George Steffanos
LightNews LightNews
George Steffanos
@gsteffanos.bsky.social
1.1K followers 1.1K following 8.2K 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
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
🧵5/6
Thunderhead and its slightly lower west peak Rockytop towered hundreds of feet above the very high meadow where we were lunching.
Beneath a hazy, whitewashed sky, we are standing on a ridge crest near the top of a grassy meadow running down the mountainside. Below the meadow is a forest of trees sprouting blossoms of pink and white. We can see down through the thickening haze into a valley several thousand feet below with a large lake winding through it. The lake is surrounded by rugged green mountains much less lofty than ours, but still impressive.
November 22, 2025 at 3:07 PM
🧵4/6
Looking northeast to the trail ahead, there was a great view of both summits of Thunderhead, the impressive mountain which looms above the entire section of the Great Smokies west of Clingmans Dome.
Beneath a pale blue sky with puffy white clouds, we are high atop the crest of a mountain range walking through a meadow of bright green spring grass towards groves of flowering trees with pink, white and red blossoms. Ahead are higher slopes with a similar mix of meadow and flowering trees. Beyond that, the forested flanks of Thunderhead rise far above the rest of the ridge. A couple of Thunderhead's secondary peaks are also visible, including the famous Rockytop.
November 22, 2025 at 3:07 PM
🧵3/6
It never got hot all day. I took a few photographs of the views from Little Bald, although the air was becoming rather hazy.
Beneath a soft blue sky with puffy white clouds above and thicker clouds along the horizon, we are standing on a ridge crest near the top of a grassy meadow running down the mountainside. The meadow is surrounded by a forest of trees sprouting blossoms of pink, white or yellow. Between and above these trees we can see down through the thickening haze into a valley several thousand feet below with a large lake winding through it. The lake is surrounded by rugged green mountains much less lofty than ours, but still impressive.
November 22, 2025 at 3:07 PM
🧵2/6
Although we had not planned it, Dave and I wound up having lunch there and staying for about an hour. The sun was shining while the air remained pleasantly cool (Of course, the pretty little redhead we met up there had absolutely nothing to do with the long break).
Beneath a soft blue sky with gauzy white clouds, we are following a trail along the crest of a mountain range through a sun-drenched lush green field of spring grass. Around the field early springtime forests of trees are growing out large white or pink blossoms and bright green spring leaves.
November 22, 2025 at 3:07 PM
🧵1/6
May 18, 1983: A short while later, we hit the nicest spot I had seen up to that point in the Smokies — a grassy little rolling meadow atop a knob called Little Bald.

#backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail
Beneath a pale blue sky with puffy white clouds, we are high atop the crest of a mountain range walking through a meadow of bright green spring grass through groves of flowering trees. Ahead are gradually ascending terraces with a similar mix of meadow and flowering trees. Beyond that, the forested flanks of Thunderhead rise far above the rest of the ridge. A couple of Thunderhead's secondary peaks are also visible, including the famous Rockytop.
November 22, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Late Afternoon Hike Through the Sand Dunes, Death Valley National Monument (now National Park), California. March, 1984.

#hiking #desert
Beneath a whitewashed late afternoon sky, we are standing on an old dried up lake bed of cracked pinkish beige packed sand. To our left is an olive colored shrub. Ahead are two large dunes of that same pinkish beige sand piled high above our heads. There are ripples and creases along parts of the dunes, carved by the winds that formed them.
November 21, 2025 at 11:39 PM
September evening in the forest, Woodtick Trail, Wolcott, Connecticut. September 23, 2020, 5:34 PM.

#hiking #forest
It is early evening and we are walking through the forest towards a dazzling sun shining through the trees ahead. The sun is rather low in the sky, creating long shadows and swaths of golden evening sunlight. The forest floor is a lush carpet of green ferns, with a few rocky patches, particularly around a low hill to our right. A small dead tree in the left foreground has been broken a few feet above its base, the top part laying on the ground pointing towards the sun.
November 21, 2025 at 4:43 PM
🧵4/6
I passed my last fellow hikers of the day on the 5249-foot summit of Mount Lafayette, the loftiest peak in this section. The haze was microscopically thinner up there, and I could pick out the ghostly visions of Mount Lincoln and Lafayette’s north summit, as well as Greenleaf Hut.
...
Beneath a hazy light blue sky, we are walking a rocky stretch of trail on a ridge crest covered with stunted spruce and fir. A peak just ahead rising above us has flanks also covered with stunted spruce and fir, but the peak itself is a jumble of light gray rocks and boulders. Beyond this peak, a rocky alpine ridge and peak dominates our view. They are made of the same light gray granite as the outcrop, with bands of green alpine vegetation.
November 21, 2025 at 2:15 PM
🧵1/6
September 5, 1983: Following another brief stretch of hard climbing, I reached the crest of Franconia Ridge. The rugged climbs continued as I followed the ridge crest over Haystack Mountain, Mount Lincoln, and Mount Lafayette.
...

#backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail
Beneath a hazy light blue sky with several small hazy clouds to our right and a larger one to our left, we are standing next to a large light gray granite outcrop covered with light and dark green lichen. This outcrop frames the bottom lefthand corner. A rocky alpine ridge and peak dominates our view. It is made of the same light gray granite as the outcrop, with bands of very low green alpine vegetation.
November 21, 2025 at 2:15 PM
The very fleeting emerald green of early spring. Woodtick Trail, Wolcott, Connecticut. May 13, 2020, 6:46 PM.

#hiking #forest #springtime
Walking through a forest on an early evening in spring. The descending sun is shining through the trees directly ahead, casting a rich golden backlight interspersed with long shadows. The trees are covered in tiny bright green leaves. The forest floor is sprouting new grass, baby ferns and tiny leafy sprouts, all an intense emerald green.
November 20, 2025 at 4:50 PM
🧵5/7
The river below meandered gracefully through a landscape of quiet beauty. Forests and fields along the banks and wooded ridges flanking the valley appeared idyllic and almost surreal in the slanting, rose-tinted early morning sunlight.
Beneath a soft blue summer sky with hazy white clouds we are atop the crest of Blue Mountain standing on a grassy overlook looking across a dense thicket of shrubs and then the treetops of the forested mountainside below. We are looking north along the wooded ridgeline of Blue Mountain into Pennsylvania, where the mountain becomes more of a mountain range, throwing out impressive spur ridges. To our left is a small wedge of the vast agricultural Cumberland Valley with farms and small villages. Straight ahead on a small plateau partway down the western slope of blue mountain is a large grassy park: Pen Mar County Park in Maryland on the Pennsylvania border.
November 20, 2025 at 1:37 PM
🧵1/7
August 13, 1983: It was still cloudy this morning when I awoke. The air had turned even chillier. I had not seen a morning that cold since Tennessee. After the persistent heat wave

#backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail
The summer sky is a light blue with a few streaky white clouds above and a few puffy white clouds ahead along the horizon. A rocky dirt road runs downward in front of us. It is surrounded by a dense forest of pine and hardwoods. A small portion of a light green water tower is visible above the trees at the far left. Through a gap in the forest created by the road we are looking out above the treetops towards a sprawling green valley. It is almost flat, with a few low hills. The valley is covered with farm fields and pastures, farm buildings and a few small villages. Many of the small hills are wooded, and there are narrow strips of forest as wind breaks between the fields. 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.
November 20, 2025 at 1:37 PM
A lake like glass in mid-October, New Britain Reservoir, Southington, Connecticut. October 13, 2019, 6:03 PM.

#hiking #autumn #forest #lake
A dead calm twilight beneath an overcast sky. We are on the shore of a large lake, whose completely placid surface is unruffled by the slightest breeze, mirroring the sky and far shore perfectly. We are standing on a lake shore covered with leafy green ground cover strewn with gray rocks and boulders. Similar rocks are partly submerged out in the water. The lake is to our left, the forest to our right. The forest continues along the lake, wrapping around the far shore. The trees are still mostly green, but a generous sprinkling of maples and other early autumn turners are providing oranges, golds and reds.
November 20, 2025 at 12:35 AM
Burnin' Sky (h/t Paul Rodgers and Bad Company), Hidden Lake, Fall Mountain, Plymouth, Connecticut. November 7, 2020, 4:51 PM.

#sunset #hiking #lake
A late post sunset shot looking down from a ridge crest. The low hills and the nearly leafless November 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 flaming orange, gold and yellow shades by the recently set sun.
November 19, 2025 at 4:40 PM
🧵1/4
June 7, 19833: The trail gradually descended along the ridge into the green valley where Damascus lay nestled among the mountains.

#backpacking #hiking #AppalachianTrail
Beneath a hazy summer sky we are high up a mountain looking through a gap between the trees and over treetops. Nestled in the foothills, a valley hundreds of feet below is home to a rather large cluster of farm fields and houses and the tip of a long, narrow lake. That lake snakes through a narrow gap two forested foothills and emerges in a wider portion of the valley with more farms and forests. Beyond that, a long, lower mountain with a flattish crest is very indistinct in the haze.
November 19, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Pink and violet Winter sunrise, Scoville Reservoir, Wolcott, Connecticut. December 6, 2019, 6:53 AM.

#sunset #hiking #winter #lake
We are looking down a small slope to a wooden footbridge crossing an inlet of a large lake. Most of the lake surface is frozen, a light coating of snow cloaks the ground and most of the ice. There are forests of tall pines on either end of the bridge. The rest of the forest surrounding the lake is mostly leafless hardwoods. There are many thin clouds in the sky. The rising sun is tinting them orange, pink and violet, reflecting on the ice which has no snow cover.
November 19, 2025 at 12:36 AM
Golden winter sunset, Giant's Chest, Sleeping Giant State Park, Hamden, Connecticut. February 15, 2023, 4:32 PM.

#sunset #hiking #winter #mountains
Coming out onto a cliff of coarse brown rock with numerous cracks and fissures. There are patches of golden brown dormant grass growing in many of the cracks. A forest of cedars and leafless hardwoods grows on either side of the cliff. The view is just appearing, some rolling hills and buildings a few hundred feet below. The late afternoon sky is a pale blue gray. Most of the visible sky is covered with a cluster of hazy thin clouds. The sun, setting behind the haze, is a large roundish blob of golden fire, painting the surrounding haze orange and yellow.
November 18, 2025 at 5:47 PM
🧵5/6
Today, “The Valley of Fear” looked rather peaceful and bucolic. The low humidity gave my pictures of this excellent view an unaccustomed background of blue sky; distant objects looked sharp and clear. I was way ahead of schedule,
We are standing on the crest of a mountain below a soft blue sky with a few clouds. We are on a large outcrop that resembles a chaotic pile of beige and gray rocks with a tiptoe view over treetops of wooded foothills sloping gently down to a broad valley hundreds of feet below with large swaths of farm fields and forests, rural roads and small villages. A long, low, flat-topped ridge runs along the horizon.
November 18, 2025 at 1:05 PM