@GSteffanos@mstdn.social
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GSteffanos

@GSteffanos@mstdn.social

Author of Then the Hail Came, a book about my 1983 Appalachian Trail thru-hike, available on Amazon in paperback and eBook. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QFG4ZR6
In addition to hiking and backpacking I love photography, although my only gear these past few years has been a Pixel phone. Love to check out all the mastodonian photographers with much more talent and better gear. It has been a real treat.

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GSteffanos, to hiking
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Vermilion and muted purple sunset, Scoville Reservoir, Wolcott, Connecticut. June 14, 2021, 8:22 PM.

#hiking #photography #outdoors #landscapephotography #hikingadventures #nature #Connecticut #summer #June #forest #sunset #sunsets #sunsetphotography #trails #lake #summertime

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๐Ÿงต 1/5
May 8, 1983, 41 years ago today: There is nothing like trying to pack up everything you own in a downpour. My sleeping bag was soaked, my tent was hopeless; everything was drenched. Adding insult to injury, the rain came to a dead stop about five minutes after I had finished packing.

GSteffanos,
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2/5
I am writing this entry at Addis Gap Shelter, seven-and-a-half miles further up the Appalachian Trail, where I have stopped for lunch. My backpack must be ten pounds heavier than yesterday just from all the water which has soaked into my belongings. My backpack must be ten pounds heavier than yesterday just from all the water which has soaked into my belongings. I feel a desperate need to keep driving myself now. My boots feel like sandpaper against that deep wound.

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The heart of winter at the reservoir. New Britain Reservoir, Southington, Connecticut. January 4, 2017, 4:45 PM.

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Daisies and cattails fiery sunset. Scoville Reservoir, Wolcott, Connecticut. July 4, 2021, 8:24 PM.

#hiking #photography #outdoors #landscapephotography #hikingadventures #nature #Connecticut #summer #July #forest #sunset #sunsets #sunsetphotography #flowers #wildflowers #lake #summertime

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Just past peak at the beaver pond. Marino Pond, Plymouth, Connecticut. October 26, 2019, 4:31 PM.

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๐Ÿงต 1/3
May 3, 1983, 41 years ago today: At a spot called Three Forks, four miles from Springer Mountain, the Appalachian Trail crossed a fire road beside the convergence of three streams which had become raging torrents. A blinding mass of rain was creating a surreal, semi-aquatic woodland.

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Autumn leaves floating down the Mill River. Sleeping Giant State Park, Hamden, Connecticut. November 4, 2022, 2:18 PM.

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๐Ÿงต 1/7
October 1, 1983: After crossing Pollywog Stream on a logging road bridge, the AT proceeded to Rainbow Stream, which it followed for a good distance upstream, passing a long series of cascades and small waterfalls in the boulder-strewn shallow waters.

#backpacking #hiking #outdoors #landscapephotography #maine #nature #forest #stream #adventure #trails #AppalachianTrail

GSteffanos,
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2/7
About two miles into this stretch I arrived at Rainbow Stream Lean-to, where I took my first real break of the day.

GSteffanos,
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3/7
I had eight miles under my belt and had climbed the second-to-the-last mountain on the Appalachian Trail. I kicked back for a half-hour.

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4/7
When I set out again, I crossed Rainbow Stream and followed the opposite bank past the three Rainbow Deadwaters. These were small pond-like stretches, along which the stream widened, and the current became very still.

GSteffanos,
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5/7
The scenic qualities of the lake country have been a pleasant surprise.

The shallow, rocky stream widened and deepened, becoming a placid channel wandering through an extensive freshwater marsh filled with water grasses teaming with birds and small creatures.

GSteffanos,
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6/7
Eventually, the Appalachian Trail came out on a grassy stretch of the southwest shore of Rainbow Lake. The haze of the morning had cleared, and across the lake there was an absolutely fantastic view of Katahdin's massive profile. The trail followed on or near the shore of the enormous lake for the next five miles.

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Time moves at a slower pace out in the forest. Marino Pond, Plymouth, Connecticut. September 11, 2020, 4:21 PM.

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Evening sunshower at Lost Ponds, Mattatuck State Forest, Plymouth, Connecticut. July 14, 2018, 6:56 PM.

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๐Ÿงต 1/11
September 28, 1983: At the bottom of the long descent from the Chairback range was the second-biggest water ford on the Appalachian Trail: the West Branch of the Pleasant River.

#backpacking #hiking #outdoors #landscapephotography #Maine #nature #forest #mountains #adventure #trails #AppalachianTrail

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Flowering shrub. Lost Ponds, Plymouth, Connecticut. Mattatuck State Forest. May 11, 2021, 7:33 PM

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๐Ÿงต 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 #maryland #nature #forest #mountains #adventure #trails #AppalachianTrail

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๐Ÿงต 1/3
August 31, 1983: The Appalachian Trail followed some dirt roads through a pleasant farm valley encircled by mountains and reentered the forest to begin a rather taxing climb up to Holts Ledge, the first real mountain it had thus far traversed in New Hampshire. It kept turning onto one woods road after another, and each was a bit steeper than the preceding one.

#backpacking #hiking #outdoors #landscapephotography #NewHampshire #nature #forest #mountains #adventure #trails #AppalachianTrail

GSteffanos,
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2/3
It passed just to the left of the wooded summit and began very gradually to descend along the ridgeline.

The sun broke out just as I was breaking out onto the open ledges. Suddenly, the sky was clearer than it had been in days. I sat down to drink in the sunshine and the views. I was so far ahead of schedule I was able to linger for about an hour.

GSteffanos, to random
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๐Ÿงต1/4

Then The Hail Came News

You can read or listen to my book for free if you are a Kindle Unlimited (eBook) or an Audible Plus (audiobook) subscriber. More about my audiobook just below. Both of these options are available from Amazon, where the paperback, eBook or audiobook can also be purchased.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QFG4ZR6

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View from the Giant's Right Leg, Sleeping Giant State Park, Hamden, Connecticut. April 15, 2024, 4:39 PM.

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Pale blue twilight sunset. New Britain Reservoir, Southington, Connecticut. July 18, 2018, 8:24 PM.

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๐Ÿงต 1/6
September 1, 1983: The trail down the far side of Smarts Mountain was in worse shape than the ascent had been, but what did that matter to a man surrounded by that kind of magnificence? The AT lunged downward across more of those dripping, mossy rocks.

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