George Steffanos
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George Steffanos
@gsteffanos.bsky.social
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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
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Minimalism. Two small leafy water plants peek above the lake surface casting abstract reflections across the ripples. New Britain Reservoir, Southington, Connecticut. July 1, 2018, 8:30 PM.

#hiking #lake
The rippled surface of a lake tinted pale gold by the post sunset sky. Two small leafy water plants peek above the lake surface casting abstract reflections across the ripples.
December 15, 2025 at 4:45 PM
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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. I had a 180-degree view of miles of lowland lake country to the south and mountains to the east and north.
We are on a steep grassy stretch of a mountainside covered with grass, yellow and white wildflowers, and a few large gray rock outcrops. Above the green wooded shoulder of a mountain, we see several lofty mountains cascading into the distance. The sky is clear and bright, but whitewashed and hazy.
December 15, 2025 at 2:18 PM
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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.

#backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail
We are on a steep grassy stretch of a mountainside covered with grass, yellow and white wildflowers, and a few large gray rock outcrops. Above the green wooded shoulder of a mountain, we see several lofty mountains cascading into the distance. The sky is clear and bright, but whitewashed and hazy.
December 15, 2025 at 2:18 PM
First blush of spring sunset, Lost Ponds, Mattatuck State Forest, Plymouth, Connecticut. April 20, 2021, 7:11 PM.

#sunset #hiking #lake #wildflowers
Standing on a gray rock outcrop on the shore of a pond. A small shrub covered with bright red buds is growing through a crevice just in front of us. The sky is filled with dark gray clouds, with a small break along the horizon across the pond. The sun is peeking through this break as it sets over a low ridge on the wooded far shore, tinting the sky around it bright yellow, mirrored on the pond below.
December 15, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Spring runoff, Buttermilk Falls, Plymouth, Connecticut. April 8, 2019, 5:13 PM.

#hiking #forest #waterfall #stream
A gray spring evening with wisps of fog as the air warms the cooler ground. In a lush hemlock forest a stream swollen by spring rains cascades over near vertical rocks for about 50 or 60 feet into a pool formed n a bowl shaped depression at their base. The dark gray rocks are covered with patches of lighter gray lichen and green moss.
December 14, 2025 at 4:46 PM
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June 8, 1983: The Appalachian Trail joined an old railroad grade known as the Virginia Creeper and followed Whitetop Laurel Creek through the mountains.

#backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail
We are walking a wide path of gravel and dirt - an old railroad grade - in a densely wooded ravine through the mountains. A patch of yellow wildflowers is growing next to a gravel and rock covered embankment on our left. In front of us a wooden footbridge crosses the wide creek that has formed the ravine. Beyond that, the far wall of the ravine rises steeply. It is a very humid day, a mountainside glimpsed in the background is ghostly in the haze.
December 14, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Very big rock and dead stump. Mad River ravine, Wolcott, Connecticut. August 2, 2020, 7:15 PM.

#hiking #forest
We are standing on the floor of a hemlock forest. It has been raining, everything is damp. The ground is coated with hemlock needles, there are a few mossy rocks poking out. Little else is growing here beneath the shade of the hemlocks, just a very few tiny green leafy shoots. In the foreground a fallen tree is rotting away and falling apart into wood slivers. About 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.5 meters) away a younger forest begins with a mix of smaller hemlocks and hardwoods and more underbrush. A giant, irregularly-shaped dark gray boulder sits alone at the edge of that forest, next to a boulder that appears to be a smaller piece of that giant rock.
December 13, 2025 at 4:43 PM
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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.
A soft blue hazy summertime sky. We are standing atop a jagged, irregularly-shaped very light gray rock outcrop atop a mountain. A thicket 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. On the far horizon is a misty farming valley with another ridge rising behind it.
December 13, 2025 at 3:22 PM
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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.
A soft blue hazy summertime sky. 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. On the far horizon is a misty farming valley with another ridge rising behind it.
December 13, 2025 at 3:22 PM
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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.
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.
December 13, 2025 at 3:22 PM
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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.
We are standing on a light gray granite outcrop, a few feet of which is visible bottom left 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 is barely visible along the horizon, far in the distance.
December 13, 2025 at 3:22 PM
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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 #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.
December 13, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Pink azalea sunset, Scoville Reservoir, Wolcott, Connecticut. May 17, 2021, 8:12 PM.

#sunset #hiking #lake #wildflowers
In a forest we are looking at a close-up of two branches of a shrub with clusters of pink blossoms with long, pointed petals and long stamens projecting from their centers. In the out-of-focus background through the trees we can see a lake. The sun has set behind the wooded far shore tinting the horizon orange. The remainder of the sky is a soft gray blue with a few clouds.
December 12, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Bridge over autumn waters, Scoville Reservoir, Wolcott, Connecticut. October 19, 2019, 8:50 AM.

#hiking #autumn #forest #lake
A beautiful morning with a deep blue October sky mirrored on the waters below. We are following a dirt and gravel footpath to a wooden footbridge across the mouth of a small cove on a large lake. A cluster of aquatic plants along both sides of the bridge have turned bright oranges and golds, as have most of the trees surrounding the lake. A grove of stately pines just across the bridge add deep green tones.
December 12, 2025 at 4:45 PM
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Decades later, you could still see traces on the grassy summit of the old fire tower that was removed in the 1950s. There was a dense mass of rhododendron starting to grow up around the lower edges of the views, with a number of treetops along the slopes inching higher,
Beneath a hazy soft blue sky with a few clouds, we are high atop the summit of a mountain. There was a fire tower up here years ago. Little remains but some hard packed ground and two small metal poles poking out of the ground. This bare dirt is surrounded by lush grass. The bright green leafy tops of rhododendron shrubs and the top branches of leafless trees growing from the wooded mountainsides surround the edges of this field. 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.
December 12, 2025 at 1:01 PM
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More than 5500 feet in height, Standing Indian is by far the highest summit yet for a northbound Appalachian Trail hiker. There would be no higher summits ahead until the Great Smoky Mountains.
In a brightly sunlit patch of forest floor, a large patch of tiny blue blossoms with bright yellow centers and bright green stalks and leaves is growing among the fallen branches and leaves.
December 12, 2025 at 1:01 PM
🧵1/5
May 10, 1983: The trail up to the top of Standing Indian was so well graded I was able to cover the entire two-mile climb in less than an hour, without stopping for breaks.

#AppalachianTrail #hiking #backpacking
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. The valley beyond them is barely visible through the haze.
December 12, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Leafless November deep blue twilight sunset, Hidden Lake, Fall Mountain, Plymouth, Connecticut. November 7, 2020, 4:55 PM.

#sunset #hiking #lake
A late post sunset shot looking down from a ridge crest. The low hills and forest surrounding a small lake below are almost completely silhouetted. The calm lake surface mirrors the shy above it, in which streaky clouds are being tinted pink, orange and gold shades by the recently set sun. The clouds' shadows are a deep purple. Above it all, a deep blue twilight descends upon the scene.
December 12, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Perfect summer evening at the lake. The ground hugging green plants that, when seen from a distance, slightly resemble grass are throwing out thousands of tiny yellow flowers. New Britain Reservoir, Southington, Connecticut. August 3, 2020, 6:52 PM.

#hiking #sunset #lake
Summer evening beside a large lake. A blue sky, still visible on the right side, is becoming filled with streaky white high clouds with some small dark and dramatic clouds below. The unseen sun is getting low in the sky, adding a golden color to the streaky clouds along the horizon. Below that, a low wooded ridge rises above the far shore of the lake. The near shore of the lake and a very low, narrow peninsula about 100 feet out create a small cove in front of us. There are a few small ripples on the surface of the lake, which reflects the sky and far shore. Both lake shores and the peninsula are covered with a carpet of ground hugging plants with very small green leaves that resembles grass from a distance once you are far away enough to not be able to pick out the leaves. Thousands of tiny yellow flowers are sprouting from that ground cover. A few gray boulders and small flowering shrubs also poke through in spots.
December 11, 2025 at 4:41 PM
🧵10/10
As I stood there on the summit, I noticed high clouds were moving in fast from the west.

More of My 1983 Appalachian Trail Hike in Photos at www.georgesteffanos.com/places-i-ve-...
Beneath a bright sunny sky, hazy white along the horizons, which are all that is visible of the sky in this photo. We are standing atop a lofty mountain looking down a long slope covered with gray granite rock and occasional low green and golden brown ground cover. There is a sprawling valley far below, mostly wooded, with several visible roads. A few large green fields break up the forests, mostly on or near the roads. We can also see one large building and a scattering of houses. A line of wooded hills runs down the middle of the valley, which soon disappears into the haze along the horizon.
December 11, 2025 at 3:34 PM
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Looking north, the slopes drop precipitously away on all three sides, providing unsurpassed vistas of the Androscoggin River valley and the Wildcat-Carter and Mahoosuc ranges.
Beneath a bright sunny sky, hazy white along the horizons, which are all that is visible of the sky in this photo. We are standing atop a lofty mountain looking down a long slope covered with alpine vegetation and many gray granite boulders and outcrops. The slope is covered with low green ground cover, a golden brown plant resembling grass and very low stunted spruce and fir shrubs. There is a valley far below, mostly wooded, with several visible roads. A few green fields break up the forests, mostly on or near the roads. We can also see one large building and a scattering of houses. Beyond the valley, green mountain ranges cascade off into the distance.
December 11, 2025 at 3:34 PM
🧵8/10
In this col, the Gulfside Trail, which the AT had been following, ended, and the AT followed the Osgood Trail up Mount Madison. At the summit of Madison, the ridge crest of the Presidential Range abruptly comes to an end. Southward are great views of Mounts Washington, Clay, and Adams.
Beneath a bright sunny sky, hazy white along the horizons, which are all that is visible of the sky in this photo. We are standing atop a lofty mountain looking down a long slope covered with alpine vegetation and several gray granite outcrops, particularly far below us just before the slope disappears from our view. That bottom portion of the slope is covered with low green ground cover, most of the rest of the slope is cloaked by scrub spruce and fir. Beyond the wooded foothills is a mostly wooded valley with a two-lane rural road running through it. A few green fields along the road break up the forests. We can also see a scattering of buildings around one field. Beyond the valley, green mountain ranges cascade off into the distance.
December 11, 2025 at 3:34 PM
🧵6/10
and All I Got Was This Lousy Minor Summit on My Dad’s Mountain.” Soon, the Airline crossed the Appalachian Trail, and I turned back onto it. Looking back from this point at the impressive sweep of virtually barren rock between Adams and Quincy Adams, you could see why the AT bypassed it.
Beneath a bright sunny sky, soft blue streaked with hazy white clouds. We are walking a rocky footpath across a gentle slope covered with stunted and weather-beaten dwarf spruce and fir, and clusters of light gray granite boulders streaked with lichen. We are looking back at the trail we have just covered, with the minor summit of Mount Quincy Adams to our left and the main summit of Mount Adams to our right. Both peaks and most of the visible portion of Adams are naked gray granite, with a few teal streaks of alpine vegetation. Farther down the mountain naked rock and alpine vegetation give way to forested slopes.
December 11, 2025 at 3:34 PM
🧵5/10
From Adams’ summit a trail called the Airline followed the long, barren ridgeline of Adams back down past the rocky knob called Mount Quincy Adams, passing a little to its west. Somewhere John Quincy Adams is wearing a tee shirt that reads, “I Was the Sixth President of the United States
Beneath a soft blue partly cloudy sky, we are standing on a high ridge crest covered with a golden brown alpine plant that resembles grass and scattered boulders of light gray granite. Beyond this is a slope covered with stunted spruce and fir, more boulders and several rock outcrops. Beyond this slope is the massive northern profile of Mount Adams, the majority of which is bare rock with some green far down its flank. The northern minor summit of Adams, Mount Quincy Adams, is closest to us on our left. From Quincy Adams the crest descends slightly and then climbs the lofty main summit, right center in our pic. A massive shoulder of Adams runs down to our right. A few other ranges are visible beyond it on our right.
December 11, 2025 at 3:34 PM
🧵4/10
clung to a few partially sheltered spots in and near the pass. The rest of the trail was across bare rock with patches of gold, grass-like plants about the height of a suburban lawn. I hung out for a while before descending into the col between Adams and Madison.
Beneath a soft blue partly cloudy sky, we are standing on a high ridge crest covered with a golden brown alpine plant that resembles grass and scattered boulders of light gray granite. The very top of a stunted spruce and fir forest is visible ahead. Two massive shoulders of lofty alpine mountains are ahead to our left. beyond that rugged wooded mountain ranges cascade to the horizon.
December 11, 2025 at 3:34 PM