Descriptions of Places

  The Rocky Mountains are similar to the Presidential Range of New Hampshire in that they are in many places old rounded mountains that have been spiced up by Pleistocene glaciation. I can’t speak for everywhere but many important ranges from the Front Range and Sawatch Range in Colorado to the Beartooth Mountains of Montana share a common appearance: some sides are rugged cliffs scooped out by glacers, but the preglacial erosional surfaces are never far away, in the form of rounded boulder-covered slopes. The glaciers didn’t get everywhere in these mountains, and while the most dramatic terrain lies above U-shaped glacial valleys, there are large areas - whether a side of a mountain or an entire mountain range - that retain their smoothed-over appearance from millions of years of erosion. The strongest impression that the Colorado Rockies left on me was of extensiveness and geologic diversity, more than of steepness and ruggedness. The state has countless mountain ranges exhibiting a

 I have conflicting feelings towards this war that don’t quite add up to the anger to protest. While I admire the protesters and agree with what they are demading, I am having having an upsetting struggle with my Jewish American identity that takes me out of the mood. I contrast these protests with the BLM protests after the deaths of Michael Brown and, later, George Floyd. Seeing those instances of racialized police brutality made me, and millions of my fellow citizens, angry. Protesting was a natural and constructive way to express that anger and communicate it towards the police, who were present in force at every protest. Thanks to the organizers, the protests were generally inspiring, uplifting communal experiences. In hindsight, I feel that they had a positive effect on the culture, even if much less so than I and others hoped at the time. Attending them was morally easy, fitting squarely with my sense of identity. This time, I also fully understand the motivation to protest the

Washington DC is one of the many cities in the US Mid-Atlantic region located on the “fall line” where the hard crystalline bedrock of the Piedmont meets the relatively soft sediments of the Coastal Plain. The region contains several major rivers that are as a rule wide, navigable and tidal up to the fall line. At that point they usually contain a steep fast stretch as they transition to their generally narrower, shallower, fresher Piedmont forms. Some of these “falls” are more impressive than others. Now that I’m listing them out, they appear to get more dramatic as you go south. A casual tuber could go over the falls on the Delaware at Trenton without spilling his or her drink (though to be fair I’ve only seen them briefly out a train window). The dam on the Schuylkill by the Philadelphia water works is a nice urban park, but it is overshadowed by the city's Museum of Art nearby (from Rocky ). Jones Falls in Baltimore features some dramatic scenes of post-industrial nature but th

As a young teenager, I went to a chamber music concert with my grandparents in a local church. They were trying to encourage my unexpected, growing interest in classical music. Some Mozart was on the program, I think it was the clarinet quintet, but I honestly can't remember. During the intermission, in the bathroom, I overheard two grey-haired men have a conversation something like this.  "Great concert."  "Yes, beautiful." "Eighteenth century music is my favorite. Of course there is some incredible nineteenth century music too, but I prefer the eighteenth century." "Sure." "I can't stand twentieth century music, though." "No, it's just not music." My awkward adolescent self was uncomfortable with the idea that I was joining this snobbish, absurdly conservative social scene through my unusual adolescent interest in classical music. At that point in my life I was still, to be honest, not really sure what I was list

Located in the Nantahala Mountains of western North Carolina, Standing Indian Mountain is a high point along the Eastern Continental Divide. Directly below it to the northeast, the very upper reaches of the Nantahala River, a cold, clear trout stream, flow north to join the Tennessee River on its much-impounded route to the Mississippi. To the southwest, visible from the viewpoint on the mountaintop, are the headwaters of the Tallulah River, which flows south into Georgia, and eventually into the Savannah River and the Atlantic Ocean. The western face of the mountain is a sizable bare bedrock ledge that quickly descends a few hundred feet, above a nearly 3000 foot descent to the valley bottom.The view from the mountain is about 180 degrees centered on the west, as the other side is densely forested. The Great Smoky Mountains, the Nantahala Mountains, and the Tusquitee Mountains dominate the scenery. An overwhelming network of ridges, pointed but gentle mountaintops, and steep valleys,

 The Saura Mountains are located northwest of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, near the Virginia border, by the Dan river. They are characterized by tall, sheer-sided outcrops of white quartzite dropping off directly from flat ridge tops. Some interesting rock formations can be seen and climbed on. Monadnocks surrounded on all sides by the vast rolling Piedmont, they are landmarks even though they are not especially tall, maxing out around 2500 feet. Hanging Rock State Park is a good place to walk through them. The view northwest looks across miles of Piedmont to the constant wall of the Blue Ridge of Virginia and NC. Higher summits peek out behind it here and there. The major peaks of the Southern Appalachians are too far away to the west and south to be visible, except perhaps for an extraordinarily clear day. The opposite, southeastern view is less interesting but in a way more impressive. Low, gently rolling terrain, more forested than cultivated, stretches off to the nearly flat hor

The Catskill Escarpment rises behind the historic stone buildings and hotels of the Hudson Valley. Looking west from the Howard Johnson outside of Saugerties Many of the places I hiked during my youth have come to seem small to me. The Catskill Escarpment on the other hand still provides a challenge, and a thrill, in its slightly depressing Upstate New York way. I first glimpsed it from across the Hudson as a child, riding along the Taconic Parkway, at dusk. A fading glow in the western sky behind it accented the ridge line, a massive landform that dwarfed the scattered human-made lights in the valley in front of it.  The sense of unqualified awe that I felt has diminished some since I've had the privilege of comparing the Catskills with the Rocky Mountains and the Andes, but the escarpment still has the capacity for adult-sized adventure. Running down its edge on a steep trail, the Hudson Valley directly below you, and watching the low horizon across the river rise rapidly in your