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George Steffanos

@gsteffanos.bsky.social

Author of Then the Hail Came, a book about my 1983 Appalachian Trail thru-hike, available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle. https://www.georgesteffanos.com

11300 Posts2905 Follower 1547 Folgt

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 9h ago

Climbing a rocky razorback ridge, southern slopes of Prospect Mountain, Salisbury, Connecticut. August 4, 2026, 5:37 PM. #hiking #forest #trail #mountains

A soft blue summer sky. The early evening sun is starting to get low in the sky, shining directly towards us through the forest canopy, a mix of mature hardwoods and hemlocks. We are climbing a rather narrow ridge of dark gray rock. Thin patches of soil scattered among the rocks are sprouting patches of grass, moss and low leafy plants.

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 18h ago

Soft onshore breeze for a July afternoon, Lost Ponds, Mattatuck State Forest, Plymouth, Connecticut. July 19, 2024, 3:01 PM. #hiking #forest #lake

A soft blue summer sky with scattered fair weather clouds. Standing on a rocky patch of shoreline, a small break in the dense green forest encircling a pond. The light gray rock on which we are standing creates an opening with a bird's eye view of the pond framed by leafy trees and shrubs. A low wooded ridge rises above the shore to our right. A small, flat, almost circular island near the center of the pond is covered with bright green grass and a few very small shrubs. Beyond that, several even smaller islets of reddish brown rock rise near the far shore. A soft summer breeze is lightly rippling the surface of the water.

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 19h ago

🧵1/8 August 8, 1983, 43 years ago today: I had hiked the preceding four miles without stopping, in one-and-a-half hours. I now possessed a half-hour cushion for my attempt to reach the monastery. I stumbled to the top of the ridge. #AppalachianTrail #hiking #backpacking

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.

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 20h ago

🧵1/10 August 8, 1983, 43 years ago today: I passed park benches also swarming with humanity, most of whom seemed to be staring at me, wondering what the hell I was doing walking through that park with a backpack on. #backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail

We are standing next to the handrails on the pedestrian walkway along the left side of a long single span suspension bridge about 155 feet (47 meters) above a wide river. The near tower rises not far ahead. A car is coming towards us, a school bus is passing us going in the other direction. The opposite riverbank is wooded, with a small hill on our right and the lower slopes of a higher mountain on our left. The mostly sunny sky is a hazy light blue. A yellow rectangular sign not far in front of us warns drivers "bridge freezes before roadway". Signs on the other side of the road show us this roadway is the current route for US 6 and US 202.

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · yesterday

Hazy gold and orange sunset at Lost Ponds, Mattatuck State Forest, Plymouth, Connecticut. August 26, 2019, 7:04 PM. #sunset #hiking #forest #lake

Standing beside a pond, in front of an opening in the lush forest that encircles it. A crevassed gray rock below has a few leafy shrubs growing through its cracks. The sun is about to set behind a low ridge running along the far shore, casting a bright yellow glow in the sky above, tinting the hazy swirl of clouds around it gold and orange tones. This is mirrored on the very lightly rippled waters below.

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 2d ago

White water lilies and green lily pads in dazzling sunshine, Plunge Pool, White Memorial Foundation, Morris, Connecticut. July 8, 2024, 2:45 PM. #hiking #lake #wildflowers

A closeup of two white water lily blossoms with gold and yellow clusters of stamens in their centers floating on the calm surface of a pond amid a dense cluster of green lily pads. Waster lilies and lily pads are dazzling in the bright summer sunshine. The surface of the pond mirrors the hazy clouds and blue skies of a sunny summer day, but darkly. The reflected blue sky is almost black, the white wisps of cloud reflections are light gray.

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 2d ago

🧵1/7 August 7, 1983, 43 years ago today: I left the Brien Shelter at 6:00. It had taken me an hour to regroup — psychologically more than physically. All day, I had been driving this out-of-shape body towards a single goal: that shelter. #backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail

We are in a field of waist-high weeds atop an otherwise open ridge crest. At the edge of the field ahead, the forest begins. Several of the trees at the edge of the field and beginning of the forest are dead. Several taller larger wooded hills rises above us ahead. The sky is very light blue, almost white. The angle of shadows and the golden hue of the light tell us the sun is close to setting, offscreen to our left. A series of other ridges cascade into the distance, gradually dissolving into the thick haze.

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 2d ago

🧵1/5 August 7, 1983, 43 years ago today: I crossed New York Route 17 just after descending Agony Grind and entered Harriman State Park, a place historic on the Appalachian Trail. #backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail

Amid a forest of relatively tall trees, we are looking up along at a much larger tree rising among them. It is throwing out many branches in graceful curves, several are larger in diameter than the trunks of the other trees.

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 2d ago

Pink and violet Winter sunrise, Scoville Reservoir, Wolcott, Connecticut. December 6, 2019, 6:53 AM. #sunrise #hiking #winter #lake

We are looking down a small slope to a wooden footbridge crossing an inlet of a large lake. Most of the lake surface is frozen, a light coating of snow cloaks the ground and most of the ice. There are forests of tall pines on either end of the bridge. The rest of the forest surrounding the lake is mostly leafless hardwoods. There are many thin clouds in the sky. The rising sun is tinting them orange, pink and violet, reflecting on the ice which has no snow cover.

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 3d ago

Old woods road in autumn. Sleeping Giant State Park, Hamden, Connecticut. October 27, 2022, 3:26 PM. #hiking #autumn #forest

The sky is clear, cloudless and deep blue. Offscreen right, the sun is low in the sky, casting long shadows to our left. The afternoon sunlight is slightly tinted gold (it is not quite golden hour, but getting there). We are walking down a wide old woods road, long ago abandoned to any use other than foot travel. The old road and the forest floor surrounding it are carpeted with freshly fallen brightly colored leaves. There is a shrub with bright red leaves in the lower left. Much of the underbrush has lost its leaves, most of what's left is bright golds and oranges. The trees are at peak autumn color, bright greens, oranges and golds.

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 3d ago

🧵1/4 August 6, 1983, 43 years ago today: It is 9:00 P.M. Crazy and I have our tents pitched next to a busy road known as the Old Orange Turnpike. #backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail

Beneath a soft blue evening sky we are walking a trail along a wooded ridge crest in the golden slanting rays and long shadows of the late day sun. The forest floor is carpeted with low leafy underbrush with patches of bright green moss.

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 3d ago

🧵1/8 August 6, 1983, 43 years ago today: They dropped me off at 4:00 this afternoon, at the point where I left the trail on Monday. While I was getting my gear ready to resume my hike, a thru-hiker came by. #backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 3d ago

Abandoned trap rock quarry, Giant's Head Sleeping Giant State Park, Hamden, Connecticut. October 17, 2025, 12:44 PM. #hiking #autumn #forest #mountains

A deep blue sky with thin streaks of cloud. A very steep, rocky and eroded trail climbing a narrow ridge alongside an old abandoned quarry. This ridge is one side of a semicircle of near vertical cliffs several hundred feet high rising from the base of the quarry. Gnarled pitch pine and red cedar trees and some shrubs cling to the cliffs, but the majority of their surfaces are bare reddish brown rock. The trees increase in number around the sides and top of the old quarry. The very top of the mountain is wooded. Hardwoods growing along the base of the mountain and mixed in with the evergreen forest above are turning bright orange and gold with the season.

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 4d ago

Misty orange sunset. Scoville Reservoir, Wolcott, Connecticut. July 8, 2020, 8:21 PM. #sunset #hiking #forest #lake

We are walking a dirt and gravel footpath. A wide swath of grass to the left of the path runs steeply downhill 15 feet or so and then levels off for a similar distance before meeting the edge of a forest. Another patch of forest is just to the right of the path. Straight ahead the path arcs gracefully to our left as it comes up beside the shore of a large lake. A thin mist rising from the lake is obscuring the wooded far lakeshore a bit. The sky is a pale blue gray with clouds tinted bright orange shades by the setting sun.

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 4d ago

🧵1/3 August 5, 1983, 43 years ago today: Took a few days off at home. From May 6, 1983: My camera received heavy use this morning, as I traversed another group of scenic ridges with equally picturesque names. #backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail

Beneath a hazy very soft blue sky we are looking out from high on a mountain. The leafless, budding branches of trees frame the top right and top left of the photo. We are looking out over treetops covered with the small, bright light green leaves of early spring. Beyond the lower slopes of our mountain we are looking across a mostly wooded lower country of smaller hills and long valleys with green fields and farm buildings. The trees and fields are cloaked in the deeper greens of a much more advanced spring season.

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 4d ago

Dormant marsh in winter sunshine, Marino Pond, Plymouth, Connecticut. January 10, 2018, 2:58 PM. #hiking #winter #marsh #snow

Late afternoon sunshine is bringing out the sparkle in a fresh dusting of snow and casting long shadows from the dormant golden brown grasses and twigs projecting above the snow (and the ice below it).

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 4d ago

🧵1/9 August 5, 1983, 43 years ago today: Took the last of several days off at home. From June 2, 1983: After lunch, I passed up a side trail to Roan’s famous wild rhododendron gardens. #backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail

Beneath a whitewashed late afternoon sky we are walking a long, rolling meadow along a ridge crest. A few leafless shrubs are scattered across the meadow. Ahead the crest rises to a rounded summit. There are thickets of mostly leafless shrubs and a few trees breaking up the grassland up there. Farther down the mountainside to our left a forest takes over. A more distant wooded mountain is visible to the left of the knob.

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 4d ago

Classic pastel summer sunset, Scoville Reservoir, Wolcott, Connecticut. June 28, 2020, 8:08 PM. #sunset #hiking #forest #lake

A soft blue gray evening sky with billowing white clouds. Standing near the shore of a lake looking out over a thicket of leafy shrubs. A weather-beaten tree with broken limbs slants into the frame from our right. The sun is just dipping below the forest on the far shore, tinting the sky long the horizon pale orange and gold. All this is mirrored on the very slightly rippled waters of the lake.

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 5d ago

🧵1/5 August 4, 1983, 43 years ago today: Took a few days off at home. From June 10, 1983, 43 years ago today: I was about a mile down the Wilburne Ridge Trail when I realized my exposed roll of film was still sitting on that outcrop in Rhododendron Gap. #backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail

A summery day beneath a clear but very hazy white sky. We are standing on a light gray rock outcrop above a overgrown field filled with thickets of leafy shrubs and scattered fir trees and rock outcrops. The field slopes up to a ridge crest. Its slopes are a patchwork of grass, shrub thickets, gray rock outcrops and groves of fir. There are many shades of green in this pic, most of them trending towards the lime and emerald shades of spring.

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 5d ago

🧵1/4 August 4, 1983, 43 years ago today: Took a few days off at home. From June 10, 1983: Mount Rogers' peak had no views, but I spent ten minutes savoring the sights and sweet aroma of a very New England-like woodland and feeling just a little bit homesick. #backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 5d ago

Forest crossroads, Sleeping Giant State Park, Hamden, Connecticut. July 27, 2026, 3:22 PM. #hiking #forest #trail

A sunny summer afternoon. Sunshine is filtering through the tall trees and there are glimpses of a soft blue sky through the canopy. Two dirt and gravel woods roads are converging at the base of a mountainside. We are standing at the crossroads looking back. The road to our left is coming down from a mountain, the one to our right follows flat ground. An older hiker walking with hiking poles sand wearing tee shirt and shorts is descending towards us along the high road.

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 6d ago

Streaks of gold and silver sunset, Scoville Reservoir, Wolcott, Connecticut. June 8, 2020, 7:56 PM. #sunset #hiking #forest #lake

Standing on the shore of a large lake. There are small leafy shrubs to our right and left, several partially submerged boulders just offshore. In a sky streaked with long hazy silver clouds, the sun is setting above the wooded far shore, looking like a large blob of golden fire and tinting the streaky clouds near and along the horizon gold and orange. All this is mirrored on the lightly rippled lake surface.

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 6d ago

🧵1/6 August 3, 1983, 43 years ago today: Took a few days off at home. From June 3, 1983: I sat on top of Hump Mountain for almost an hour, drinking in views. The climb down was long and very steep. #backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail

Looking up a mountain slope from the bottom of a grassy meadow filled with patches of yellow daffodils. To our right is a wire fence with rustic wooden posts that runs up the middle of that slope. Small patches of trees and shrubs grow along either side and hide much of the fenceline looking uphill. The very top of this slope is the wooded summit of a knob. Beyond that are the forested slopes of Hump Mountain rising above everything. Many of the trees on the top of the knob and the slopes of Hump Mountain are budding and everything is bright greens and yellows because it is still springtime at these elevations.

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 6d ago

🧵1/2 August 3, 1983, 43 years ago today: Took a few days off at home. From June 3, 1983: There were unbroken vistas from the trail all along the west slope of Little Hump Mountain to its summit. #backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail

Walking along a ridge crest descending a well-cleared trail through an overgrown meadow. There are young trees, tall lush green grass and leafy shrubs taller than a man. Some of the shrubs are sporting bright yellow blossoms. Ahead, the scrubby growth peters out as the trail crosses a grassy gap and ascends the grassy slopes of a lofty mountain with wooded flanks. The sky is a soft pale blue with hazy white clouds.

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 6d ago

One of my favorite places in autumn. Mill River, Sleeping Giant State Park, Hamden, Connecticut. October 25, 2023, 12:21 PM. #hiking #autumn #forest #river

Along the bank of a river to our right beneath a deep blue October sky. The midday sun is creating a dazzling reflection just ahead of us on the lightly rippled waters of this rather placid stretch of river. A forest surrounds the river on both sides, mostly hardwoods in bright autumn colors: yellow, golds, bright greens, oranges, reds. Many of the trees along the banks lean out over the river, seeking more sun.

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 7d ago

Mid-October along the Mill River, Sleeping Giant State Park, Hamden, Connecticut. October 16, 2024, 12:14 PM. #hiking #autumn #forest #river

Standing on a riverbank of jumbled gray boulders, a calm stretch of river slightly rippled by a gentle breeze. A nearby green shrub is beginning to show touches of yellow. Both sides of the river are wooded, a forest of predominantly hardwoods. Their leaves are a blaze of yellow, gold and orange. A deep blue cloudless sky and the golden forest are mirrored on the placid waters. Many of the trees are leaning out over the river in varying degrees to catch more sunlight, creating intricate crisscrossing patterns of reflections.

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 7d ago

🧵1/10 August 2, 1983, 43 years ago today: Took a few days off at home. From June 2, 1983: From the bottom of Hughes Gap, I began the fabled ascent of Roan Mountain. #backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail

Beneath a soft blue late afternoon sky we are at the edge of an open ridge crest. Looking over the top of a thicket of shrubs just starting to sprout leaves and down a wooded mountainside into a valley hundreds of feet below. A rural lane makes meandering loops around farm fields, forests and wooded hills. Terraced fields climb partway up a few of the slopes. A series of wooded ridges and narrow valleys cascade to the misty horizon.

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 7d ago

🧵1/3 August 2, 1983, 43 years ago today: Took a few days off at home. From June 2, 1983: After rolling along the ridge crest over Round Bald and Jane Bald, both of which topped out at just over 5800 feet, #AppalachianTrail #backpacking #hiking

Beneath a soft blue sky with puffy white clouds, we are standing high atop a grassy ridge crest with a few large gray boulders and clusters of bluets scattered across the meadow. At the edge of the plateau thickets of rhododendron spread down the mountainside. Above the rhododendron is a view of rugged green ridges cascading to the horizon.

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · last wk.

Sunset approaches across the river, Mill River, Sleeping Giant State Park, Hamden, Connecticut. October 10, 2025, 5:25 PM. #sunset #hiking #forest #river

A baby blue evening sky with billowing clouds. Standing in a thicket of small shrubs beside the rocky bank of a small river. An extremely overgrown meadow with dense thickets of shrubs and a few small trees extends beyond the opposite riverbank. Most of the shrubs are a riot of golds and oranges. At the far edge of the meadow six towering pines stand at the near edge of a mature mixed forest of pines and leafless hardwoods. A low wooded ridge rises along the horizon. The sinking sun has gone behind that ridge, tinting the clouds directly above it pale gold.

George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · last wk.

Soft pastel August sunset at Hidden Lake, Fall Mountain, Plymouth, Connecticut. August 1, 2020, 7:59 PM. #sunset #hiking #forest #lake

We are standing on a ridge looking down over the treetops at a small pond surrounded by forest below. The surface of the water is completely still and covered with scattered clusters of lily pads. It mirrors the evening sky: a soft blue gray with banks of darker gray clouds. The sun is just setting, tinting the western sky pale orange and bright gold.