Welcome to Breakfast in America
I’m a Brit who unexpectedly emigrated to the USA in 2008, and this is my photo journal.
It’s an eclectic mix of things; there’s no guiding theme or topic. It is whatever catches my attention, what I’ve been thinking, doing, or piques my interest. Currently that’s mainly backpacking and clearing some of the backlog on my ‘honey-do’ list.
Popular posts
Trending pictures and short posts.
Memories
A dozen pictures, picked at random from my favorite memories. You can see my portfolio here.
Tourists – the Roman Baths, Bath UK
Kayaking and Fishing on Stockton Lake
Larchwood path
South Parade Pier – Variations on a theme – II
Frosty Morning
Table Rock Lake at Piney Creek Wilderness
English Breakfast
Watching the Dawn
Blue Ball
Apart … (365:270)
KFC at the Pompey Centre, Portsmouth
Gary and the Truck Cab on the Pees Hollow Trail
Recent Posts
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Blazes? We don’t need no stinking blazes
Blazes? We don’t need no stinking blazes — Backpacking the Big Piney Trail, February 2026. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Yes I’ve used that image title before. Then it was on the Berryman Trail. I hope they are more restrained here. At Berryman the trees were thinned out to the point where there’s very little shade left for hikers, and it looked pretty bare.
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Paddy Creek Road Looking southeast, Big Piney Trail, Paddy Creek Wilderness — Day Two
Paddy Creek Road Looking southeast, Big Piney Trail, Paddy Creek Wilderness — Day Two. Backpacking the Big Piney Trail, February 2026. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. This is the first Paddy Creek Road crossing if you are hiking the trail clockwise. To the south of the road is Paddy Creek Wilderness, to the north, Mark Twain National Forest. We’re about to cross over into Mark Twain National Forest.
View across Paddy Creek Road to the northeast, Big Piney Trail, Paddy Creek Wilderness — Backpacking the Big Piney Trail, February 2026. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Where the trail continues is easy to see across the road. Not so much the second crossing of Paddy Creek Road, above the Paddy Creek Campground. There you have to go up hill a few yards to find where the trail picks up.
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South Loop/North Loop Short Cut on the Big Piney Trail
South Loop/North Loop Short Cut, Big Piney Trail, Paddy Creek Wilderness. Backpacking the Big Piney Trail, February 2026. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. South Loop/North Loop Short Cut, Big Piney Trail — just a short way further along the trail it drops down towards Little Paddy Creek. In that section I encountered some very thick wood smoke. Even though I know from experience that smoke can travel miles and still be very thick, it was a bit disconcerting!
This is my last picture of the day, and I didn’t take any pictures of my camp in ‘Spring Hollow’ either. The light was fading as I got to the point where I leave the trail, and rather than scrambling over huge boulders and down very steep hillsides in the diminishing light, I tried another route cutting into the hollow from the south after I had passed the shut-ins and spring. That worked, and I arrived just as it started to get dark. I was very pleased to see water running in the creek. The spring must still be running, despite the drought.
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Gary on the Big Piney Trail, Paddy Creek Wilderness, February 2026
Gary on the Big Piney Trail, Paddy Creek Wilderness, February 2026 — Time for another quick selfie. It’s after four pm, and I have a couple of miles left to go. Backpacking the Big Piney Trail, February 2026. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
All that remains
All that remains — Backpacking the Big Piney Trail, February 2026. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. The homestead chimney at the junction of the South Loop and the shortcut to the North Loop, Paddy Creek Wilderness. There’s a well and circular foundation nearby too.
I’ve often wondered what it was like to live here, presumably after the area had been clear cut. There is evidence of several major old ‘roads’ to be seen in the wilderness near here.
From here I’m taking the Short Cut to the North Loop. And my hunch about the burn ban was right. There’s cell phone reception here and I received the ‘Red Flag’ notification while checking in with Ginger. It’s 16:10, and I have a couple of miles left to go.
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Big Piney Trail
Big Piney Trail — these signs are easy to spot when they are new, but after a year or so they go gray and almost invisible unless you know to look out for them. Backpacking the Big Piney Trail, February 2026. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
New Trail junction on the Big Piney Trail
New Trail junction on the Big Piney Trail — Backpacking the Big Piney Trail, February 2026. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Back in December 2024, I met a Forest Ranger and a couple of guys near the trailhead. They’d been surveying the North Loop between the trail junction and the falls, assessing changes to the trail, as it had become eroded and rough in places. That work looks to have been completed, and the start of the South loop has been rerouted too. According to my GPS, this junction is located a tenth of a mile from the old trail junction. For the North Loop, take a left, for the South Loop go straight on.
My only concern about this change is that the most popular route for ‘Sunday afternoon hikers,’ the North Loop to the Falls and back, is not clearly identified. There is no mention of North/South Loops or the falls on the signs to help people who don’t have maps or know the area. Wildernesses are not supposed to have blazes and signs, but more blazes and signs seem to be appearing all the time. This has been driven by a need to cut rescue efforts and costs, as cell phones embolden people to venture out without the correct preparations and gear. So, leaving the trail names off these signs, to me, defeats the reason for having them in the first place.
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Start of trip selfie, Paddy Creek Wilderness
Start of trip selfie, Paddy Creek Wilderness — Backpacking the Big Piney Trail, February 2026. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. I’ve not taken one of these in ages, so why not? The only issue right now is that it is just after two pm, my campsite is seven miles away, and it gets dark between five and six. I’d better get moving!
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Hot Pink Mess at the Roby Lake Trailhead
Hot Pink Mess Backpacking the Big Piney Trail, February 2026.
Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.I was confronted with this pile of what appears to be hot pink trail blaze tapes as I was signing in at the Roby Lake Trailhead at Paddy Creek Wilderness. My initial guess was that someone had been over-enthusiastically blazing the trail, and had some spare blazes left over. Whatever.
I’m here for a two-night stay of the Big Piney Trail. I plan to get in around twenty miles, on what’s going to be my first long hike in around nine months.
- Today, Wednesday, February 18, 2026, I’ll be taking the South Loop up to the North Loop short cut, and then the North Loop to a spot I’ve called ‘Spring Hollow’ I’m heading there, as we’re still in the middle of a drought, and despite some recent rain, it’s still pretty dry, and the spring there has proved reliable so far.
- Thursday, I plan to hike the remainder of the North Loop north and back around to the South Loop and then get myself to another favorite place I’ve nicknamed ‘Paddy Creek Trolltunga.’ Thursday night and Friday morning will be the coldest of the trip, 34°F and 45°F, respectively.
- Friday, I’m taking the shorter (faster) route back to the trailhead, continuing along the South Loop. Why the rush? It’s our wedding anniversary, I dropped Ginger off at her parents on the way to Paddy Creek, and I’ll join her when I’ve finished my hike on Friday.
The weather is going to be mostly warm and sunny, albeit windy too, so I took a gamble and packed my 40°F fair weather top quilt. Judging by the wind and weather, I thought a ‘burn ban’ was likely so instead of my alcohol stove, I packed my butane stove (MSR PocketRocket).
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The Kauffman Center from the 32nd floor terrace, Kansas City Power and Light Building
The Kauffman Center from the 32nd floor terrace, Kansas City Power and Light Building. Copyright © 2026 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. We were at the Kauffman Center last night for Chris Thile with the Kansas City Symphony.
I decided that the view from a nineteen-thirties building deserved a retro color treatment. I know it’s not period appropriate, but I like it.
