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 […]
Leftovers from Paradise
***This completes my series of posts highlighting our 2014 Maui trip, featuring some of the best things to do and best places to hike in Maui. Meanwhile, Sylvia and I are just back from our second shakeout hike of the year, to Pilot Mountain State Park, about 2 hours down the road. While I cook up a new post about […]
New on BecauseItzThere.com!
We have a passel of new updates to Becauszeitzthere.com! Check out some of the recent updates to our pages, including… Updates to our Bucket List Hikes Updates to the Hikes pages, including… New Great Hikes in the USA and Canada! New featured posts for the Best Hikes in North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee New Advice for hikers, including the editors […]
You Rock, John! The John Rock Hike
The John Rock Hike via the Cat Gap/John Rock Trails *John Rock is one of Becauseitzthere’s Best Hikes in North Carolina. It is also a featured Best Hike Near Asheville (it is less than an hour away.) See our hikes page!* Sylvia and I chose John Rock, located in North Carolina’s Pisgah National Forest, as our inaugural hike of 2018, […]
To Hike Beyond the Sunrise: Haleakala Volcano
Haleakala Volcano ***Haleakala Volcano via the Sliding Sands Trail, completed in 2014, is one of Brian and Sylvia’s Bucket List Hikes!*** The Great Shield Volcano of Haleakala, at 10,023 feet, dominates the island of Maui. In fact, its broad slopes comprise 75% of the island…this and another lobe of uplands give Maui its distinctive butterfly shape, while the lowland that […]
ROAD TO HANA
ROAD TO HANA: Kaihalulu Bay, Red Sand Beach and Hamoa Beach Located on the famed Road to Hana (and a considerable distance along it, right outside the hamlet of Hana itself) is the famed Red Sand Beach of Kaihahula Bay. Like many of the spots off the RTH this one is not marked, not easy to find, approached by a […]
MAUI
MAUI Name pretty much speak for itself huh? In 2013 Sylvia and I vacationed in Paradise, or about as close as you can get to it on Earth. This is the Hawaiian Island of Maui. Note only is it a paradise, but it is one of the most remote places on Earth. But it wasn’t all sitting around on the […]
MOUNT CAMMERER, GSMNP
***This is a reboot of a post originally featured on the old blog of one of several hikes we did in October in the Great Smoky Mountains. The rest were nowhere near as good as this one (mostly due to weather.) This one bears mentioning as perhaps the best view in the entire park. Not mentioned below was the very […]
The Alum Cave Trail to Mt. Leconte
***This is a a re-boot of The Alum Cave Trail to Mt. Leconte Post featured on our old Blog in 2017…while Sylvia and I very much enjoyed this aerobically challenging hike, we don’t regard it is one of the best in we’ve ever done. In fact, there are better hikes in the Smokies…Mt. Cammerer for example! Apologies in advance for […]
OLD RAG MOUNTAIN
***Here’s a re-boot of the post I originally posted on our old blog site about a hike we did in September of last year…Virginia’s Old Rag Mountain. I have more and better pictures of the hike now. 🙂 Sylvia and I both consider this to be the Best Day Hike in the entire Southern Appalachian Mountains…IF you go when it’s […]
Super hiking plans for Super Sunday!
Pre-Super Bowl update on our Tour du Mont Blanc planning… If IS official, Brian & Sylvia re going to attempt (no, FINISH!) the Tour Du Mont Blanc…the 110 mile walking circuit around the Mont Blanc Massif, the highest mount in the Alps and all of western Europe. On the way the route passes through France, Italy, Switzerland, and back into […]