Shenandoah National Park Trip

If it seems that I've been a bit focused on camping, backpacking and hiking lately, it's because I've been preparing for our Springtime trip up into the mountains to do just those things. Some friends and I rented a primitive cabin in the park and used it as a basecamp while we did day hikes in the vicinity. A 'primitive' cabin in this case means there was no water or electricity. We had to hike in about a mile with all of our gear. There was a spring for water down the hill a short distance, but we had to treat the water to make it safe to drink. Cooking was done with our camp stoves. At night we heated the cabin with a wood stove. All in all, we had an excellent time. You can see my photos of the trip here.

The Winchester Mystery House

In San Jose, California, you can tour one of the strangest buildings in the world - the Winchester Mystery House. Sarah Winchester, the wealthy widow of arms magnate William Winchester, believed that the spirits of all those killed by her husband's rifle would haunt her unless she appeased them by constructing a home for them all. In 1884, she bought a farm in San Jose and began construction of a home, the likes of which the world had never seen before.

Construction on the mansion continued around the clock, every single day for 38 years, until the day she died. Often Sarah would hand her carpenters plans that she had drawn up the night before. There was no master plan to be followed, and eventually the house stood seven stories tall and was full of eccentric oddities like stairways and doors to nowhere. Some were supposedly designed to confuse the ghosts, hallways that dead ended and the like, to keep Sarah safe in her own home. Others were practicalities that only an incredibly rich eccentric could afford, such as a stairway with 40 steps, each only 1 inch tall, built late in her life because she had debilitating arthritis and could only raise her feet a few inches. Sarah was also obsessed with the number 13, and that number turns up constantly throughout the home. Newly hired servants were given maps of the house so they could find their way around without getting lost.

As odd as she may have been, Sarah Winchester had exquisite taste, and in many ways the house was ahead of its time. There were modern conveniences like a hot shower, forced air heating and electric lighting. During the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Sarah Winchester was trapped in her bedroom for several hours. After the earthquake, the top three stories were removed and today the mansion is only four stories tall.

Tours of the mansion are offered daily, and here's the official website of the Winchester Mystery House.

Hiking the Appalachian Trail (part 1)

There are several “long trails” located around the world, and America has one of the most famous, known as the Appalachian Trail. The AT, as it is also called, runs along the eastern spine of the United States, with one end located at Springer Mountain in Georgia and the other terminal at the summit of Mount Katahdin in Maine. The exact length of the trail changes from year to year as the trail gets relocated slightly for various reasons, but in 2011 the end-to-end mileage was 2,184 miles.


The AT passes through 14 states along the way: Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. The trail is maintained by over 30 volunteer organizations, each taking responsibility for a stretch where they do work to control erosion, clear away trees that have fallen across the trail, cut back brush, and take care of the shelters along the way.

Every year, tens of thousands of people hike along parts of the AT, including a couple thousand would-be "Thru-Hikers", who attempt to walk the entire length in one year. Most start north from Georgia in February, March or April, and are called NOBO’s (NOrth BOunders). SOBO’s (SOuth BOunders) usually start from Maine in June or July. Either way, it can take from four to six months to complete the hike. Only about 10% of those who start out to be Thru-Hikers actually finish in any given year.

"Thru-Hiker" is an unofficial title, and the only official designation is a “2000 Miler,” which is earned by anyone who hikes the entire trail, no matter how long it takes. Many people are section hikers, doing the trail a piece at a time, sometimes planning their hikes to see a particular part of the trail during the nicest part of the year for that area.

The entire length of the Appalachian Trail is identified by white ‘blazes’, which are 2”x6” vertical stripes that are painted on trees along the way. The idea is that while standing by a tree that is blazed, you should be able to see the next blaze farther along the trail. Side trails that intersect the AT are blazed with a different color, but are collectively called ‘blue blaze’ trails. There are stretches on the AT where you are above the tree line, in which case stacks of rocks called ‘cairns’ are used to mark the way.


A "blaze" marking the way along the AT.

Check back for part 2.

The Seven Wonders

You've probably heard about the recent voting for the "new 7 wonders." The expressed aim of the project was to call attention to world heritage and I hope that it does this. We all have an interest in preserving the heritage of the world. It is important to note, however, the difference between these wonders and the canonical Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

The Wonders of the Ancient World are initially due to Herodotus. He compiled his list of places he saw as he traveled around the Mediterranean. Destroyed with the Library of Alexandria, Callimachus of Cyrene compiled a collection of "Wonders around the World." They probably weren't finalized in what the wonders are now known as. It wasn't until the Middle Ages when the canon of the wonders were drawn to what it is known as now (they weren't, as the press releases of "The New 7 Wonders" suggest, decided by one man).

The Wonders of the Ancient World were, apparently (only one - The Pyramids at Giza - survives), truly wondrous to behold. A wonderful reference on the seven wonders is located here. They are:

1. The Pyramids of Giza
2. The Colossus at Rhodes
3. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
4. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
5. The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
6. The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
7. The Lighthouse at Alexandria

I've traveled a decent amount and been to a lot of different places in the world. However, I have only been to one of the so-called "New 7 Wonders." In all honesty, two of them I don't think belong on the list at all. I find it interesting that none of them is built in modern times. I wonder about that - do we build physical wonders anymore (as a culture)? The same website has a list of seven modern wonders and seven forgotten modern wonders. I've seen seven of those fourteen and I just don't feel like those really rise to the level of wonder. What do you think? Any thoughts on what modern wonder you think will make it to the canon and be discussed 2000 years from now?