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Hawk Watcher’s Point
Ann chooses this short and steep hike to do with our friend Elaine. I’ve been working hard and am grateful to get out into the Sandia Mountain Wilderness for some good air. Tres Pistoles Trailhead Trail 194 The trail winds through very climbable boulders, which rekindle some of my very dormant climbing itch. The destination,…
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Lake Hefner Bike Loop
We’ve been missing our bikes, so when Nathan and Grace offer us loaners for the day we go for it (even though they aren’t recumbent bikes as we’ve smugly grown accustomed to). Embarking from Camp Nathan The wind simulates a lake shore that is downhill on the east side and uphill on the west. On…
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Oklahoma City Visit
My old friend Nathan and his awesome girlfriend Grace break us right out of our routine by taking us to see Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s at a small venue in nearby Norman, keeping us up way past our bedtime. The cure for that comes the next morning at the Red Cup. Red…
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Benighted on Cub Lake
We’re camped by what looks like a tiny lake in Natchez Trace State Park, and we want to get a hike in before the day is over, so we decide to try to find our way around the lake. It’s easy enough at first as we follow roads through the campground and cabin areas. Then…
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Hungry Mother State Park
Today we start heading West, but the sunny weather tempts us to find another hike before leaving Virginia. Hungry Mother State Park supplies a really pleasant loop around a reservoir in the oak and maple forest we’re coming to expect in this part of the country, but there is another small budding tree in the…
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Rocky Knob Loop
The Blue Ridge Parkway is quite close to Randy’s house, so he knows just where to go when we ask for a small hike. We wind up to the ridge for a few tantalizing views, but the first half of the trail wends through the woods, where old cabins have a tendency to disappear and…
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A Morning at Weathertop Farm
We make our way to Ann’s brother Randy’s place in Floyd, Virginia. He’s working part time on a friend’s farm, and we offer to spend a morning “helping” so we get to gawk at all the stuff going on here. Our first job is to head down the hill and feed the hogs. Randy shows…
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Great Falls Park on the Potomac
We’ve continued south on highways flanked with still-colorful oak and maple forests to Rockville, Maryland, where Ann’s friend Jonathan lives with his wife Lisa. It’s mostly a working visit for me, but I can’t resist a hike in this small national park on the Potomac river. We begin along the old “tow canal” that for…
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Lancaster County Tour
Manheim, Pennsylvania is home to several generations of my family on the Kuhn side, but is almost completely foreign to me. Sue Obetz and grandma Eileen Kuhn, our hosts here, give Dad, Sarah, and I a good survey of the county. Our first stop is the old Abe Wallace farm, which grandma Eileen finds the…