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.
Category Archives: Hiking
Raven Rock: a splash of green in the dead of winter
Much as I love snow, and we’ve had more than our share so far this season, the attendant cold and gray that often accompanies it gets old after a while. I can’t do anything about the cold, rather than bundle up. But there is a place or two where I can battle the gray. One of which is the Little Creek Trail at Raven Rock State Park near Lillington.
Hike, spike, bike this weekend in North Carolina
Resolve to be more active in 2011 by checking out one of these three events this weekend.
Mountains
Frankly, I can’t think of a better way to get the juices flowing the second week of January than on a hike, a mountain hike. A 9.8-mile mountain hike that gains 2,000 feet of total elevation, flirts with an elevation of one mile, takes in frozen waterfalls and promises great winter views in the Shining Rock area. That’s what the Carolina Mountain Club has in mind for this Sunday when it takes on the Seniard Ridge Loop in the Pisgah National Forest west of Asheville in the Looking Glass Falls area. Because of the potentially dicey footing, trekking poles and YakTrax (or a similar traction device) are recommended.
Here’s where to hike in the New Year!
For me — and thousands of others in North Carolina — it’s as much a New Year’s Day tradition as black-eye peas and college football: the New Year’s Day hike. Make it a tradition for yourself as well, whether it’s to shake out the cobwebs from ushering 2010 out the door or, on a more progressive note, to get your year off to a healthy start. A walk through the woods can’t help but put you in a good frame of mind for the year ahead.
A white Christmas followed by white adventure
I’ve been following the schizophrenic Christmas weather forecasts as closely as anyone. In part, because I love a white Christmas and haven’t seen one since the Denver blizzard of ’82. I’m also keeping a close watch to see whether I should dig out the cross-country skis (in the event of 6 inches or more), the sled (a minimum of 3 inches), or the hiking boots (a photogenic dusting).