Everest, Traffic Jams…and Death.

I think by now almost everyone who follows news in the outdoor world has seen this incredible photo. A queue reported by CNN to be over 300 people waits in the ‘death zone’ (above 8000 meters) just below the summit of Everest. Of the over two hundred climbers who have died on Everest, most have died in the death zone. […]

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 […]

King Charles Town

Charleston, SC Part II After visiting Fort Moultrie Sylvia made Brian swear not to visit any more forts or historical sites for the remainder of the trip. Brian grudgingly agreed. However, this would not really be possible since Charleston  — Travel and Leisure Magazine’s ‘World’s Best City” in 2016 — basically is one gigantic historical site. With apologies to the […]

An Unexpected Blast From the Past

The Golden State, back in our Golden Age I was recently rooting through some of my old photographs from the pre-digital and early digital age…the days when you still had to get pictures ‘developed’ before you could see them. I must admit I have no nostalgia for this age whatsoever. My purpose was to dig up so old pictures from […]

Whitewater Falls, a (drop in the) Bucket List

 Waterfall Week II: Whitewater Falls Almost every Bucket List of waterfalls in North Carolina has Whitewater Falls near the top. Why? Well, as well say in Boston, it’s Wicked Big!!! According to Romantic Asheville, Whitewater Falls is a total of 811 feet high*! Woo Hoo! It’s Wicked Huge!!! In fact it’s the tallest Waterfall East of the Rockies!** You will […]

Get Ready to go BACK over the Falls!

Waterfall Week II is here! It’s time to take the plunge once again and examine the cascades, spouts, grottoes, hollows and other natural waterworks that are collectively known as waterfalls. In the Southern Appalachians there are a lot of waterfalls. In North Carolina alone there are probably hundreds…the Wikipedia list of just the NAMED popular falls alone is close to […]

A Hidden Gem at Falls Lake!

  Blue Jay Point County Park, Wake County, NC **We have added Blue Jay Point County Park to our list of best local hikes. The park hosts part of the Mountains to Sea Trail, the continuous footpath that links the twin highlights of the Tar Heel State…it’s fabulous seacoast and its mountainous Western Border. It is one of our favorite […]