A father’s dream when your 17 year old son plans a backpacking trip; 48 hours of quality time with no screens to distract!

We had an amazing weekend, here is the photo essay to prove it!

Sam and my dad coordinated the destination, prepared the equipment, procured the supplies and guaranteed outstanding weather. Turnkey! All I had to do was buy some salami, hot dogs, cheese and powdered milk and load my backpack. Participants in the adventure are myself, my son Sam, my Italian daughter Caterina (foreign exchange student through AFS), my brother-in-law Hil, my niece Miriam and my dad Martin.

I brought along my backup Canon 5D Mk II with a fixed 40 mm pancake lens. I love this lens. It has a very small profile, extremely light, fast enough at 2.8 and a great focal length. Got that?

The trip started off Friday night with a visit to the Museum of Modern Art to attend the opening of an exhibit of Caterina’s work. She was accepted into an art studio class for teens at the museum’s education center. Caterina (from Lerici Italy) is having an incredible year, taking advantage of her exchange experience.

We then had a celebratory Chinese dinner and drove up to a motel near the trailhead for a good night sleep and an early morning start. Caterina claims I snore, but offered zero proof.


Before hitting the trail we had to fortify at the Bright Star Diner. Also needed to make sure our hair was set. Luckily the placemat gave reference to a local attorney in case we ran into some legal issues.

I think the rest of the photos speak for themselves… hydrating at the trail head, headed up to the campsite on the Appalachian Trail, beautiful weather, dehydrated astronaut ice-cream, beautiful vistas, setting up camp, gathering wood, roasting hot dogs, Caterina’s first amore, and a tired but very happy group.

One item of note, it was a strenuous 3 hour hike up to the site. Our gear was not super light. My dad is 79 years old and kept up with the 17 year olds, basically stride for stride. Now that is inspirational!

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