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George Steffanos

🧵1/8
September 8, 1983: After Eisenhower, the trail descended into a col before another stiff climb up Mount Franklin, the first 5000-footer of the day. The sky had cleared very nicely by the time I reached this peak.

An alpine plateau in gold-tinged slanting evening sunlight beneath a soft blue sky. Much of the plateau and small portions of the peaks have a ground cover of golden grass-like plants with patches of green, leafy ground-hugging plants. Everything else is bare gray granite boulders and rock outcrops. Three nearby peaks rise above the plateau on our right. Beyond the three peaks, the top of a much higher peak is hidden by a long dark cloud, which casts a dark shadow on the rest of the peak and a spur ridge of that mountain.
#backpacking#hiking#outdoors
Mar 15, 2025, 01:49 PM·Public·Web
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George Steffanos

🧵2/8
I got some great shots of Mounts Monroe, Washington, and Clay (how did he get in there?) along the trail ahead.

We are high atop a ridge crest, looking over a sun-drenched slope of rocks and very low alpine ground cover of green and gold. Ahead, most of the ridge crest and its several peaks are in the clear, but partly in the shadows of passing clouds. The highest and most distant peak visible has its top several hundred feet completely inside a large cloud, although the rest of the peak and a massive ridge of that mountain projecting to our left are mostly in sunshine. In addition to the alpine vegetation, many of the lofty peaks and ridges ahead have extensive areas of naked rock. Where there are no clouds the sky is a deep light blue.
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George Steffanos

🧵3/8
The few clouds remaining in the sky had lifted well off the mountaintops, save one — the cloud that still blanketed the top of Washington, covering just the very tip of its summit cone.

We are standing on the summit of a lofty mountain, looking down an alpine ridge crest beneath a light blue late afternoon sky. The lower flanks of the mountain range are wooded with spruce and fir, but they diminish into stunted dwarves as they near the crest and peter out. Some of the ridge crest ahead has a ground cover of golden grass-like plants with patches of green, leafy ground-hugging plants. Everything else is bare gray granite boulders and rock outcrops. The ridge crest descends into a deep sag in front of us before climbing over a series of peaks towards a much higher peak. That peak is hidden by a dark cloud, which casts a dark shadow on the rest of the peak, some nearby peaks and a long spur ridge of that mountain to our right. The remainder of the mountains ahead of us are in sunshine.
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George Steffanos

🧵4/8
It was getting rather late, so I stayed on the Appalachian Trail as it bypassed Mount Monroe, which I have previously climbed, and did not stop at Lakes of the Clouds Hut, located in the col between Monroe and Washington.

We are standing high on an alpine ridge crest. The ground in front of us is covered with a golden brown plant that resembles grass and a scattering of light gray rocks. We are looking across a deep ravine running down the mountainside to a massive ridge running up the mountain on the other side. There are a few rocky patches, but mostly the ridge is covered with green: full-sized trees at the bottom of our view to the left becoming progressively smaller until they are stunted shrubs near the top of our view to our right. The top of the ridge is out of frame top right. Beyond that ridge, we can see a succession of 4 other lofty mountains running off into the distance, each sending a massive spur ridge down towards the valley floor offscreen bottom left. It is very late in the day. The sky is a very pale blue. A dark cloud is hovering over the two mountains directly after the green ridge. Everything else is in sunshine.
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George Steffanos

🧵5/8
I began the final assault on Mount Washington. The mountain’s summit resembles a huge, barren pile of loose rocks, and those rocks make the steep climb somewhat tricky and time-consuming.

An alpine ridge crest beneath a light blue late afternoon sky with a few clouds. Most of the plateau and small portions of the peaks have a ground cover of golden grass-like plants with patches of green, leafy ground-hugging plants. Everything else is bare gray granite boulders and rock outcrops. Several rugged mountains with wooded flanks and bare rock crests rise above the crest ahead.
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George Steffanos

🧵6/8
Slowly, I approached the sharply-defined bottom border of the vast cloud as the sun, sinking low in the sky beyond distant Franconia Ridge, tinted it with gold and orange. It was like ascending into heaven. I reached the fringe of the cloud and stepped inside.

A hazy soft blue evening sky with a few clouds. We are standing atop a ridge crest looking down a mountainside. The slope is rocky, with a ground cover of golden grass-like plants with patches of green, leafy ground-hugging plants. Farther down the slopes scrub spruce and fir appears, gradually increasing in size and giving way to full-sized forests. Rugged green hills and mountains cascade towards the misty horizons.
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George Steffanos

🧵7/8
The view of distant mountains faded gradually into the golden mist, and then was gone. I was entering another realm that most definitely was not heaven. As I climbed, the fog thickened, and the golden light faded until most of it was blotted out. I ascended through a dark, desolate landscape of black rock and dark gray cloud as a hellish wind screamed around me. It was beautiful, in a strange way, but it was a perilous beauty. I might have been on another planet.

A hazy soft blue evening sky with a few clouds. We are standing atop a ridge crest looking down a mountainside over the tops of stunted scrub spruce. Virtually all of the scene below is covered with forest. Two spur ridges enclose a vast mountain valley sloping down towards another valley hundreds of feet below. Beyond, a sea of mountains cascade to the horizon.
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George Steffanos

🧵8/8
A final surprise awaited when I broke out onto the flattish summit area at 7:00. It was a howling madhouse up there. The wind doubled. I was becoming seriously chilled, and walking became almost impossible as I was tossed about like an old newspaper.

From my book Then the Hail Came (A Humorous and Truthful Account of a 1983 Appalachian Trail Thru-hike). Available in paperback, audiobook and eBook: amazon.com/dp/B09QFG4ZR6

An alpine plateau beneath a light blue late afternoon sky. Three nearby peaks rise above the plateau on our right, left and center (nearest to farthest). Most of the plateau and small portions of the peaks have a ground cover of golden grass-like plants with patches of green, leafy ground-hugging plants. Everything else is bare gray granite boulders and rock outcrops. Beyond the three peaks, the top of a much higher peak is hidden by a long dark cloud, which casts a dark shadow on the rest of the peak and a spur ridge of that mountain.
Public
George Steffanos

You can read or listen to my book for free if you are a Kindle Unlimited eBook or an Audible Plus audiobook subscriber. Both options are available from Amazon, where the paperback, eBook or audiobook can also be purchased.

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