Travel

A bright December weekend calls for a quick hike with the brothers! Here for the third time this year, and it still mesmerizes me!

I’ve had my eyes on the Billy goat trail for a while now. With a beautiful foggy forecast, this Sunday was a great day to head to the woods. We reached the Chesapeake and Ohio National Historic park in about an hour’s time, only to realise that the Billy Goat section A and B trails were closed due to flooding! Having come this far, we decided to explore rest of the park. The short hike to Great Falls via the locks was insanely beautiful! So glad we decided to head this way! ...

A short morning hike to the Liberty Dam near home. Scouted a shorter trail but ended up hiking on a proper road up to the Dam. 3.6 miles round trip and a quick scrambling attempt on a rock face with N at the end. Got back here via the trail the subsequent weekend. The trail was pretty picturesque. Winding by the North Patapsco river and eventually terminating at a beautiful vantage point right near the foot of the dam, this dirt trail made it totally worth coming back here again. A branch off this trail also seemed to lead back to the parking lot at the top. Will likely get back here while putting in some mileage for trail runs. ...

Photo taken at: Cadillac Mountain, Acadia National Park Last November we drove to Acadia and had a terrific experience there with the Labrador cold front.Being off-season, there was sparsely any crowd and we had most of the park just for ourselves. Those three days were the most relaxed days we spent together in a while. Earlier this month, we revisited Acadia, this time with family. The park was very crowded and we had to rise up pretty early to have access to some quiet zones. Nevertheless, it was a just great being back there. Drove around the park loop, hiked up the bubbles, and visited Schoodic peninsula and Bar Island. Stayed at an RV camp park in Ellsworth. ...

Photo taken at: Mount Moosilauke First backpacking trip in recent years. Had a 27 pound backpack on and felt every ounce of it on my spine as we hiked up Moosilauke on Day 1. With a thunder shower forecast for the weekend, we had one person drop out from the team just the night before the trip. After the initial meet at the Appalachian Trailhead on NH-25A, eight of us packed in two cars head towards the Beaver Brook Trailhead at Kinsman Notch on NH 112. Started the hike at around 09:30hrs up the Beaver Brook trail. ...

Photo taken at: Mount Garfield First hike with the AMC. Four hours climb up to the summit with icy conditions in the last 1000ft. Microspikes saved the day! Under tree line pretty much all the way till the end. The peak does open up to a 360 degree view. Could spot quite a few other 4000 footers from the top. Franconia Ridge looked pretty tiny from here! A quick 2.5 hour hike got us back to the trailhead. Good pace, good work-out and first ’technical’ winter/early spring hike! ...

As we enter Lugazi on route A109 towards Jinja, Google Maps suggests we take an unpaved dirt road on the left. The red slushy path meanders through small shops and houses and an eerie sense of awareness creeps in as villagers notice the Toyota Rav4 rolling into their ‘area’. I read last night that the 10km stretch to the Griffin falls camp area would be dirt roads winding through sugar-cane plantations. Last night’s rain and the incessant drizzle seem to have worsened the roads. Thankfully, the Rav4 handled the conditions insanely well. ...

Over the last 12 or so years that I’ve been hiking now, I’ve learnt a ton from my goof-ups. I believe in taking calculated risks and am reasonably okay with ‘winging’ a hike as long as I have the right gear and know what the game-plan is. Still, every hike that I’ve been on and the deeper I’ve been into the wilderness, I’ve always pondered what would happen if either me or someone in the group needed medical attention. ...

Decided to come over to Florida for the long weekend. On of those slightly impromptu plans. This visit was long overdue. Been here at Aparna’s place a few time before over the last five years. But then it’s mostly been for a celebration or event, when the family is already pre-occupied with arrangements and everything that comes with having people over. This trip was just to spend some time with them when everyone has some ‘down-time’. It’s already been three days’ in and we’d have to head back tomorrow. At times you just wished you lived closer and/or together. ...

Having heard about it way back in 2015 during a serendipitous visit to the campus, we were pretty excited to be here. With autumn just kicking in and absolutely no traffic, the drive up north from Boston should have been a cue to what the night had in store for us. As dusk set in and the temperatures dropped, the lamps already laid out on the Dartmouth Greens were lit. The National Anthem from the bell tower was a pleasant surprise. Darkness, fire, light and celebrations. Today was just so magical! ...