Mike Steffanos

#DailyPictureTheme

It can get rather #Tense when you are atop a mountain and your sunny weather rapidly deteriorates. The coming storm. Sky over Whitestone Cliffs Trail, Plymouth, Connecticut. September 6, 2018, 4:46 PM.

Be sure to check out @DailyPictureTheme

The top of a dead tree thrusts its lifeless trunk with several broken off branches towards the sky, where swirling clouds of darkening gray are devouring the last small patch of blue from all directions. A late summer storm is coming.

09:04 AM - Apr 18, 2024

0

2

31

9 Threaded Spouts

August 15, 1983: The southern portion of the Taconic Mountain Range is basically two parallel chains separated by a high central valley. The Appalachian Trail follows the eastern fork.
#backpacking #hiking #outdoors #landscapephotography #Connecticut #nature #forest #mountains #AppalachianTrail

We are standing atop cliffs of reddish gray rock looking down into a sun-drenched valley hundreds of feet below. The valley floor is relatively flat, although wooded hills bisect it to our right and others rise in the distance along the entire horizon. Most of the valley floor is wooded, too, but there are several green fields, some houses and a small pond visible. The sky is bright and clear, but rather whitewashed along the horizon, which is the only portion of the sky visible in the photo.

09:24 AM - Apr 18, 2024

0

1

4

#DailyPictureTheme

September 8, 1983. Mount Eisenhower. There are 14 miles of alpine #Ridge walking as the Appalachian Trail traverses New Hampshire's Presidential Range in the White Mountains. The alpine area is not confined to a strip along the ridgeline.

Be sure to check out @DailyPictureTheme

We are standing on the summit of a lofty mountain, looking down a long stretch of alpine ridge crest gradually descending hundreds of feet in elevation to a lower but still high section of the crest. There are large patches of naked gray granite rock and golden grasslike plants, but most of the crest is covered with low shrubs of very stunted spruce, fir and leafy plants. Most of the leafy plants are turning gold for autumn. A series of slightly lower parallel ranges cascade to the far horizon. The sky is bright light blue with a few clouds streaming past. There is some bright glare along the righthand side as we approach the offscreen sun.

10:54 AM - Mar 03, 2024

0

1

4

39

6 Threaded Spouts

July 13, 1983: On the other side of I-70, the stiff climb up Pine Knob was a harbinger of things to come. I had been told that the AT becomes much more rugged in the northern half of Maryland.
#backpacking #hiking #outdoors #landscapephotography #nature #forest #mountains #AppalachianTrail

We are standing atop a jagged, irregularly-shaped very light gray rock outcrop atop a mountain. A couple of leafy green shrub are growing out of the rock. We see a series of green, forested ridges sloping down from the crest of the mountain to our left towards the unseen valley floor to our right. A small lake is cradled between the bottoms of two of the ridges on the right of the screen. On the far horizon is a misty farming valley with another ridge rising behind it. The summertime sky is clear, but very light blue and hazy.

11:35 AM - Mar 03, 2024

0

2

5

Sunset over a quiet cove, Scoville Reservoir, Wolcott, Connecticut. May 17, 2021, 8:01 PM.
#hiking #photography #landscapephotography #hikingadventures #nature #Connecticut #spring #June #forest #sunset #sunsets #sunsetphotography #trails #lake #springtime

We are standing beside a small cove on a large lake, a tree sprouting bright green spring leaves to our right and a small leafless shrub to our left. Just offshore ahead, a cluster of water grasses. Large clusters of lily pads cover about a quarter of the cove. The cove is enclosed by a wooded shoreline to our right and a wooded peninsula to our left, each filled with tall trees also beginning to sprout leaves. Above, the sun has recently set. The pale blue sky is tinted pale gold along the horizon. Two narrow chains of small clouds tinted bright pink and dark purple come together in a rough V pattern.

11:47 AM - Feb 16, 2024

0

1

14

5 Threaded Spouts

July 20, 1983: On the Maryland side of the river (5 states down, 9 to go), I crossed the remains of the old Chesapeake and Ohio barge canal.
#backpacking #hiking #outdoors #landscapephotography #maryland #mountains #nature #forest #appalachiantrail #adventure #trails

The old towpath of a canal from the mid-1800’s. The path is wide and flat and lined on both sides with tall shade trees whose intertwined branches form a solid green canopy high overhead. The path is dirt; its center and shoulders are grassy.

09:47 AM - Feb 17, 2024

0

3

12

6 Threaded Spouts

May 24, 1983: When the clothes were dry, I returned to the Inn for the night. The old mansion sports a fine, two-tiered veranda running the length of the house.
#backpacking #hiking #landscapephotography #NorthCarolina #Tennessee #mountains #nature #forest #appalachiantrail

It is brightly sunny with a clear, very pale blue sky. We are standing high atop a mountain, looking down at a small town built on and near the banks of a river. The river, running high and tinted brown from runoff from spring rains, makes a graceful arc around a farm just below us. To our right a road runs along the river, another road crosses the river on a bridge directly below us. There are farm fields and small clusters of houses in the near distance, beyond the mostly wooded riverbanks. Beyond them rise rugged green mountains.

10:18 AM - Feb 18, 2024

0

2

5

#DailyPictureTheme

I have no interest in AK-47s or the NRA twists that fetishize them, so I guess you'll have to #pry the hiking stick from my hands.

Dramatic sunset off the Tunxis Trail, Wolcott, Connecticut. September 8, 2020, 7:10 PM.

Be sure to check out @DailyPictureTheme

We are standing beside a large gray rock outcrop at a point where an overgrown field meets the surrounding forest. The field is filled with tall grasses, leafy shrubs and yellow wildflowers. The pale blue gray sky is filled with a dramatic mass of textured clouds tinted orange and gold buy the recently set sun.

11:49 AM - Feb 18, 2024

0

8

50

10 Threaded Spouts

June 17, 1983: No sooner had I begun the three miles of ridge walking on Pearis Mountain, than the sky, which had been darkening all day, turned truly ominous.
#backpacking #hiking #outdoors #landscapephotography #virginia #mountains #storm #forest #trails #adventure #appalachiantrail

08:23 AM - Feb 03, 2024

0

1

2

#DailyPictureTheme

Hikes calm my mind and #Help me deal with a world where corporations, billionaires and Christian nationalists own the Supreme Court and an ignorant fascist and failed president has around a 50-50 chance of being our next president. #Vote

Be sure to check out @DailyPictureTheme

We are following an old woods road covered with rocks and exposed tree roots and shoots of new spring grass. The forest floor around the old road is covered with a mass of ferns wearing the vibrant green shades of springtime. There are a couple of broad old tree trunks in the surrounding forest, but most of the trunks are narrower, belonging to trees only a few decades old. We are looking downward, so the sky is not visible in the photo. The late afternoon sun is shining in from the right on a low angle, casting long shadows and a golden light where it breaks through.

08:28 AM - Feb 04, 2024

0

6

41

September sunset, Scoville Reservoir, Wolcott, Connecticut. September 18, 2021, 6:58 PM
#hiking #photography #landscapephotography #hikingadventures #nature #Connecticut #summer #September #forest #sunset #sunsets #sunsetphotography #trails #lake #summertime

A dirt and gravel path framed by woods on both sides makes a graceful arc to the left as it comes to the shore of a lake. The path is raised a few feet from the surrounding ground, both sides sloping downward. The left slope and a few feet of adjacent ground are grassy. A bit of mist is hovering above the lake surface. Streaky high clouds above the western horizon beyond the lake's far shore are tinted pink with the post sunset. The rest of the sky is a very light blue, with the exception of a single high cloud tinted pink and gold.

11:41 AM - Feb 03, 2024

0

1

4

8 Threaded Spouts

August 8, 1983: I had hiked the preceding four miles without stopping, in one-and-a-half hours.
#backpacking #hiking #outdoors #landscapephotography #NewYork #nature #forest #mountains #adventure #trails #appalachiantrail

From a gray rock outcrop hundreds of feet above the river, we are looking out over the treetops down at the wide gray green river far below. Many of the leaves on the treetops just below us are prematurely turning bright yellow from the drought. A long single-span suspension bridge spans the river below. Just to our right from the bridge is the outlet of a broad stream emptying into the Hudson. A railroad that runs along the opposite bank crosses that outlet on a low iron bridge. The edge of a long single span arch bridge where a road crosses that inlet farther away from the river is just visible on our right. The bridge connects to a parkway on the other side of the river. The parkway then curves gracefully to our left and disappears into the valley between two wooded mountainsides, the bottom several hundred feet of which are visible in this photo.

08:54 AM - Feb 04, 2024

0

1

6

4 Threaded Spouts

June 1, 1983: A couple of days either way and I wouldn't have been there for that massive peak daffodil bloom.
#backpacking #hiking #landscapephotography #NorthCarolina #mountains #nature #adventure #trails #appalachiantrail

Beneath a soft blue sky with fluffy white clouds we are standing on a rolling meadow of lush green grass sprinkled with hundreds of yellow daffodils. Just ahead a dirt road to the summit culminates in a scenic little circle mostly surrounded by a decorative rustic log fence. Flowering trees in and around the circle added bright white blossoms to the floral display. Beyond the trees, another mountain range miles off can be glimpsed through the shredding and dissolving storm clouds.

09:31 AM - Jan 28, 2024

0

1

13

Spring ravine. Sleeping Giant State Park, Hamden, Connecticut. May 18, 2023, 5:24 PM.
#hiking #photography #landscapephotography #hikingadventures #nature #Connecticut #spring #May #forest #trees #outdoors #naturephotography #trails #springtime

We are following a ravine up a mountain. Its sides slope steeply up to our right and left. The floor of the ravine and both slopes are covered in large gray boulders and fallen tree trunks and branches. It is now full spring; the trees are covered in leaves that are still a brighter green than in summer. Through the trees, we see glimpses of a deep blue sky with a few puffy clouds.

01:52 PM - Jan 28, 2024

0

1

11

#DailyPictureTheme
#Surf

A stormy day along the Pacific Coast of Oregon. March 1984.

Be sure to check out @DailyPictureTheme

A stormy day along the Pacific Coast of Oregon. Storm waves are breaking on a deserted beach and the nearby sea stacks and sea cliffs. The near end of the beach below is very rocky. To our left steep cliffs rise from the beach. The nearest cliffs are naked rock and nearly vertical. Farther away, the cliffs are slightly less steep and have trees and other greenery growing on them.

09:25 AM - Jan 29, 2024

0

2

3

33

4 Threaded Spouts

We had already covered almost ten miles when we stopped for lunch in a clearing at Beech Gap, three miles past the summit.

More of My 1983 #AppalachianTrail Hike in Photos at https://www.georgesteffano...

09:31 AM - Jan 29, 2024

0

1

4 Threaded Spouts

There were some inexplicably barren sandy and rocky patches amid all that lush foliage.

09:31 AM - Jan 29, 2024

0

1

4 Threaded Spouts

Towering heights carved by green valleys stretched as far as the eye could see in every direction. The trail down the other side was fascinating. We followed wide, grassy paths (old woods roads) along a frequently narrow ridge crest through countless thickets of rhododendron.

Beneath a hazy soft blue sky with a few clouds, a trail starts down the mountain between two rhododendron shrubs. The hills below us are mostly covered with leafless trees, but there are a few patches of evergreen forest. Mountain ranges beyond the hills cascade into the distance, gradually dissolving into the haze.

09:31 AM - Jan 29, 2024

0

1

4 Threaded Spouts

May 10, 1983: Standing Indian is known as the “Grandstand of the Southern Appalachians” because of its central location in that intricate maze of mountain ranges.
#backpacking #hiking #landscapephotography #nature #mountains #NorthCarolina #forest #adventure #trails #appalachiantrail

09:31 AM - Jan 29, 2024

0

1

4

So many colors June sunset. Scoville Reservoir, Wolcott, Connecticut. June 27, 2021, 8:42 PM.
#hiking #photography #landscapephotography #hikingadventures #nature #Connecticut #summer #June #forest #sunset #sunsets #sunsetphotography #trails #lake #summertime

We are standing beside a large lake. The sun has recently set above the wooded far shore. The sky is a deep twilight blue streaked with clouds: orange and gold tinted along the horizon and bright pink above, mirrored on the lake below. We are standing beside a patch of tall lush green grass along the near shore. It is speckled with red violet wildflowers. There is a darker green bush beyond, right on the shoreline.

11:58 AM - Jan 29, 2024

0

2

13

6 Threaded Spouts

I filed this cheerful thought away for later and continued down.

From my book Then the Hail Came (A Humorous and Truthful Account of a 1983 #AppalachianTrail Thru-hike). Available in paperback and eBook: https://amazon.com/dp/B09Q...

08:54 AM - Jan 24, 2024

0

1

6 Threaded Spouts

They were segments of one continuous ridge, separated by a gap carved by the Delaware River (hence the name Delaware Water Gap — duh). I would by no means be finished with Blue Mountain’s rocks once I crossed into New Jersey.

08:54 AM - Jan 24, 2024

0

1

6 Threaded Spouts

Somewhere during this final downhill, it occurred to me that the first ridge I would be hiking in New Jersey was actually a continuation of Blue Mountain.

08:54 AM - Jan 24, 2024

0

1

6 Threaded Spouts

Mercifully, I arrived at a gravel road, which the Appalachian Trail followed for the ensuing mile-and-a-half to the top of Mount Minsi. I took a ten-minute break at the summit, drinking the last of my water, and began the long descent to the Delaware River.

08:54 AM - Jan 24, 2024

0

1

6 Threaded Spouts

I convinced myself that Blue Mountain was throwing everything it had into one final vain attempt to destroy me, and just kept plugging away, ignoring the beating my feet were taking.

08:54 AM - Jan 24, 2024

0

1

6 Threaded Spouts

July 26, 1983: The next 2 miles or so of trail was one unbroken rock pile. Using mind control techniques which will be described in my next book, The Principles of Psychotic Backpacking,
#backpacking #hiking #outdoors #landscapephotography #pennsylvania #nature #forest #mountains #appalachiantrail

Beneath a light blue sky with puffy clouds a dark blue river makes a gentle S curve through a deep gorge between two mountains. The mountainside on the right is heavily wooded and has a railroad and a two-lane road running along its base beside the river. The second mountain forms the background of the picture. It is tall and the side facing us looks almost vertical, with several naked rock cliffs among the trees. A 4-lane interstate highway runs along the river bank at its base.

08:54 AM - Jan 24, 2024

0

1

7

#DailyPictureTheme
#Relax

Peaceful autumn afternoon at the reservoir, New Britain Reservoir, Southington, Connecticut. October 12, 2019, 4:40 PM.

Be sure to check out @DailyPictureTheme

A dead calm autumn afternoon on the rocky shoreline of a large lake. In addition of dozens of gray rocks and boulders strewn around, the flattish ground around the lake is blanketed in a low, leafy ground cover that resembles yellowish green grass when viewed from a distance. The forest around the lake is teaming with maples, already at or near peak color, with gold, orange and red foliage. The other trees remain mostly green. The sky is a deep October blue with gauzy thin clouds drifting past.

08:51 AM - Jan 23, 2024

0

3

44