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 […]
The Mountains Or The Sea — Why Not Both!
North Carolina’s Mountains to Sea Trail The most celebrated long distance hiking trail in the United State – and perhaps the most celebrated in the world among trails of its length – is the Appalachian Trail. This 2000+ mile footpath traces most of the Appalachian range from Georgia to Maine, and is what gave the term “Thru Hiking” its name. […]
A Grim Climbing Season Draws to a Close
Death Toll for the 2019 Himalayan Climbing Season Could Be Near Thirty Himalayan Hiking Season is finally, and perhaps mercifully, over. At least eleven people died attempting to summit Mount Everest this year. Tragically, several of those who died had in fact summited and were on the way down when they collapsed and died. The deaths attracted considerable media attention […]
The Team Expands to Five!
New Team Members Emily and Sayuri Join Us For The Month Of June It’s always good to be able to experience adventures from a new and fresh perspective. Sometimes, our own perspectives can easily make us jaded to amazing things all around us that we take completely for granted. For example, last autumn we traveled west to the Blue Ridge […]
Wilkerson Nature Preserve: A Microadventure
Wilkerson Nature Preserve, Raleigh *We have added Anne B. Wilkerson, MD Nature Preserve to our list of Best Local Hikes in the Triangle Area. Though small it is also quiet, scenic and feels much larger, in part because its trails connect to the much larger Falls Lake area and the Mountains to Sea Trail.* Not all the hikes we take […]
Mappy Hiking! New Trail Maps
We Expand the Blog With Trail Maps! Today’s subject is trail mapping apps in particular. But first, let’s digress for a bit and discuss maps in general. Back in Brian’s days as a hiker in the White Mountains, he never left home without one of his set of excellent maps published by the Appalachian Mountain Club. In fact, he […]
…What’s Not (Yet) in the Bucket List
The Bucket Reserve List: Potential Future BucketList Destinations Alas, our Bucket runneth over. Or maybe that should read…”Yippee! There’s too much cool sh-t to do!” Brian and Sylvia hope to complete all the BucketList adventures in about ten years…or at least as many as they can in that time. But we’ll always be adding new adventures to the Bucket. Here’s […]
Jefferson Mountain: A Hike Fit For All (Dogs Included)
Mount Jefferson by the Mountain Ridge Trail *We have added Mount Jefferson to the list of best places to hike in the Southern Appalachians and Carolinas. Though there are several nearby places which are superior…Elk Knob for example…and many of the best views are reachable by car, it’s still well worth checking out.* After a successful dog-human team hike of […]
Top Ten Hikes in the Southern Appalachians, Version 1.0
For some time we’ve been toying with the idea of publishing a list of our Favorite Hikes in the Southern Appalachians. We have a whole page devoted to the subject of course…but we have never published this as an actual ranked top ten list. Mostly this is because we didn’t feel we’d hiked enough times hereabouts to get a real […]
BucketList: The Far Side of the World
The Most Exotic Places on the Bucket List …And once more into the bucket we go! As promised here are landing pages for the rest of our BucketList destinations by region. Some of these are among the most exotic and far flung of our wish list! Click on the links or pictures below to see the landing page… Photo credits […]
Elk Knob – A Hike For Everybody
Elk Knob State Park Summit Trail is Fitz Roy’s First Mountain Hike *We have added Elk Knob State Park as one of the Best Places to Hike in the Southern Appalachians. This is truly an excellent hike for everybody; a very well graded trail, excellent viewpoints, and not too crowded (yet.) Last weekend Minister of Expedition Planning Brian broke down […]