Appalachian Trail, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, October 2024 Having returned to the Washington, DC area last fall, my opportunities to get out hiking have unfortunately declined. But I have been able to resume my quest to achieve a long-term goal of completing all the nearby Appalachian Trail (AT) sections (see MD Sections 1, 2, …
Fort Bowie Trail Loop, Fort Bowie National Historic Site, November 2022 - Civil War Series - At a time when most eyes were on the major battlefields of the Civil War out east, the Union Army was engaged in 1962 in a series of smaller skirmishes in the American Southwest with Confederate cavalry and an …
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Minnehaha Falls, Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, July 2022 The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota are known—perhaps more so to locals than non-natives—for having one of the most extensive park systems in the country, centering largely around the mighty Mississippi River. The National Park Service’s Mississippi National River and Recreation Area …
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- Civil War Series - Before becoming the 16th president, Abraham Lincoln spent most of his life in what was then considered the “Northwest Territory” of the United States: the relatively unpopulated states north of the Ohio River Valley. From his boyhood in Kentucky and Indiana to his rise to prominence as a lawyer and …
- Civil War Series - Well before he rose to prominence as an Illinois politician and 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln spent much of his boyhood on a modest farmstead at Little Pigeon Creek in southern Indiana. It was here that young Abe, from 1816 to 1830, came of age: he worked …
Continue reading Lincoln Boyhood Loop (Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial, IN)
- Civil War Series - 1861 was a rough year on the battlefield for Union forces in the Eastern Theater. After the Civil War commenced at Fort Sumter in April, the young Federal Army suffered a significant setback at the First Battle of Bull Run in July. Although the Confederate Army failed to push the …
- Civil War Series - The Fort Circle Park Hiker-Biker Trail is part of a broader network of trails and bike routes surrounding Washington, DC that provide access to the Civil War Defenses of Washington, a ring of Civil War era fortifications. Situated east of the Anacostia River, the 6.2-mile stretch described below—unlike the rest …
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- Civil War Series - In the early stages of the Civil War in 1862, Union forces quickly seized the Outer Banks of North Carolina during the so-called Burnside Expedition, which led to the creation of a Freedmen’s Colony on Roanoke Island, a safe haven for hundreds of runaway slaves in the region. While the …
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- Civil War Series - The 1862 Peninsula Campaign, intended by the Union to put a decisive end to the Civil War by capturing the Confederate capital of Richmond, began with a slow start. Gen. George McClellan, despite setting out in March 1862 with the largest army the continent had ever seen, inched up the …
- Civil War Series - Malvern Hill is one of the country’s best-preserved Civil War battlefields and marked the culmination of the Seven Days’ Battles, a series of engagements outside Richmond, Virginia in June-July 1862 that ended Union Gen. George McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac, in the midst of a retreat to …
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Live and Let Hike 