How — and whether– To Pursue Adventure in the Midst of Pandemic Last week Sylvia and Brian were hiking out in the mountains of North Carolina Mountains, celebrating Brian’s birthday. We returned home to a different world than the one we left. True, the writing had been on the wall, if one had been willing to see it. Already, the […]
Surf Dog! Fun and Frolics at Fort Macon, NC
Fitz Roy Visits Fort Macon State Park Beach Sylvia and I are all about doing something new. Last weekend, we went to the beach. For us, this is nothing new. We live only two or three hours from some of the best beaches in the Eastern US north of Florida. We make several trips to the fine coastal areas of […]
It’s National Parks Week!
US National Parks Waive Their Entrance Fee for a Day It’s National Parks Week! US National Parks offered free admission on Saturday, April 20. Did you take advantage? Many people have likely heard about the entrance fee increases in National Parks. While some ghastly numbers were bandied about as trial balloons early in the process, the actual fee increases ended […]
North Face Team Climbers Presumed Lost in Avalanche
Three Respected Climbers Missing, Presumed Dead in Avalanche at Canada’s Banff National Park Tragic news from Banff National Park this morning. Three of the most respected members of the mountaineering world have apparently been killed in an avalanche. https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/18/americas/north-face-climbers-presumed-dead-avalanche/index.html David Lama, Jess Roskelley, and Hansjörg Auer were “caught in an avalanche earlier this week while attempting to climb the east face of Howse […]
Patagonia (or Bust): Staying Safe
Surviving Patagonia: Staying Safe Means Staying Warm and Dry Once the logistical challenges of hiking in Patagonia are settled (which remains very far from being the case for Brian and Sylvia) one must turn to the actual physical challenges of the hike itself. Fortunately, altitude will not be one of these. On all three of our Peru expeditions, at least […]
Shock, Sorrow…And Hope…for Our Lady of Paris
Notre Dame Cathedral Burns Just Eight Months After We Visited *BecauseItzThere was planning to run the third in a series of posts about our preparations for Patagonia. However, in light of the tragic events in France — and a place which we feel oddly connected to — we decided that can wait a bit.* By now almost everyone who has […]
Patagonia (or Bust): Staying There
Getting Ready for Patagonia Means Figuring Out Where to Stay Once we’ve reached Patagonia, the logistical challenges do not end. One might be tempted the think that you can just show up with a backpack and hike. The temptation is false; you can’t just show up and hike either the ‘W’ or the full Torres Del Paine circuit. In fact, […]
Patagonia (Or Bust): Getting There
Getting Ready for Patagonia, the Hard to Get to Place (Featured image Cerro Fitz Roy by Martin St-Amant – Wikipedia – CC-BY-SA-3.0) The departure time for our Patagonia Trip is approaching. Last year we embarked on the Tour Du Mont Blanc in mid July. Knowing we would likely face severe logistical challenges we booked everything well in advance…most of the […]
Waterfalled and Waterlogged: Dark Hollow Falls and the AT
The Great Shenandoah Trip Part II During the first night of our trip to the Shenandoah NP it rained. Quite intensely. Brian has been through several terrible storms in his tent, the worst probably being an absolutely petrifying thunderstorm in Canyonlands NP in 2007 or so. This night was no where near as bad as that one, but it was […]
The Great Valley
The Great Shenandoah Trip Part I Sometimes a bit of serendipity falls upon one disguised as bad luck. For example…Last week we were supposed to go away for a weekend trip, which would have been the subject of this blog post. Unfortunately, Sylvia’s business commitments prevented this from happening. In search of something to write about, site Editor Brian found […]
Spring is Here, Time for Hiking…and Updates!
Updates to the Site Spring is the time when hiking season gets into full swing. In the Southern Appalachians you can actually hike any time of year, and summer is perhaps the LEAST attractive month. Spring is our second favorite season behind fall. It’s also time for some updates to the site. We have added some new prospective hikes to […]