South Mountain State Park, NC *We traveled to South Mountains State Park in the Spring of 2015. This was a sad time for Sylvia and I as my mother had just recently passed away after a long and difficult battle with heart and lung problems. Among many other things, the outdoors is a place we go to heal. **We have […]
Forest Ridge Park in Wake County Opens
Forest Ridge Park is Wake County’s newest! Located in the extreme Northern Corner of Raleigh, near the Wake County Line, is the new Forest Ridge Park. We think it may become on of the best places to hike in the Triangle area. Though it is a multi-use park, most of this new recreational area is preserved in its natural wooded […]
Beat the Crowds to Crowders Mountain
Crowders Mountain State Park, NC **We originally hiked Crowders Mountain State Park in 2012, and this trip draws heavily from that visit…so if you see some fashion styles that appear ‘so yesterday’, this explains it. **We have added Crowder’s Mountain to our list of Best Hikes in the Carolinas. It’s got some very fine trails if you can find a […]
The Roof of the Smokies…The Gregory Ridge Trail
The Gregory Ridge Trail, Great Smoky Mountain National Park *One of the Best Hikes in the Great Smoky Mountains is the Gregory Ridge Trail **We have added Gregory Bald to our list of the Best Hikes in the Southern Appalachians. It’s a fine trail well worth doing IF you can make the logistics work…this is one trail where getting there […]
The Wrath of the Volcano
Day 2: Misti Volcano The ‘day’ began with us being awakened by the guides hours before sunrise. The morning was cold and windy, wind chill well below freezing. This night had been a bizarre experience for us both. I was awakened at intervals gasping for breath, while Sylvia was simply cold, tired and hurting. The darkness outside the tent was […]
Under The Volcano
Day 1: Misti Volcano While Colca Canyon is by no means an easy trek, it did not break any new ground for either of us. Arid canyons, steep trails and multi-day hikes at elevation were all things we had done in the past, thresholds we had crossed before. But the next hike promised to push us far past the limits […]
Hitting the (3500 foot) Wall
Day 3 Colca Canyon There is no way out of Colca Canyon that does not involve walking. There is no vehicle road to the bottom, no helicopter service and no elevator. To escape you must climb the wall…either under your own power, or the on the back of a hired mule obliged to do it for you. We chose to […]
The Deep Abode of the Rio Colca
Day 2 Colca Canyon I was awakened the next morning at 4:45 am by someone yelling outside the hostel. Figuring it was some local yelling at a stubborn burro or lost chicken, I dismissed it and went back to sleep. A couple hours later, it was time to rise for real and get breakfast. The room had been decent; though […]
Colca Canyon: The Long Walk Down
Colca Canyon, Part Two: The Long Walk Down Arriving back at Chivay after the condor trip we prepared ourselves for three straight days of hiking in the canyon. The little pavilion at the start was mobbed with hikers; even though our tour consisted of just myself, Sylvia and the guide Eli, many tours start from here…serving as a reminder that […]
The Cross of the Condors
Colca Canyon, Peru: Part One, The Cross of the Condors At 1 am we rose groggily and prepared to depart our hotel. Close proximity to a cobblestone main street, through which traffic never stopped rolling, had denied us any real possibility of sleep. Not exactly how you want to start five days of rigorous hiking, but such is the way […]