I recently went on a four-day shakedown hike on the Appalachian Trail. The purpose was to test gear, understand what works and what doesn’t, and figure out which unnecessary items to leave at home. I’ve day hiked a lot and have done a few shorter backpacking trips, but over the …
This past weekend I had a couple of days off and was planning to go to the Smokies for a short backpacking trip. The weather put a wrench in my plans with rain in the forecast everyday, so I made the last minute decision to head to Amicalola Falls and …
I’m sitting here in my campsite, a fire crackling faintly in the background. The site is situated across from a meadow and the stars are putting on quite a show. When I lay down on my picnic table, the satellites make continual arcs across the sky as I try to …
Every time I’m in Yosemite, I can’t help but think about John Muir. His footprints are all over the wilderness that exists there. Part of me feels really conflicted about this because even though he gets much of the credit for the conservation of that land, it couldn’t have come …