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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George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 4d
November 8, 2025: This is an update and correction to my August post on the status of my planned long distance hikes.

On August 18 my friend Dave and I headed north along the Appalachian Trail from Falls Village, Connecticut towards Massachusetts.

#hiking #forest #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.
The Mill River in November, Sleeping Giant State Park, Hamden, CT. November 4, 2022, 2:22 PM.

#hiking #autumn #river
We are looking down the center of a river. The ground is relatively flat here, the slow current creates gentle ripples making interesting patterns in the reflections of trees along the riverbanks. The forest on both sides is past peak autumn colors, lots of golden brown and burnt orange. Many fallen leaves are covering the forest floor and floating down the river. The bright sun and blue sky are not visible other than what is mirrored on the river's surface.
November 14, 2025 at 12:43 AM
Old woods road in autumn. Sleeping Giant State Park, Hamden, Connecticut. October 27, 2022, 3:26 PM.

#hiking #autumn #forest
The sky is clear, cloudless and deep blue. Offscreen right, the sun is low in the sky, casting long shadows to our left. The afternoon sunlight is slightly tinted gold (it is not quite golden hour, but getting there). We are walking down a wide old woods road, long ago abandoned to any use other than foot travel. The old road and the forest floor surrounding it are carpeted with freshly fallen brightly colored leaves. There is a shrub with bright red leaves in the lower left. Much of the underbrush has lost its leaves, most of what's left is bright golds and oranges. The trees are at peak autumn color, bright greens, oranges and golds.
November 13, 2025 at 4:54 PM
🧵1/3
July 7, 1983: A ledge just above the AT along the ascent had a 180-degree view stretching from southwest to northwest.

#backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail
Standing atop a high rocky cliff, looking out between 2 shrubs at a scene of almost unbroken forest. There is a valley below us and a rounded ridge dominates the midground. On the side facing us, a small break in the trees allows a glimpse of Skyline Drive, the 2-lane park road. Beyond this ridge rises a loftier and more rugged section of the Blue Ridge in the distance. There are several glimpses of the drive winding around or over this crest. Lower ridges fade into the haze along the horizon.
November 13, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Soft pastel August sunset at Hidden Lake, Fall Mountain, Plymouth, Connecticut. August 1, 2020, 7:59 PM.

#sunset #hiking #lake
We are standing on a ridge looking down over the treetops at a small pond surrounded by forest below. The surface of the water is completely still and covered with scattered clusters of lily pads. It mirrors the evening sky: a soft blue gray with banks of darker gray clouds. The sun is just setting, tinting the western sky pale orange and bright gold.
November 12, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Vast pink cloud sunset, Scoville Reservoir, Wolcott, Connecticut. September 26, 2019, 7:07 PM.

#sunset #hiking #lake
Looking across a large lake in the twilight after sunset. The sky is a dark royal blue. Just along the horizon, tinges of gold linger from the sunset. A sprawling pink and gray cloud covers much of the sky above. Large clusters of lily pads cover the very still lake surface. A forest encircles the lake, its trees silhouetted in the gloom.
November 12, 2025 at 6:48 PM
🧵1/7
May 13, 1983: Heading north from Springer Mountain, the tiny unincorporated community of Wesser, North Carolina is the first trail town through which the Appalachian Trail physically passes.

#backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail
A bright sunny day on a slope just above the bank of a river which is creating a series of whitewater rapids. There are some trees to our left. A rustic wooden building on the far bank has a big hand-painted sign that reads "Nantahala Outdoor Center Outfitters Restaurant". Some steps lead down from this building to the river. A narrow two-lane road is glimpsed just past the outfitters building. Beyond that a densely-forested slope climbs steeply up a mountainside.
November 12, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Northern forest, Northville-Placid Trail, Adirondack Preserve, New York. September 11, 2024, 11:28 AM.

#hiking #forest #autumn
A cloudless soft blue sky, a sun-dappled woodland of mature spruce, fir and northern hardwoods. The mossy forest floor features several moss-covered boulders and patches of bright green ferns and low leafy ground cover. A great deal of fallen twigs and small branches seem to indicate recent storms. A muddy trail runs through the trees, one of which sports a circular blue trail marker.
November 12, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Giant meadow, Northville-Placid Trail, Blue Mountain Wild Forest, Adirondack Preserve, New York. September 11, 2024, 1:05 PM.

#hiking #forest #meadow #autumn
Looking across a vast meadow of waist-high golden-brown grass with occasional strands of green grass and a few leafy green plants. A nearby single spruce tree frames the scene to our left. Far across the meadow is a forest of mostly spruce and fir with some northern hardwoods starting to turn fall colors. This forest continues up the flank and along the gently undulating crest of a long relatively low mountain running along the horizon. A cloudless deep blue sky.
November 11, 2025 at 4:36 PM
🧵1/6
September 3, 1983: The spruce gradually diminished in height as I ascended the narrow ridge crest.

#backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail
Beneath a hazy, whitewashed sky we are standing atop a rocky mountaintop looking down an alpine slope. A stone foundation, the only remains of a small, rustic summit hotel, is visible not far down the slope. That slope is strewn with gray boulders and covered with a golden-brown plant resembling grass and a miniature forest of stunted spruce and fir shrubs. As the slope descends they slowly increase in size until they are forests of full-sized trees covering the mountainsides and most of the valley below. The valley also had a few large green fields. Across the valley, parallel mountain ranges cascade towards the horizon, gradually fading into the haze.
November 11, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Bee magnet. Joe Pye weed in an overgrown meadow, Woodtick Trail, Wolcott, Connecticut. August 8, 2020, 5:39 PM.

#hiking #flowers #wildflowers #meadow #bees
In a lush green wetland in a forest, several plants with clusters of elongated pinkish violet flowers with white projections are growing. The plant in the foreground is covered with honey bees, three in front atop blossom clusters and one a bit below and to our left. This last bee is mostly hidden by the plants leaves, but its head and part of its body is visible.
November 11, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Rainy day asters, Scoville Reservoir, Wolcott, Connecticut. September 29, 2020, 5:17 PM.

#hiking #flowers #wildflowers #rain #autumn
A closeup of a dozen purple flowers with yellow and brown centers growing over the top of a wooden board fence. They have pointy waxy green leaves. It is raining today. Large droplets are beading on the flowers and the leaves.
November 10, 2025 at 6:26 PM
🧵1/4
August 16, 1983: The Appalachian Trail followed dirt roads for most of the ensuing five miles to US 7; the final mile or so was on a paved road.

#hiking #backpacking #AppalachianTrail
Beneath a cloudless deep blue sky a very light beige dirt road passes between two farm fields of tall grass. There are many white flowers growing among the grass just at each side of the road. A corner of a cornfield is just visible far to our left. The fields end at the edge of a forest ahead. Beyond that forest rises a chain of wooded mountains.
November 10, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Pink swirl sunset. Scoville Reservoir, Wolcott, Connecticut. June 15, 2020, 8:45 PM.

#sunset #hiking #lake
We are standing on the shore of a large lake. Below us are tufts of water grasses growing just offshore, a partially submerged rock and a partially submerged tree limb. To our left is a large leafy shrub. It is a calm evening, the lake surface is just slightly rippled. Across the lake is a low wooded ridge topped by a water tower. Beyond that a glimpse of a slightly higher ridge. Most of the sky is a deep blue. The recently set sun tints the horizon gold. Upper level winds have created a gentle swirl effect in some passing clouds. From below the horizon the sun's rays are tinting the bottoms of the clouds bright pink and deep purple.
November 10, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Hazy gold and orange sunset at Lost Ponds, Mattatuck State Forest, Plymouth, Connecticut. August 26, 2019, 7:04 PM.

#sunset #hiking #lake
Standing beside a pond, in front of an opening in the lush forest that encircles it. A crevassed gray rock below has a few leafy shrubs growing through its cracks. The sun is about to set behind a low ridge running along the far shore, casting a bright yellow glow in the sky above, tinting the hazy swirl of clouds around it gold and orange tones. This is mirrored on the very lightly rippled waters below.
November 9, 2025 at 4:49 PM
🧵1/6
June 2, 1983: Beyond Carvers Gap, the trees rapidly began to thin out along the ridge crest. Near the top of Round Bald stood a small cluster of red pines.

#backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail
Standing atop a large gray rock outcrop with patches of lush green grass and clusters of small bright blue flowers growing out of it in patches. We are hundreds of feet above the countryside below, a region of green mountain chains that are very rugged looking though lower in height than the mountain we are on. Narrow valleys cut through the mountains. A few glimpses of narrow roads and a handful of houses are seen in the valleys. A very few green pastures and a single terraced farm field running up a mountainside are the only visible breaks in the otherwise heavily forested countryside below.
November 9, 2025 at 2:48 PM
November 8, 2025: This is an update and correction to my August post on the status of my planned long distance hikes.

On August 18 my friend Dave and I headed north along the Appalachian Trail from Falls Village, Connecticut towards Massachusetts.

#hiking #forest #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.
November 9, 2025 at 4:19 AM
Rainy day hike past the ruins of old mill from the 1800s, Mad River ravine, Wolcott, Connecticut. November 19, 2019, 4:02 PM.

#hiking #forest #stream
A wide stream runs through a narrow wooded ravine past the remnants of an old stone mill. Most of the trees are hemlocks and pines, with a few leafless hardwoods. The forest floor is very rocky and carpeted with fallen leaves and tree limbs, moss, ferns and small leafy shrubs. The stream is running high and fast, runoff from a storm that is just winding down to light drizzle.A wide stream runs through a narrow wooded ravine past the remnants of an old stone mill. Most of the trees are hemlocks and pines, with a few leafless hardwoods. The forest floor is very rocky and carpeted with fallen leaves and tree limbs, moss, ferns and small leafy shrubs. The stream is running high and fast, runoff from a storm that is just winding down to light drizzle.
November 8, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Reposted by George Steffanos
jwolfiedog.bsky.social
Moon and pine.

#BlueSkyArtShow #Evening #MobilePhotography
November 8, 2025 at 6:17 AM
Reposted by George Steffanos
jwolfiedog.bsky.social
Moonlight clouds.

#BlueSkyArtShow #Evening #MobilePhotography
November 8, 2025 at 5:50 AM
🧵1/7
July 6, 1983: About a mile later, after a climb, the trail skirted around an enormous mass of ancient, exposed rock sitting atop the wooded crest. A short spur trail led to the base of the outcrop. Marys Rock towered high above the deep Blue Ridge pass

#backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail
Standing high atop the Blue Ridge, looking down thousands of feet below to a deep gap in the ridge where a two-lane highway crosses the crest and crosses under Skyline Drive. There are ramps and park entrance stations where drivers on the highway can enter the park and get on Skyline Drive heading north or south. The only other building in sight is a large restaurant on the highway just past the junction. Past the gap, the main crest of the Blue Ridge gently ascends to our right and a pair of lofty outlying ridges span the horizon. Beyond them, sky and earth dissolve together in one bright gray hazy void.
November 8, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Which way is up? Autumn forest mirrored by the completely still waters of a narrow arm of the lake, New Britain Reservoir, Wolcott, Connecticut. October 14, 2019, 5:06 PM.

#hiking #autumn #forest #lake
Between grassy banks freckled with white wildflowers and strewn with scattered gray rocks and boulders, a narrow arm of the lake is unrippled by the slightest breeze. The dead calm surface mirrors the flaming gold, yellow and orange foliage of a forest just out of frame across the water.
November 7, 2025 at 4:47 PM
🧵1/6
May 11, 1983: When I reached Winding Stair Gap, I found a parking area by the side of the new US Highway 64, a main thoroughfare in these parts.

#backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail
A sunny early morning with long shadows and a lot of early haze to burn off. We are standing atop a mountain looking towards other mountains cascading towards the misty horizon. There is a thicket of rhododendron below right, almost the only green in this photo at this very early stage of spring up here. Some leaves are starting to sprout on a ridge below left and several trees just below us are sporting bright pink or white buds.
November 7, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Autumn sunset at New Britain Reservoir, Southington, Connecticut. October 13, 2019, 6:24 PM.

#sunset #hiking #autumn #lake
Standing on a rocky peninsula jutting out into a lake. The far shore is wooded, the trees beginning to turn gold and orange and red with the autumn. The sun has just set behind that forest, creating a bright gold aura along the horizon. The streaky clouds above that horizon are bright pink and gray violet against the pale blue evening sky. This scene is mirrored on the dead calm lake surface below.
November 7, 2025 at 12:47 AM
A high contrast black and white photo. A light snowfall on the fern patch, Mattatuck State Forest, Plymouth, Connecticut. December 18, 2017, 3:38 PM.

#hiking #forest #winter #monochrome
A high contrast black and white photo of a forest floor covered with an inch or two of snow. A thin scattering of fallen twigs and branches poke out of the snow. Also several dozen shriveled ferns.
November 6, 2025 at 4:55 PM
🧵1/10
September 2, 1983: The trail descended past a water source called Hairy Root Spring (I know — sounds yummy, doesn’t it?) to the shores of Wachipauka Pond, the mountain tarn I had just seen from above.

#backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail
Beneath a bright overcast sky, we are standing in a narrow dirt road alongside a forest on our left. The right side of the road has a grassy shoulder several feet wide. To its right is a rustic wooden post and wire fence with flowering shrubs and tall weeds growing along it in spots. To the right of the fence is the corner of a green field of grass several inches in height and white wildflowers. A single line of trees borders this field. The dirt road and fence continue past this wind break to a very large grassy field with a small tilled rectangular patch near the road. The forested slopes of mountain rising several hundred feet above us borders this field.
November 6, 2025 at 1:51 PM