when an unexpected wide open weekend presented itself to me, i wasted no time planning my escape. it’s a busy time of year for hiking and camping in the south and the government shutdown further complicated matters, with national park service campsites all closing up and sending campers scurrying into state and private campgrounds. i […]
hiking
rocky camp and hike vibes.
the kids are all settled back in school. temps are cooling. it’s about that time to take some weekend camping trips. for my first trip this fall, i was able to line up my campground with a scheduled hike with my local hiking group. i headed up to rocky knob campground off the blue ridge […]
almost heaven…
just spent an absolutely delightful weekend in fayetteville west virginia with my outdoor loving pal heather. we crammed in a bit of everything: rafting, hiking, coffee shops, dining, shopping, live music and sightseeing. we departed friday afternoon and drove up to our cozy airbnb right in downtown fayetteville. once we were checked in, we set […]
chutes and ladders at gramps.
ok. this hike was fantastic. hard. long. a little dangerous. but so fantastic. i met up with my hiking group friends for a ten-ish hour adventure on majestic grandfather mountain, namely a 12.25 mile and almost 4000′ elevation gain hike, chock full of all the best amenities first of all. there was an old plane […]
outside. with new friends.
on a particularly drizzly and foggy day in early auguest, i was able to meet up with my local hiking group for a little stroll along the appalachian trail in the mount rogers national recreation area. we logged eleven muddy miles and 2700 feet of elevation gain, so it was a decent enough workout, even […]
my first ADK high peak. (phelps).
for our final day in the adirondacks, i was able to meet up with my old pal from batavia, andrea. when we were in the area a few years ago, she and i went on a pretty great hike to noonmark and round mountain. this time, she wasn’t sure if she could work me into […]
owls head lookout
for our final family adventure in the adirondacks, we opted for a 5.2 mile hike to owl’s head lookout. it was pretty wooded and buggy and a mostly steady incline the entire way until a final steep scramble to get us to the top. it clocked in around 1200′ elevation gain total. obligatory foot bridge […]
middle kid ADK epic hike.
it’s becoming a bit of a tradition on our family trips, that not only do we schedule a day for me to go on an epic adventure without the fam, but we also plan an extra long extra cool excursion for me and the annababy. for this vacations extra long extra cool adventure, we chose […]
balanced rocks. adk version.
upon getting settled into our little airbnb in the adirondacks, we planned out our week of adventures. first up, a quick little hike up to some balanced rocks. there’s a lot of “balanced rocks” hikes in this country and i feel like we have been on four or five at this point. this one happened […]
the lemon squeeze (not squeezeR).
for this years family vacation, we kept things simple. a week in the adirondacks, followed by a week in western new york. and since we were going to the adirondacks first, our route would take us through the catskills, right past a hike i long ago placed on my bucket list. in 2016, when we […]