George Steffanos
LightNews LightNews
George Steffanos
@gsteffanos.bsky.social
1.1K followers 1.1K following 8.3K 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
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
George Steffanos @gsteffanos.bsky.social · 22d
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.
🧵1/3
September 6, 1983: I have always been fond of South Twin. At 4902 feet, it is one of the loftier summits in New Hampshire, and the ridge crest has an extensive alpine zone.

#backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail
The sky is bright white with hazy sunshine. We are high up a mountainside looking out over the treetops down into a narrow wooded valley between us and another wooded mountain to our right. The valley curves to our right, disappearing behind the second mountain. A wooded ridge running down from our range to the right borders this side of the valley as it curves around the other mountain. Other mountain ranges cascade into the distance beyond this ridge, gradually dissolving into the mists. A dead, naked tree trunk frames the photo to our left.
December 1, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Monochrome. The day after Christmas in Waterbury, Connecticut, December 26, 2021, 8:35 AM.

#city #monochrome
Monochrome image. Looking down on a small, aging industrial city from a few stories up. Several larger office buildings and two parking structures dominate the view. There are also several much older office buildings, including an old brick 4-story building on a corner near the center of the pic. It is the day after Christmas, not a lot is going on here as far as vehicle or foot traffic. Everything is wet from rainfall recently ended. The pale morning sky is clearing, the retreating clouds are catching some sunshine.
December 1, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Reposted by George Steffanos
mizkitty.bsky.social
When I lived in Brookings there was a trail I walked often, maybe because it was close to home, but it was also magical. Through a forest drenched with sun rays, a meadow, to dripping moss and spectacular views. See Alt text for more.
I tended to walk early mornings then, as I do now. Most of the time the fog was just lifting and the morning sun slanted through the trees. I never saw another human and it was a bit spooky at times, but always beautiful and a bit magical. This is the photo that I've been noticing on my screensaver and inspired this post. Walking out of the forest into a meadow, with the point drawing me to it and the blue Pacific greeting the morning. Once on the point, there was yet another sensation, and one that seemed so out of place to this Southern girl. All that dripping moss seemed more like the coastal South than a windy point in Oregon. From this spot there were views up and down the coast. Looking south from the point, to beaches only reachable by boat, I assume. Pristine and beautiful, and all-in-all so evocative of this beautiful, rocky coast that I love so much. The northern view was just as spectacular, but no room for a 5th photo here.
November 30, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Weather-beaten tree atop the cliffs tackles another winter, Giant's Right Knee, Sleeping Giant State Park, Hamden, Connecticut. January 10, 2025, 2:40 PM.

#hiking #monochrome #mountains
A clear sky with thin, gauzy clouds. Emerging out of the forest onto cliffs of dark rock speckled with light gray lichen. This part of the cliffs has a wild profusion of moss, grass, shrubs and the occasional small tree growing in a thin layer of soil across much of the rock. Almost all are dormant for winter. The trees and shrubs are mostly leafless. A weather-beaten tree with a tangle of gnarled and broken limbs stands just to our left. To our right is the rocky edge of the cliff. The sun, offscreen top, is shining directly at us, creating a patchwork of long dark shadows and splashes of bright sunlight.
November 30, 2025 at 4:44 PM
🧵1/13
August 10, 1983: About two miles from the end of the long roadwalk, we stopped at a little town park in Pawling, New York, about an hour’s drive and two or three universes removed from New York City.

#backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail
Under a soft blue summer sky with a few hazy clouds, we are standing in an overgrown field atop a mountain looking out across a valley towards some distant mountains along the misty horizon. The field is a tangle of tall grass, leafy shrubs, dark red brown feathery plants and red violet wildflowers. The valley is a rolling countryside of mostly forest with small clusters of buildings and farm fields.
November 30, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Lush green springtime at the marsh and pond, Herron Pond, White Memorial Foundation, Morris, Connecticut. June 4, 2025, 3:50 PM.

#hiking #forest #marsh #pond
A soft blue sky with streaky white clouds. We are standing beside a small marsh filled with ferns and skunk cabbage surrounding a tiny still pool of water. Ahead the marsh empties into a pond whose surface is covered with hundreds of lily pads. The marsh and pond are circled by a lush green forest of stately pines, hemlocks and hardwoods.
November 29, 2025 at 4:51 PM
🧵1/4
June 4, 1983: Standing at the top of that large, steeply-rolling meadow, a rural two-lane curved through the green valley below and up over the next ridge. Beyond, there again were Roan and Hump Mountains and the intervening sweep of balds.

#hiking #backpacking #AppalachianTrail
Beneath an overcast sky, we are standing at the top of a meadow running down the mountainside towards a valley below. The sides of the meadow also slope upward to our left and right, rather steeply towards the top on our right. There is a patch of forest at the bottom of the meadow. A rural two-lane runs through the valley below, past a patchwork of farm fields and forest. Beyond the valley rise several green thickly-forested ridges.
November 29, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Mountain laurel blossoms, Mattatuck State Forest, Plymouth, Connecticut. June 13, 2020, 7:30 PM.

#hiking #wildflowers #flowers
Against a backdrop of waxy green leaves in a thicket of mountain laurel deep in the woods are clusters of bright white blossoms with dark pink markings. Most of the blossoms are fully unfurled, but a few are in various stages of opening up from buds.
November 28, 2025 at 4:30 PM
🧵1/3
July 1, 1983: It rained throughout the night upon the massive trees and lush ferns surrounding Maupin Field Shelter. The air hung still and leaden, cloaking the old forest in a shroud of dense fog and mystery.

#backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail
On a rainy and overcast day we are walking through a forest of densely packed trees with a carpet of luxuriant ferns and leafy underbrush. To our right a large gray boulder sports a lush blanket of vivid green moss.
November 28, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Knapweed blossom, Scoville Reservoir loop, Wolcott, Connecticut. June 10, 2020, 7:57 PM.

#hiking #wildflowers #flowers
A blossom with many long thin violet petals and a reddish purple center with white accents grows in a thicket of leafy green.
November 28, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Fire and ice sunset. Scoville Reservoir, Wolcott, Connecticut. January 30, 2021, 4:50 PM.

#sunset #hiking #winter #lake
We are standing on the shore of a large frozen lake. A leafless shrub frames the pic on the left. The visible shoreline to the left and across the lake is forest, bare leafless trees. The lake surface is frozen solid with several inches of ice thickness. There are numerous large cracks where the ice melted into pieces during thaws and then refroze back as one solid ice sheet. The sun is setting behind the trees in the far shore, tinting the sky around it and along the horizon gold. The rest of the sky is a very pale blue.
November 27, 2025 at 4:54 PM
🧵1/5
May 20, 1983: The day started off well. It was an overcast morning, but gradually clearing. I made the initial three-mile climb to Clingman’s Dome, the highest point on the Appalachian Trail, in good shape — in about ninety minutes.

#backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail
On a very bleak stormy day, we are walking along the grassy crest of a mountain range with a few scattered pines and mostly leafless hardwoods. The rain briefly slackens and the low clouds lift just enough for a glimpse of a wooded side ridge and the foothills and valleys beyond. Low clouds and fog fill all the valleys, and even nearby hills and ridges are misty and ethereal in the rain.
November 27, 2025 at 2:46 PM
White water lilies and green lily pads in dazzling sunshine, Plunge Pool, White Memorial Foundation, Morris, Connecticut. July 8, 2024, 2:45 PM.

#hiking #waterlily #flowers #pond
A closeup of two white water lily blossoms with gold and yellow clusters of stamens in their centers floating on the calm surface of a pond amid a dense cluster of green lily pads. Waster lilies and lily pads are dazzling in the bright summer sunshine. The surface of the pond mirrors the hazy clouds and blue skies of a sunny summer day, but darkly. The reflected blue sky is almost black, the white wisps of cloud reflections are light gray.
November 26, 2025 at 4:47 PM
🧵1/4
September 16, 1983: The bottom half of the trail up Old Blue Mountain was an instant replay of the ascent of Moody.

#backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail
A hazy and overcast day. Standing atop the mostly open summit of a mountain, looking across a forest of dwarf spruce and fir broken by rocks and small patches of scrubby alpine vegetation. Somewhat blue-tinted indistinct in the haze, lines of wooded mountain ranges cascade to the horizon.
November 26, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Pink water lily and green lily pads in a reflected summer sky, Herron Pond, White Memorial Foundation, Morris, Connecticut. July 8, 2024, 1:30 PM.

#hiking #waterlily #flowers #pond
The placid surface of a pond mirrors the hazy clouds and blue skies of a sunny summer day and the branches of a tall, leafy tree. A clump of lush green water grasses is in the left foreground. A cluster of green lily pads floats in the pond just offshore. Towards their center is a bright pink water lily blossom with a gold and yellow cluster of stamens in its center.
November 26, 2025 at 12:33 AM
Umbrella November, stylized photo, Finch Brook Preserve, Wolcott, Connecticut. November 24, 2019, 4:21 PM.

#hiking #forest #marsh #rain
A stylized version with a Photoshop Oil Painting effect. A stream runs through a mostly dormant marsh on a rainy late November day. The trees are all leafless, and many of their trunks have blotches of scaly greenish gray fungus. There is a great deal of undergrowth: pricker bushes that are leafless, water grasses that are mostly golden brown with a few lingering green strands. A few small ferns remain green into the coming winter, as does the moss on some rocks and fallen tree branches. The normally small stream has leapt free of its banks and flooded the dormant marsh with several inches of water. Many recently fallen leaves float in the water, which reflects the gray sky. A long snaking strand of connected wooded bog bridges, soaking wet in the rain, runs diagonally across the marsh and the stream.
November 25, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Reposted by George Steffanos
bluegal.bsky.social
Wow seems kinda bad
November 25, 2025 at 2:49 PM
🧵1/10
August 15, 1983: As I entered Sages Ravine, I crossed the Massachusetts border. Ten states down and four to go.

#backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail
We are standing on a rock outcrop at the top of a high cliff. Much of the cliff top around us is covered with greenish gold grassy plants and small green shrubs. On the right of our picture the ridge crest continues over a forested plateau with series of wooded prominences. We can just see the edge of this plateau and several ridges running down to the valley below. Most of our view is the relatively flat Housatonic Valley below us and stretching out to the low, rolling Litchfield Hills along the horizon. Both hills and valleys are mostly wooded with some green fields and pastures, especially in the valley.
November 25, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Smudges of gold and rippling waters sunset. Scoville Reservoir, Wolcott, Connecticut. June 20, 2020, 8:37 PM.

#sunset #hiking #lake
Laying beside a large lake looking out from ground level through nearby shallows filled with partially submerged rocks and water grasses. A leafy shrub frames the scene to our left. A fresh summer breeze is rippling the waters. The pale blue evening sky is filled with long hazy gray clouds. Towards the left, near where the sun has recently set, the clouds are smeared with bright gold and orange. Many of the ripples on the lake below are catching those colors.
November 25, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Rotator cuff surgery today. Injured descending over steeply-slanting wet rocks about an hour after this pic was taken. Should be back tomorrow.

Hiking over Mount Bushnell as a persistent morning cloud clings to its crest, Taconic Mountains, Sheffield, Mass. August 25, 2025, 9:17 AM.

#hiking
A rocky footpath winds through a forest of stunted pines and hardwoods along the crest of a mountain. We are inside of a cloud. The sky is bright white and fog shrouds the treetops. A thin reddish soil of decaying pine needles coats much of the exposed gray rock.
November 24, 2025 at 1:41 PM
🧵1/10
June 17, 1983: No sooner had I begun the three miles of ridge walking on Pearis Mountain, than the sky, which had been darkening all day, turned truly ominous.

#backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail
The top of a dead tree thrusts its lifeless trunk with several broken off branches towards the sky, where swirling clouds of darkening gray are devouring the last small patches of blue from all directions. Just a few shrinking shafts of sunlight are now breaking through. A late summer storm is coming.
November 24, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Two old trees sunset. Scoville Reservoir, Wolcott, Connecticut. May 9, 2020, 7:00 PM.

#sunset #hiking #forest #lake
It is still early spring here. Two old trees in the foreground growing beside a lake are just beginning to show signs of budding. Other trees growing nearby are covered in bright red buds. The early evening sky is a light but deep blue. The sun, setting behind the treetops across a small cove, is a ball of golden orange, its reflection broken into a long trail of sparkles by the rippling surface of the lake.
November 24, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Golden hour forest floor near Giant's Left Hip, Sleeping Giant State Park, Hamden, Connecticut. May 24, 2024, 6:50 PM.

#hiking #forest
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.
November 23, 2025 at 4:36 PM
🧵1/5
July 12, 1983: On the Maryland side of the river (five states down, nine to go), I crossed the remains of the old Chesapeake and Ohio barge canal.

#backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail
The old towpath of a canal from the mid-1800’s. The path is wide and flat and lined on both sides with tall shade trees whose intertwined branches form a solid green canopy high overhead. The path is dirt; its center and shoulders are grassy.
November 23, 2025 at 1:43 PM
This stone dam's design seems to have been inspired by the old stone boundary walls so common throughout New England.

Old stone dam on Beaver Pond and a shady forest, White Memorial Foundation, Morris, Connecticut. July 10, 2024, 4:11 PM.

#hiking #forest #lake
A sun-dappled patch of a pond's shoreline. This corner of the lake is shallow and filled with water grasses, merging almost seamlessly with a marshy shore covered with tall grass, ferns and small leafy shrubs. The trail we are walking is about to cross the pond's small outlet stream on a very rustic looking old dam several feet high and about the same in width, looking much like an old stone wall with a flattish top. Beyond the dam is a cool, shady forest of mature hardwoods.
November 22, 2025 at 4:49 PM