Catoctin Mountian Park / Cunningham Falls: Why is Everyone a Jerk?

After a trip to southern Virginia for an overnight backpacking trip, we were looking for something a little closer to home. Catoctin Mountain National Park in  western Maryland seemed to fit that bill. We found the route, which included several overlooks and a waterfall, on Hiking Upward, a great resource for the Mid-Atlantic region. It is …

Green Mountain: False Starts and Hot Neighbors

Green Mountain sits just beyond the Flatirons from southwest Boulder and across Gregory Canyon from Flagstaff Mountain, which I had climbed a few days earlier. This was "Black Friday" and while I was pleased that so many folks chose to #optoutside, it made parking at the Gregory Canyon Trailhead challenging. There is only space for …

Little Gunpowder Trail: Fields of Crystalline Arches

The Little Gunpowder Trail is one of my go-to trails. Just outside the Baltimore beltway, it runs roughly twelve miles along the Little Gunpowder Falls from Pleasantville Road in Fallston, Maryland to Kingsville Park in ... well, Kingsville. On February 11, the mid-Atlantic was covered with a blanket of new-fallen snow. Perfect. I got to …

Sunset Rocks: Midpoints and Missteps

That's the AT Museum in the background Lisa and I had planned to lead a group hike up Old Rag Mountain in Shenandoah National Park. When, at the last minute, participants cancelled, we found ourselves with a beautiful day and no hike to fill it. Looking for something a little closer to home than the …

Let’s Discuss my Meniscus

I have a radial tear in my right meniscus. Actually, the orthopedic PA said, "It's beginning to fray". But I get ahead of myself. About a year ago, I started having some twingy pain in my right knee. It came and went and wasn't really causing me any problems so I ignored it ... like …

Newport State Park’s Newport Trail: Frosted Footpath

Newport State Park is a gem in the Wisconsin State Park system. It's Wisconsin's only wilderness park and an International Dark Sky Park - one of only forty-eight in the world. In the daytime, it's a great place to hike. As it happens, I have not yet written a summertime post on this park. In …

Parkers Creek Wildlife Management Area: Creeks, Eagles, and the Chesapeake Bay – Pick Two

I've been on the hunt for new places to hike that are within about an hour of my home in the Baltimore/Washington area. I'm running out of options. On an overcast October day, I decided I could put in some extra windshield time, so I picked a hike in Calvert County, one of Maryland's southernmost …

Nottingham County Park: Serpentine Barrens … What, Again?

Ten days prior to this I had never heard of serpentine barrens. On September 30th I had hiked at Soldiers Delight (read here) in Owings Mills, Maryland and learned about these unique areas, so-called for the properties of the resident soil and rock. Now I stood facing a sign informing me that I was once …

Race Brook Falls and Mt. Everett: Peak Baggin’ in the Berkshires

The Trailhead I was apprehensive. The previous day's lethargy on the Housatonic River (read here) had me wracked with anxiety about my upcoming 2,200 foot climb up Mt. Everett. I felt good - although I had felt good twenty-four hours earlier as I started up Bread Loaf Mountain in northwestern Connecticut. Then, I had started …

When Pigs Fly South: They’ll Fly You to the Bayou

If you Google "Connecticut cuisine" you're going to get a lot of hits, but Cajun barbecue is not going to be one of them. Steak sandwiches, white clam pizza, mac and cheese, and steamed cheeseburgers top the list; barbecue doesn't even make an appearance. So when, passing through Sharon, Connecticut on my way to hike …