Remember the picture of the hiking route that consisted of planks bolted into a Chinese cliffside with chains for hand holds? Well, an industrious Web surfer tracked down a bunch more pictures and a written account by an American, who…
24 search results for "harrowing"
Hiking
Another harrowing Colorado fourteener tale
by tom • December 20, 2007 • 1 Comment
Two brothers’ luck almost ran out on Mount of the Holy Cross. This happened back in October. They got separated on the way back down from the summit; one of the brothers spent a scary night on the hill but…
Blogs
Trail magic: why complete strangers do such nice things for thru-hikers
by tom • September 21, 2011 • 4 Comments
Magic is the impossible come to life. Thru-hikers along the Appalachian and Pacific Crest trails find it all the time: coolers of Cokes, boxes of Snickers, spare socks in an ammo tin. Right on the trail, hundreds of miles from…
@FrontPageSlider, Appalachian Trail, Featured
Blood Mountain loop and Neels Gap on the Appalachian Trail
by tom • June 24, 2011 • 5 Comments
I combined an excellent Appalachian Trail loop with a pilgrimage to the famed Neels Gap/Mountain Crossings store and hostel last weekend. If you’ve ever gotten a Trail Journals jones, you’ve heard of Mountain Crossings: it’s where the outfitter’s staff patiently…
Appalachian Trail, Featured
Max Patch to Roaring Fork, Appalachian Trail
by tom • June 12, 2011 • 9 Comments
Max Patch is all about the timing. The grassy mountaintop near the North Carolina-Tennessee border is sublime on a clear morning from mid-May to mid-June, when rhododendrons and flame azaleas light up the nearby trails. The rest of the time,…
Hiking, Latest Posts
Thoughts on when the weather goes bad
by tom • April 28, 2011 • 3 Comments
A few Appalachian Trail thru-hikers had a noisy night on the trail amid the killer storms that devastated broad swaths of Alabama and Georgia on Wednesday. It reminded me of some of the harrowing tales of beastly weather I’ve heard…
Sauratown Trail
Sauratown Trail, Sections 12-13
by tom • February 6, 2010 • 0 Comments
Nobody asked me to document the Sauratown Trail, and I’m sure the last stragglers among my Bay Area readers wish I would move on to sexier terrain, but I feel like this stretch of dirt deserves bloggage. The trail itself…
Linville Gorge Wilderness
First hike at Linville Gorge Wilderness
by tom • November 8, 2009 • 8 Comments
Linville Gorge Wilderness is high on all the must-hike lists for the southern Appalachians. The terrain is so ragged and remote that there was never much prospect of cutting down the trees and putting up swanky resorts. It’s all protected…
Tom's travels
Lookin’ for the good stuff here?
by tom • July 11, 2009 • 1 Comment
Just check out all the posts in which I used the adjective “harrowing” (Count ’em: 17 posts!) According to the Free Dictionary, it looks like I was misusing it most of the time. (My definition: “some scary s**t”) .