our trip to pilot mountain was just the jumpstart we needed to start getting out and about and hiking a bit more. so, later in the week, we packed up again, and this time headed to hanging rock state park. (ruby barfed on the way up, if you were wondering). our plan was to hike […]
mountains
escape to pilot mountain.

early in may, north carolina began phase one of “reopening” and part of that was state parks opening in various capacities. since it happened on a friday evening, we had no plans to venture out on that weekend with the masses of crazy people who had been cooped up for so long. then, it started […]
acadia. day one.bubbles, jordan pond, bass harbor lighthouse.

after a good night’s sleep, we wasted no time getting out and adventuring on our first day in acadia. we drove to the jordan pond house parking lot and then hopped on a shuttle to take us to the bubbles trailhead. this way, we could do a longer hike and see more and not have […]
alum cave trail to mount le conte.gsmnp.

our first visit to great smoky mountains was pretty low key. it was before we did a lot of hiking and the kids were a lot younger and it was winter so a lot of stuff was closed. so, when we decided to go back for our first excursion in the rv since settling back […]
back on the road.great smoky mountain national park.

when we decided to settle, it was our hope that we would still be able to travel a bit. so, after two months in the house, we packed up the rv to take a long weekend adventure just down the road, at great smoky mountain national park. it was very different getting ready for this […]
stone mountain hike.with a cousin.

so the story goes like this. my nephew is pretty active in trail life (a scout-like group at his church) and this summer they had big plans to meet up with another group from new mexico for 10-ish day (i think?) backpacking, camping, and fishing trip in colorado. he was trying to train for the […]
a sunny january hike at hanging rock.

for most of our time in winston-salem, its been rainy and cold or snowing and cold. it’s been pretty blah. but, finally the sun came out, and we took full advantage of it, driving up to hanging rock with our friends maya, livy, and heather, for a little bit of hiking and fresh air. ok. […]
mostly mount st. helens.(and some travel day pit stops).

our departure from mount rainier marked a crazy whirlwind week of travel, taking us from rainier to salt lake city by the end of the week. our first stop on the itinerary was a two day visit to mount st. helens. the travel day from rainier to mount st. helens wasn’t too long, but the […]
mount rainier hiking and camping extravaganza(mom and anna adventures).

most of our time at mount rainier was sort of overcast and cloudy. we could view the mountain from our campsite, but most days it was covered up by clouds and fog. but on one of the days during our time there, we awakened to clear blue skies and a great view of the mountain. […]
yosemite. part one.

ok. so. yosemite. “the crown jewel of the national park service”. we were both excited to see it and a little bit dreading the crowds. our campground was about an hour out of the valley and had no cell signal, so derek took the first week off entirely to explore and adventure and we would […]