The first two episodes chronicle the 17-day, 400-mile trip, a mix of hiking and pack rafting in one of the most wild and remote spots around. The scenery and struggle are compelling. But it’s the third episode that’s especially worth watching (though you need to watch the first two episodes for the full impact).

In “What Went Wrong Hiking In Alaska — Gear, Food, Health” — Darwin and one of the other two participants review the trip, looking at what went wrong and what they might have been done to make the trip a little less, in their words, “Type 8 Fun.” (Officially, the unofficial scale only goes up to Type 3.) It’s a good exercise in scrutinizing a trip.Check it out starting here.

It also reminded me of an ill-fated trip from 2011, and my similar attempt to learn from my mistakes. Certainly not as epic as Darwin’s trip, certainly not as many interesting failures. More similar, though, to issues you may have experienced. That story from 2011 begins below … 

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Back in the old days – meaning before I got a GPS – I knew I’d been on a good hike when I couldn’t wait to get home and perform a topopsy. That would be a postmortem in which I would get out a topo map and try to figure out why, instead of going from Point A to Point B, I’d wound up at Q. Nothing quite like that post-hike thrill of figuring out that you should have gone left at the junction just past the beech cove rather than right, which, it turns out, dumps you in the backyard of a rustic type with a fondness for easily-angered dogs and cinderblocked pickups bearing bumper stickers of a laissez-faire theme.

The post Learning from What Went Wrong appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

When landscape design historian/educator/author Kathryn Aalto moved her family from Seattle to England several years ago, she remembers looking down on the approaching English landscape as their plane descended and thinking,  “How am I going to raise my children here?”
Aalto was used to the more untamed land of the Pacific Northwest. Below her was a highly manicured rolling countryside, the result of several centuries of human domination.

“I needed to get a sense of place,” she told a gathering last night at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, the latest stop on her U.S. book tour. “I discovered that walking was going to do it.”
It did, resulting in part in her new book, “The Natural World of Winnie-the-Pooh.” In it, she casts a naturalist’s eye on the 6,000-acre Ashdown Forest in southeast England, the inspiration for A.A. Milne’s Hundred Acre Wood, the setting for Christopher Robin’s childhood adventures with Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and the rest of the magical menagerie.
Aalto talked about the English countryside of bracken, gorse and heather. She talked of the “nibblers” — the goats, the sheep, the Belted Galloways — that manicure the landscape. She showed a photo of the expansive walnut tree that inspired Pooh’s home. And she shared from her research insights into Milne, his son Christopher Robin, and illustrator E.H. Shepard.

Her sizable audience was, as expected, most interested in Pooh and his world. But there was one sidebar to the main topic that drew a good deal of interest: Aalto’s walking, and the fact you can walk anywhere in England: the 267-mile Pennine Way, which runs south to north, into Scotland; the 102-mile Cotswold Way, offering insight into the English countryside; and dozens of other nationwide trails.
She spoke of the country’s “legal right to roam,” a legacy of coming into being long before the automobile, when walking was the only way to get around. If a walking path has been in existence long enough, the public has a right to walk it, private ownership be danged. A stark contrast to America, where vast distances and a desire to quickly lay claim to and conquer the land meant opting for the fastest means of transport currently available, has created a starkly different attitude toward perambulating.
“We have greenways,” one woman in the crowd commented.
“And they’re lovely,” said Aalto.
“Yes,” agreed the woman wistfully. “I just wish we had more.”
The greenway boom in the Triangle — with nearly 250 miles currently, up about 500 percent in the past two decades — can give a sense of the English walking experience. Add to that the north-south passage of the emerging 2,900-mile East Coast Greenway (one day making it possible to walk north to Canada, south to Key West, Florida), and the 1,150-mile Mountains-to-Sea Trail (walk west to Clingman’s Dome, east to Jockey’s Ridge), and an American-style walking vacation may be closer than we think.
That will go a long way toward helping more of us discover what Kathryn Aalto did when she arrived in England.
A sense of place.

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How about Transylvania and Jackson counties, and their respective basecamps of Brevard and Sylva?

From Tuesday, Sept. 9 through Sunday, Sept. 14, those communities along with the State of North Carolina’s Department of Natural and Cultural Resources are sponsoring two events under Gov. Josh Stein’s Rediscover the Unforgettable campaign. That campaign aims to let folks know that Western North Carolina is rebounding from last September’s Hurricane Helene and is eager to welcome tourists.

A disclosure before pressing on: My day job is with the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources and a good deal of my time lately has been spent helping to put these events together. Thus, I’m exceptionally excited about both events, which you can find out more about by clicking the links below:

• Rediscover the Unforgettable: The Art of Exploring Brevard (this event coincides with Brevard’s second annual Plein Air Festival), Sept. 9-10
• Rediscover the Unforgettable: Sylva Adventure Sampler, Sept. 12-14

Both events include a smorgasbord of adventures, from rafting, paddling and tubing, to mountain biking, waterfall chasing and Forest Bathing.

And, of course, hiking.

There are 7 hikes as part of both events. And because the events are back-to-back, that’s nearly a week’s worth of continuous hiking. All the incentive you need to make a getaway out of it.

The hikes

The hike schedule follows. Although most hikes are free, space is limited; If you see a hike of interest, click the link and sign up. Additional information — trailhead location, weather forecast two days out, what to wear and bring — will be sent upon registration.

• 

  Tuesday, Sept. 9, 10 a.m. John Rock Hike, 4.7 miles, moderate difficulty. This lollipop loop hike starts and ends from the Fish Hatchery near the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education, and includes a break atop the trail’s namesake, a rock outcrop offering stellar views. Learn more and sign up here.

• Tuesday, Sept. 9, 4 p.m., Pink Beds Loop, 5 miles, moderate difficulty. A surprisingly flat hike, this trail spends much of its time navigating a rare mountain bog, elevated in the swampy parts by strategically placed boardwalk. Learn more and sign up here.

• 

  Wednesday, Sept. 10, 10 a.m., Sam Knob Hike, 8.7 miles, moderate difficulty. This hike includes great views of the Shining Rock Wilderness and passage along mountain streams, a waterfall, through a high-altitude Balsam Forest and more. Learn more and sign up here.’

• Friday, Sept. 12, 9 a.m., Pinnacle Park in. Sylva.  This 6.2-mile up-and-back hike on the Pinnacle Trail will be led by Jackson County Parks and Recreation. It gains 2,000 vertical feet and is recommended “for those who have previous experience hiking, although anyone is encouraged to try.” Learn more and sign up here.
• Saturday, Sept, 13, 9:30 a.m. – noon, Forest bathing at Pinnacle Park, If you’ve heard of forest bathing, the Japanese practice of restoring your soul through nature, here’s your chance to check it out. This hike will be led by Mark Ellison, a certified forest therapy guide and forest therapy trail consultant by the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy. Learn more and sign up here.
• Saturday, Sept. 13, 5 p.m., Late Day Walk on the Jackson County Greenway, Sylva, 5 p.m. We wind down the day with a mellow 2.3-mile walk on the Jackson County Greenway in Sylva. Learn more and sign up here.
• Sunday, Sept. 14, 9 a.m., Hike the Mountains-to-Sea Trail: Soco Gap to Waterrock Knob, 8.8 miles. moderately difficult. On this out-and-back hike we will ascend to the highest point on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, 6,692-foot Waterrock Knob, then descend back to the trailhead. Learn more and sign up here.

This is a great lineup of hikes and the perfect opportunity to reintroduce your hiking self to Western North Carolina. Not a bad way to get a jump on the fall hiking season.

Hope to see you there!

The post Rediscover Western NC with a week of great hikes appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Sunday, for instance, I caught up with Howard for the first time since he’d returned from hiking  a section of the Camino de Santiago in June. I was especially interested because Howard’s plan was to average 15 miles a day for 7 days; Howard is in good shape and a strong hiker, but that’s the kind of mileage AT thru-hikers aspire to — after building up for a month on the trail.

“It was good,” he said, a bit subdued, I thought. In the ensuing mile of discussion it turned out that the hike itself was beyond good, but the daily mileage took its toll in the form of one injury I had heard of (planter facitiis) and one I hadn’t (something involving the big toe).

I hadn’t seen Phyllis for about the same amount of time, during which she had done two trips, one in the Swiss Alps, one in the Canadian Rockies. In the seven years I’ve hiked with Phyllis, it seems she’s been just about everywhere. In fact, having done 34 trips in 10 years she’s pretty much run through every trip Roads Scholars offers.

“There is the Inca Trail,” she said, “but my time for that may have passed.” Less a physical thing, explained Phyllis, who is in her late 70s, more to do with altitude. 

I spent a good deal of time hiking with Jennifer and quizzing her on her and hubby Dan’s October trip to Patagonia. 

“Are you looking at Patagonia as an excuse to get new gear?” I asked. “Like rain gear? Could be an issue that time of year down there.”

“Actually, we’ve got good rain gear, from our trips to Iceland.”

Ah, yes Iceland, plural. 

I will admit there’s a twinge of envy when I hear these tales. In large part because what I do is limited to the Southeast, especially North Carolina, my hiking is mostly in the region. Which certainly is nothing to complain about: if I have to be restricted to one area, this is it. In my mind, with the Appalachians, the Piedmont and even the coast, North Carolina is indeed the Great Trails State.

After Howard shared his injuries I asked if he would do it again. He’d done about 90 miles on the Camino, and there are many miles more to be done. “Oh, yeah,” he replied without a thought. “We’ll, maybe not the Camino. But another hiking trip.” He mentioned the famous Hadrian’s Wall hike across England, and Scotland as destinations.

That got me to thinking about motive, about whether I’d yet to find a hiking trip I really wanted to take, one that provided sufficient motivation. And that got me to thinking about WildBeare. 

Wild Beare is a YouTube adventure blogger, of which there are many: got a smartphone and like to hike? You’re an adventure blogger. Wild Beare is different. She uses quality video gear (including an efeectively-used drone), has a great eye, and with every video seems to visit the most inviting spots on the planet. And all are in her backyard of the Chiltern Hills of England.

Chiltern Hills? 

Of all the hiking tours I’ve scouted online, I don’t recall one mentioning the Chiltern Hills (her adventures also spill into neighboring Wales). Yet Wild Beare’s adventures up it’s 700-meter moonscape peaks, into it’s vigorous waterfalls, and beneath it’s starry moonless nights has catapulted the Chiltern Hills to the top of my must-visit list. 

Perhaps more importantly, the tales shared by the globetrotters I hike with makes me realize such a trip can be done. My friends do it all the time: they leave, they hike, they return. And they return with tales of great adventure.

Another thing I’ve learned from my globetrotting hikers: Now’s the time to start planning for next year. Hiking trips, by their nature, are limited in size and they fill up fast. Time to start doing research.

Who knows, maybe next year I’ll be the one returning with tales of great adventure. And possibly a well-earned injury.

* * *

Plan your big adventure

Motivated to plan your next — or first — hiking vacation? Here are 5 popular guide operations that popped up on a Google search. Note: These are not, obviously, recommendations.

• Roads Scholars Leads trips covering a wide range of adventures worldwide. Phyllis’s choice.
• REI Adventures Focuses on U.S. adventures.
• Backroads Offers a range of packages worldwide.
• Wildland Trekking Leads trips worldwide.
• Wilderness England Offers both guided and self-guided trips.

The post Maybe it’s time for the Chiltern Hills appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Today, I share a post from that trip originally published on January 22, 2011. I share it in part as a reminder that I have some unfinished business. Read to the end to find out.  

* * *

Back in the old days – meaning before I got a GPS – I knew I’d been on a good hike when I couldn’t wait to get home and perform a topopsy. That would be a postmortem in which I would get out a topo map and try to figure out why, instead of going from Point A to Point B, I’d wound up at Q. Nothing quite like that post-hike thrill of figuring out that you should have gone left at the junction just past the beech cove rather than right, which, it turns out, dumps you in the backyard of a rustic type with a fondness for easily-angered dogs and cinderblocked pickups bearing bumper stickers of a laissez-faire theme.

I still get that thrill, only now I get it after plugging the Garmin Coloradointo the Mac, downloading my tracks and waypoints, then basking in the laptop glow of failure. I mean adventure.

Last weekend I headed up to the mountains. The initial plan was to backpack. When my hiking partner backed out and the winter weather turned out to be more wintery than someone with my backcountry skill set should attempt solo, I modified the plan: use the Davidson River campground, under about eight inches of snow, as basecamp for testing some winter gear, doing some cross-country skiing and a hike. (I wrote about the skiing end of the trip earlier in the week). I was indecisive about the hike until I noticed that the Carolina Mountain Club was doing a Sunday hike in the Shining Rock Wilderness.

I’ve hiked and backpacked a fair amount in Shining Rock, a 18,500-acre wild area that has some of the best views in the state. But I’d never done this 10-mile loop because I didn’t know it existed. In fact, it doesn’t exist, at least on any map I have of the area. Alas, by the time I tried to sign up, the hike was full (groups are limited to 10 people in a wilderness). “I’ll let you know if we have a cancellation,” hike leader Charlie Peterson emailed me.

Turns out they did, but I didn’t find out about it until the hike was about ready to start. I quickly packed and made the 45-minute drive from my Davidson River base camp to the trailhead. I said the hike didn’t exist on paper: That’s not entire correct. The main legs of the hike – the ridgeline out on Fork Mountain Trail, the return along the Little East Fork of the Pigeon River, do exist. It’s the climb from the Daniel Boone Scout Camp up to Fork Mountain Trail, and the descent down to Little East Fork that you won’t find on a map. And, I discovered, unless you’re a CMC hike leader, you’ll be very hard pressed to find the trailhead.

The trip map on the CMC Web site (OK, the loop does exist on one map) shows the trailhead just past the dam as you enter the Daniel Boone complex. The accompanying trail description simply says: “Climb to High Top tower site, follow the Fork Mtn. ridge, then descend to Little East Fork of Pigeon River.:-)” It’s the smiley that gets me.

The problem wasn’t that I couldn’t find a trail, the problem was I found too many trails: The wilderness borders Forest Service land criss-crossed with logging roads. Did the trail follow an old logging road? I started following a likely suspect, likely because it appeared maintained, likely because it seemed to follow the route on the CMC map, likely because there were bootprints in the foot-deep snow. At least for a mile or so. Then the footsteps abruptly retreated back down the mountain, all except a set of deer tracks that soldiered on. To heck with people, I thought. I’ll go with the deer. Onward and upward I continued.

Periodically, I stopped to try and reconnoiter my position with the CMC map. As the logging roads forked I chose the one that seemed the most likely to take me up to the ridgeline and the Fork Mountain Trail. But none of these roads seemed interested in reaching the ridge. I’d follow a spur line for 15 minutes, but at some point, usually tantalizingly close to the top, the trail would peter out. At one point I was within 200 vertical feet of the ridge, but with no easy way to get there. I should have been frustrated. And yet … .

And yet, I was hiking in a North Carolina forest with a foot of snow on the ground. The sky was cloudless much of the day, the temperature in the low 40s. Because of the snow, it was remarkably quiet. And I had zero chance of getting lost, since my lone set of bootprints followed me whereever I went. I hiked for about four hours, covered about nine miles, returned to the car exhausted and elated. And befuddled.

I was even moreso after getting home and downloading my GPS. I had assumed that I was hiking well north of where I should have been. In fact, I was a little south. But at some point, according to my GPS and the CMC map, I should have crossed paths with the actual trail. Multiple times, in fact. At my zenith, 200 feet from the ridge, the electronic topo gives the impression of a ridiculously easy scamper to the ridge. I close my eyes, picture the reality and sigh. I’m baffled, then elated. There’s only one way to solve this mystery, I realize.

A return trip.

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