George Steffanos
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George Steffanos
@gsteffanos.bsky.social
1K followers 990 following 7.9K posts
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
www.georgesteffanos.com
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George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · Aug 27
🧵1/3
View from Jug End, Taconic Mountains, Massachusetts. August 25, 2025.

A hard fall on the steep descent from Jug End and a deep bruise to my right shoulder. I'll be fine in about a week, but it did cut short my plans for a 6-week hike after one great week.

#hiking #outdoors #nature #mountains
We are on a mountain standing atop a rock outcrop of light gray rock marbled with darker gray. There is a pine tree to our right. Some hardwoods to our left are already showing signs of autumn, several have leaves of gold and orange. We are looking across a broad valley hundreds of feet below filled with the greens of late summer. Most of it is covered with deep green forests broken by emerald green pastures and farm fields. A small pond is not far away near the middle of our view. A line of blue green hills and mountains runs along the far horizon. A morning of clouds is just giving way to bright sunshine. The sky is a soft blue filled with lines of clouds.
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George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 3h
Marshy inlet stream, Herron Pond, White Memorial Foundation, Morris, Connecticut. October 26, 2023, 2:09 PM.

#hiking #autumn #forest #lake
A deep blue October sky with a few small clouds. Standing beside the marshy inlet stream of a small pond covered with dozens of lily pads. The pond is encircled by a forest of stately hemlocks and pines mixed with tall hardwoods with orange and gold foliage. The lily pads are turning yellow and gold, the water grasses of the little marsh are turning golden brown. The sun-dappled forest floor around us is covered with freshly fallen autumn leaves.
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George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 6h
I'm disappointed, but I learned a lot for the next hike. I have lots of great pics and some stories to share. This will put off my sequel AT hike until 2027, but there will be new hikes next year.
George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 6h
Note: I'm finally starting to work on my hiking blog for my aborted August hike. I'll have a link soon. A hard fall on the steep descent from Jug End did some damage to my right shoulder. I'll be fine eventually, but it did cut short my plans for a 6-week hike after 1 great week.
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George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 6h
🧵9/9
The Appalachian Trail will do tricks like that frequently in the days just ahead — more contortions to avoid the parkway. It should be interesting.

More of My 1983 Appalachian Trail Hike in Photos at www.georgesteffanos.com/places-i-ve-...
Places I've Been | Then The Hail Came George Steffanos
My 1983 Appalachian Trail Hike in Photos. There are around 750-800 photos here scanned from my 1983 slides. I believe this to be one of the oldest thru-hikes on the Internet to be documented in photo...
www.georgesteffanos.com
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George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 6h
🧵8/9
The trail was nicely cleared and well-tended, but steep in spots.

The ascent ended at the summit of Floyd Mountain, returning to the main crest. Since Bearwallow Gap, I had descended almost all the way to the floor of the adjacent James River valley and subsequently reclimbed the Blue Ridge.
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George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 6h
🧵7/9
I was understandably dehydrated.

The next four miles were all one long climb — a very discouraging prospect at the end of a long, hot day. Nevertheless, I made the best of it. I am becoming conditioned to making long climbs while drenched in my own sweat; I cannot remember my last dry one.
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George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 6h
🧵6/9
The trail quickly arrived at Fork Mountain’s summit and began to descend. At the bottom of that climb was an AT campsite which boasted the first good drinking water I had seen since leaving Bobbletts Gap this morning. Having stretched one quart for twelve steamy miles,
A pale blue evening sky. Looking up a small hillside covered with lush green grass and low leafy ground cover. At the top of the low hill is a plateau hosting a forest of mature hardwoods. The sun is rather low in the sky, shining towards us through the branches of that forest. It is creating a patchwork of golden sunshine and long shadows across the forest floor and through the forest canopy.
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George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 6h
🧵5/9
Alan, dizziness, and nausea were my companions on that climb. Finally, three of us had to sit down for fifteen minutes and tell Alan to go on ahead. He was also looking somewhat wobbly, but he did not wish to stop.

I felt much improved when I resumed hiking.
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George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 6h
🧵4/9
We took a long, laugh-filled break at that spot — too long, as it turned out.

I could barely get my engine restarted on the climb up Fork Mountain which followed. The thermometer was topping ninety again, for what feels like the zillionth consecutive day.
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George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 6h
🧵3/9
The valley and its surrounding ridges luxuriated in cool, lush forests of hemlock, pine, oak, hickory, and dogwood. Cheerful rapids churned the rocky creek bed above the bridge and a tranquil trout pool sheltered by an enormous, partially-submerged boulder and gravel banks lay downstream.
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George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 6h
🧵2/9
The bank of Jennings Creek was a nice temporary haven from the rigors of late-June backpacking. The AT had descended into a deep valley cradled among some outlying spurs of the Blue Ridge, coming out on a narrow road and following it over a concrete bridge across the stream.
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George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 6h
🧵1/9
June 26, 1983: By the time I finished nursing my shins down the long descent to Jennings Creek, Alan had been there for about an hour.

#backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail
Standing next to a body of water, in the shade of a large tree leaning out over the water, its leaves and branches taking up most of the image. Though the leaves we can see glimpses of a bright baby blue sky with puffy white clouds. Beneath them we see some shallows with lots of floating algae and lily pads. To the right along the shore are tall water grasses rustling in a soft breeze and then the start of the surrounding forest.
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George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 17h
Autumn reflections, Beaver Pond, White Memorial Foundation, Morris, Connecticut. October 26, 2023, 3:58 PM.

#hiking #autumn #forest #lake
A large gray rock outcrop covered with moss and lichen along the shore of a lake. Stately trees along the far shore are mirrored on the lake surface, along with a deep blue autumn sky with thin hazy streaks of cloud. Shrubs growing on and around the rock are sporting bright red and yellow leaves.
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George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 19h
Obviously I though you meant Washington State. Long story, but I don't have a car. So it might as well be for the foreseeable future.
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George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 19h
Autumn storm blowing in, Scoville Reservoir, Wolcott, Connecticut. October 13, 2020, 5:28 PM.

#hiking #autumn #forest #lake
A dark and brooding sky with low clouds and rain. The shore of a lake encircled by forest, much of which is sporting autumn reds, oranges and golds. Large raindrops are starting to create circular ripples as the beginning of a breeze ripples the lake.
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George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 23h
Sometimes I do go down the wrong path and can't find my way back.
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George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 23h
If it's a general color shift and not a localized stain, I know you can fix that in Photoshop or any decent photo editor. Sometimes takes a few tries, especially when you're just starting to digitalize your old photos. I always edit copies of the original scan.
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George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 23h
I wish I could get back to Washington. It's been a long time.
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George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 23h
"Devils Cornfield" just before sunset, Death Valley National Monument (now National Park), California, March 1984.

#hiking #mountains #desert
On flat ground covered with very light colored sand and small rocks dozens of stalky squat shrubs with small green leaves are growing. A line of lofty rocky mountains line the far end of the plain. The sky is a deep desert blue. The sun is low on the horizon offscreen to our left, casting long shadows across the plain and the mountains.
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George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 1d
You can read or listen to my book for free if you are a Kindle Unlimited eBook or an Audible Plus audiobook subscriber. Both options are available from Amazon, where the paperback, eBook or audiobook can also be purchased.
George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 1d
🧵7/7
They rose from out of the fog like a cluster of arthritic limbs.

From my book Then the Hail Came (A Humorous and Truthful Account of a 1983 Appalachian Trail Thru-hike). Available in paperback, audiobook and eBook: www.amazon.com/dp/B09QFG4ZR6
Then the Hail Came: A Humorous and Truthful Account of a 1983 Appalachian Trail Thru-hike
Then the Hail Came: A Humorous and Truthful Account of a 1983 Appalachian Trail Thru-hike
www.amazon.com
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George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 1d
🧵6/7
Towards the end, I came across a grove of strange, misshapen trees whose structures were contorted into all kinds of crazy angles.
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George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 1d
🧵5/7
It was an immense grassland sprinkled with sparse, scrubby bushes. The wind was whipping shreds of cloud across the desolate landscape. I felt as if I were on a Scottish moor as I strolled over the summit and started down the other side. There must have been about a mile or so of open fields.
We are walking across a meadow in a dense fog. We cannot see very far in front of us. There are several types of grass and occasional leafy shoots.
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George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 1d
🧵4/7
Nearing the summit, I finally broke out into better weather. The sky brightened and I was approaching the top of the cloud. Were that cloud a little lower or that mountaintop a bit higher, I would have enjoyed some nice views. Walking across the open summit was still an experience.
We are walking a trail out of a forest onto a large meadow atop a mountain. The meadow slants upward to an unseen summit. There is a dense fog, visibility is only around 50 feet (about 15 meters). The small trees to our right and left at the edge of the meadow are sprouting small, bright green spring leaves. The meadow is covered in lush green grass several inches in height. The grass is sprinkled with bright yellow wildflowers.
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George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 1d
🧵3/7
Beneath the fog, the forest floor was sporting a massive bloom of white wildflowers that often became virtually a white carpet. The grades were excellent — a rare treat recently — and I made good time.
We are walking a trail through a forest climbing a mountain on an easy grade. There is a dense fog, visibility is only around 50 feet (about 15 meters). At this elevation trees and shrubs are sprouting the small emerald leaves of early spring. Hundreds of white wildflowers carpet the forest floor on either side of the footpath.
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