About

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BIT|Hiker is a blog about hiking and backpacking. “BIT” is an acronym for Because It’s There,  suggested by a friend as a good name for a page about hiking. My wife, Lisa,  and I are in our mid 50s and although we have both enjoyed this type of activity all our lives we started hiking pretty seriously about six years ago. As a child I spent most of my free time traipsing through the woods, falling in creeks, climbing trees, building forts and camping out, often just in a friend’s backyard. I have always owned a tent and sleeping bag although my career prevented me from using them as frequently as I might have liked. 60 hour work weeks and Mondays off are not very compatible with an outdoorsy lifestyle. As my financial situation improved I used my vacation time to visit other states and countries and not the woods. I have no regrets. I have been blessed with a career that I still love and never bores me and I have seen a lot of great places and things in my travels. Something changed though. Travel is still a passion, it’s just now I want to do it on foot. I’ll take mountains rather than monuments, trail-mix over trattorias, summits, not sommeliers. Okay. I’d like to keep the sommeliers … but they’re usually scarce on summits. You get the point. John Muir said, “The mountains are calling and I must go.” Well, the mountains called. So did the deserts, the forests, the canyons, and the jungle. On this blog I will publish trail reports, pictures of our hikes, and reviews of routes, restaurants, and gear. So if you’re interested in stuff you can’t see from a hotel balcony or roadside overlook follow BIT|Hiker on your favorite blog feed. Hopefully you’ll find some useful information. If you’re looking for me, I’ll be on the trail. Why? Because. It’s. There.

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Todd is a 56 year old performing arts professional from the Baltimore/Washington area. He works for a liberal arts college and freelances as a lighting and sound designer up and down the east coast and beyond. He and his wife hike frequently in the Mid-Atlantic region and get to other parts of the country as often as possible for more of the same. They are planning a hiking trip to South Dakota and Wyoming this summer.

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Todd and Lisa would like to acknowledge and pay respect to the traditional custodians of the lands on which we tread. We encourage others to take action to support indigenous communities.

For more information on indigenous communities, visit the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums at https://www.atalm.org/

A good resource on honoring the land on which you hike can be found here: https://nativegov.org/