Category: The Moosilauke Letters

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

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

WyomingJuly  2013 Motoring through the driving rainstorm, north from Colorado into Wyoming.  Within minutes of crossing the state border, camel and bison are standing aside the road.  At home we get cows and sheep. On our way to Devils Tower, we drive right through Chugwater, Wyoming.  That’s the name of the town.  Population, 212.  Altitude,… Continue reading Buffalo Jump

BlanchardNorth DakotaJune  2008 I get a kick out of the most [fill in the blank] thing in the world.  Like with some folks, extremes hold an appeal for me.  I read the Guinness Book of World Records with glee.  Imagine my delight when I see that, not too far off our route to Devils Tower… Continue reading Tallest Thing in the World

New ParisPennsylvaniaJune  2015 Ask a random sampling of people which super power they would choose to inherit, given the chance.  #1 on many lists would be the ability to fly, to defy gravity, or at least to ignore it. Short of flying as a super power, some folks who stand more steadily on the ground… Continue reading Gravity Hill

Frick ParkPittsburghJanuary  2016 Of course, when you live in the Northeast and hike all 365 days of the year, you are going to experience a variety of weather conditions. On my walk this morning;  I know there is a sheet of ice under the snow.  To try to get some kind of traction, I pick… Continue reading Frozen

AtlantaGeorgiaMarch  2017 I almost killed my brother. It wasn’t personal, just something that almost happened. In his lifetime, my brother endured a lot.  He broke his leg in high school and nearly got it shot off in Vietnam, where he was also likely exposed to Agent Orange.  He spent three weeks in a coma with… Continue reading That Killer Fruit

Laurel HighlandsPennsylvania1998

PittsburghPennsylvaniaApril  1998 Cleanliness is just as important on the trail as it is in the city.  But because it isn’t as convenient as absentmindedly twisting a handle as you would do over your kitchen sink, daily chores on the trail take on more deliberate, thoughtful preparation and behavior. If you have ever tried to wash… Continue reading Waterless Soap

Great Smoky MountainsTennesseeMay  2013 The upper altitudes of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park have a covering of a large spruce-fir forest.  The Fraser fir is named after — this is too easy — John Fraser.  He was a Scottish botanist in the 18th and 19th centuries who did some of his best work right here… Continue reading Fraser Fir