Sometimes the best adventures aren't the ones with the biggest summits, the longest miles, or the hardest obstacles. Sometimes the best adventures are simply based on the company that you keep.
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Hiking
I was slow to get moving on Saturday morning, putzing around for last minute packing and shopping for food like salami and trail mix. All this meant I was a little slow to leave for Boone, past rusting cars in a field by a sign that read "Dirt for Sale" and billboards and signs advertising ski supplies and fly fishing guides. Worse than being late though was finding the Profile Trail parking lot blocked by orange cones and a sign that read "Lot Full." I skidded into a parking lot down the road from the trailhead to try to figure out my next move. There was another trail option for hiking up Grandfather Mountain: I just had to find it.
There's a reason why hikers get wide-eyed and eager when they hear "Grayson Highlands." There's a reason why those who have been before return time and again, and why those who haven't been are encouraged to go as soon as they can. Ponies! Balds! Easy hiking! PONIES!
On Friday morning when a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to help clean up a state park on Saturday morning, I of course said "yes!" It's so easy to take for granted green areas and watersheds, whether they are tucked away from most of civilization in a wilderness area or just down the street from cities and homes.
Neusiok Trail, Croatan National Forest - Leading up to my trip I really thought I was going to walk into a Lost Colony sort of scenario and just disappear into unknown woods. My efforts to research the trail and plan my overnights had just been one big "404 Not Found" love fest. "Click here for a link to a map!" 404 Not Found. "Click here for directions to the trail head!" 404 Not Found. "Click here for shuttle information!" 404 Not Found. But my backpacking NC book and Mountains-to-Sea Trail book encouraged me to go ahead and just explore.
If anyone, especially me, ever asks you if you want to backpack the highest peak east of the Mississippi in cold, persistent rain, make sure your answer is “HELL NO.”
If you do a Google search for “Art Loeb Trail” you’ll find all sorts of blog posts by people who decided to go on a hike or a trail run in the wilderness and totally got their butts kicked. This blog post is no exception.
Everyone it seems has their own side hustle: their product that they brand and market nonstop, myself sometimes included. And right now 'tis the season to market, market, market! in anticipation of the feeding frenzy of post-Thanksgiving consumerism. "Buy my etsy crafts!" "Buy my make-up!" "Buy my skin toning device!" "Buy my juice cleanse!"
Ugh, doesn't it just make you sick?