Welcome to Rucksack Zen, a photo journal of my adventures on the trail. The name comes from Buddhism and the references to rucksacks in Jack Kerouac’s The Dharma Bums, one of my favorite novels. I have loved the outdoors as far back as my scouting years, but as I became an adult and life got busier, my connection to the outdoors began to drop off, especially after I moved to New York City. But like all things in life, what is old is new again, and I have returned to the trail and the mountains, slowly but surely. Among my goals? Climbing Mt. Marcy, New York’s highest peak; and completing the Catskill 3500 (summiting the 33 highest peaks in the Catskills), the Long Path through New Jersey and New York, and the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine.