George Steffanos on Spoutible

1/6

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

George Steffanos

@GSteffanos

2/6

I could also see this for myself by scanning the elevation profiles on my map.

I stopped at Pine Knob Shelter in order to get water. It was another real dump — filthy, decrepit, and generally falling apart. Chunks were missing from the walls.

11:35 AM - Mar 03, 2024

George Steffanos

@GSteffanos

3/6

Past the shelter, the arduous ascent continued, now on a badly eroded old woods road covered with rocks.

Once I had reached the ridge crest the footway became much easier, following wide old grassy roads across a broad, flat plateau.

11:35 AM - Mar 03, 2024

George Steffanos

@GSteffanos

4/6

The views from Annapolis Rock and Black Rock along the western rim were the best in Maryland and blew away everything since Hogback Mountain and Mount Marshall in Shenandoah National Park.

We are standing on a light gray granite outcrop, a few inches of which is visible bottom center in the photo. Beyond that, the forested slopes of this mountain slant down to a sprawling green valley below. It is almost flat. The valley is covered with farm fields and pastures, farm buildings and a few small villages. There are a few meandering small roads visible. There are a few wooded patches, and there are narrow strips of forest as wind breaks between some of the fields. The sky is mostly high white haze. The air is relatively clear for summer, you can see for miles. A hazy line of mountains rises along the horizon, far in the distance.

11:35 AM - Mar 03, 2024

George Steffanos

@GSteffanos

5/6

Above each of these massive cliffs, hawks turned lazy circles in the afternoon sun, while below me others soared over a vast, green farming valley stretched out towards the blurry gray line of the Alleghenies in the misty distance.

11:35 AM - Mar 03, 2024

George Steffanos

@GSteffanos

6/6

I spent a great deal of time at each spot, feeling lucky to be there on one of the rare relatively haze-free days this summer.

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

11:35 AM - Mar 03, 2024

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