bees

Savage River TrailMarylandJuly  1999 On our hike to camp the first night, we encounter swarming bees.  Not too many, but not too many is too many. We are a group of backpackers on the Savage River State Forest in Maryland.  Climbing a hill, single file, our lead hiker must’ve stirred a nest of bees because… Continue reading Bees

MaineAugust  1992 Behold, observations from the Bigelow Range, Maine’s Second Mountain. Six peaks run 12 miles east-west in western Maine.  The Bigelow Range.  They’re gorgeous.  I mean, they’re mountains!  Of course they are gorgeous. But they were almost not gorgeous.  In the mid 1970s, a proposal was made to turn this area into a massive… Continue reading Notes from the Bigelow Range

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

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

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

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

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

Don’t make any decisions while you are hiking uphill.