Category: The Moosilauke Letters

FlagstaffArizonaJune  2013 I notice the locals here in Flagstaff refer to their city as Flag.  Interesting that a short syllable, staff, which would take very little effort to append to the first half of the name, is left off when spoken aloud. Where am I from?  Pitts.  Where does the Vice President live?  Wash, or… Continue reading Flag

North CarolinaJanuary  2019 Jo-me-okee, according to the folks who used to live here, the Saura Tribe of Native Americans, means “Great Guide” or “Pilot.”  This enormous rock has also been called “Mount Ararat” and “Stonehead Mountain”. In 1753, the Moravians, just like all the other white folks, exhibited the usual sensitivity by changing the original… Continue reading Pilot Mountain

Kennerdell TrailPennsylvaniaJuly  1999

AlabamaNovember  2013 Oh, look.  Alongside the road.  The vine that ate the South. Kudzu. Back in the old days, the Japanese gave a 100th birthday present to the United States.  It was kudzu.  Americans loved the attractive sweet-smelling kudzu gardens that were mostly ornamental but could also be used as a forage crop.  Soon other… Continue reading Kudzu

FloridaNovember  2012 At the age of 95 years and 8 months, my mother fell down.  As sometimes happens with folks her age when they fall down, her hip broke.  Two days later she was in surgery, having the broken part replaced with a new part made of space age materials, possibly one of the used… Continue reading Max

Grove Run TrailPennsylvaniaApril  2001 The Grove Run Trail is a comfortable little loop that brings you up 800 feet from Linn Run to a nondescript summit.  It’s a great trail if you want some mild hill training but don’t want to sweat too much.  The entire trail is within a thick hardwood and evergreen forest,… Continue reading Women of the Grove Run Trail

ConnecticutMay  2014 We summited both the top of Massachusetts and the top of Connecticut on this trip.  Both tops are in the Berkshires. What do I know about the Berkshires?  Certainly it is a pretty area.  I’m told that the Berkshires and the nearby Green Mountains are the result of a collision between Africa and… Continue reading The Berkshires

CaliforniaMarch  2019 Death Valley National Park, a place of silent beauty, a starkly stunning natural medley of mud and salt flats, sand and towering mountains and dangerous extremes.  Daily temperatures easily top 100° in the summer, and if you are a desert dweller, it gets uncomfortably cold in winter.  The gravel and loose dirt at… Continue reading Notes from the Desert — Death Valley National Park

MaineJune  2019 Lisa spent the first part of her life in Maine.  I asked her how she handled the black flies when she was a kid.  She scoffed. “My friends and I compared, we held contests.  Who could not scratch for the longest time, who could get the most bites, who could hold out the… Continue reading The Black Fly

PittsburghPennsylvaniaJuly 1999 I dated Betsy three times.  The middle time, I parked in front of her house and walked up to the door, rang the bell.  When she opened the screen door for me, a white and brown spotted kitty cat ran past me, out of the house. Betsy and I talked on the telephone… Continue reading Walkin’ Cat