March 14, 2002 — Hi. My name is Dan. And I’m a geocacher. There, I said it. Are your geek alarms going off? Believe it or not, I’ve never watched a full episode of “Star Trek.” I still haven’t seen the most recent “Star Wars” installment. And I have no …
Read moreMarch 7, 2002 — Sometimes you need to get away. I spent the better part of last week covering the first three rounds of the state basketball tournament in Rome. I am now on a first-name basis with the staffs of the Days Inn and Applebee’s there. I know well …
Read moreJanuary 10, 2002 — I went home for the holidays again this year. Bloomsburg, Pa., hadn’t changed much. It never does. The town was just a year older. And, as I was often reminded during my stay, so was I. Annual tackle football games with old friends take longer and …
Read moreJuly 31, 2001 — Tallulah Gorge sucked me in. It swallowed me whole. Inside this 1,000-foot crack in the Earth, I discovered a world far removed from the four-lane federal highway that hums along the canyon’s rim. It’s a world where water flows freely — sometimes with the force of …
Read moreJune 19, 2001 — “This is weird, dude.” Between labored breaths, that’s all my friend could say. That’s all that needed to be said. We were into mile seven of our 20-mile trek through the volcanic summit area of Haleakala National Park — an unearthly 30,183-acre plot of land located …
Read moreMarch 20, 2001 — The Appalachian Trail was crowded on Saturday. Skies were clear for a change, and warm winter temperatures made a trip to the North Georgia mountains a must. There were hordes of hikers — but I’m fairly certain Shane Adams, Jason Long and I were the only …
Read moreAugust 22, 2000 — The food just kept on coming. Biscuits and cornbread. Fried chicken and country ham. Fried okra and corn on the cob. Plenty of sweet tea to wash it all down. For the hungry hiker, the Dillard House rules. Although anything other than beef jerky, trail mix …
Read moreJune 13, 2000 — Hiking up Trail 427 in Montana’s Gallatin National Forest is one colossal internal struggle. The instinct toward self preservation demands that you watch your step. The trail can be rocky and wet, steep and snowy. But a force more powerful draws your eyes upward. Eleven waterfalls …
Read moreMay 30, 2000 — My mom, a mountain and I. Not a bad way to spend Mother’s Day. We escaped to the granite cliffs of nearby Yonah Mountain three Sundays ago, hiking along the path of legend, history and dispute. We sat atop the 3,175-foot summit for hours — the …
Read moreJuly 20, 1999 — The fly fisherman did a double take. I imagine he selected this remote bend on the upper, upper Chattahoochee River expecting to encounter trout, not humans. And now eight of us were sloshing our way toward him — not one in the group carrying a rod …
Read more