Hiking the Manitou Incline is not for the faint of heart. Those looking to tackle the Incline should start stretching now. The average grade for the .9 distance averages 41% and climbs to 68% in some areas. You don’t have to dust off your 8th-Grade Protractor to visualize the steepness of the Manitou Incline. Trail [...]
I started planning a fall weekend camping trip at Hanging Rock State Park at the first sign of cooler weather. Located in Stokes County, North Carolina, 30 miles north of Winston-Salem, the mountains slowly rise from the ground the closer you edge toward the state park. Desperately needing a change of scenery, my best friend [...]
The Tallulah Gorge State Park wasn’t my first choice when planning my day of hiking, but it ended up being the best choice. I spent the morning driving the winding road to Anne Ruby Falls, only to find it closed. Determined not to be discouraged by Google Maps’ failure to provide accurate information, I decided [...]
The humidity in Florida has been less repressive for the last week. So, taking advantage of the slightly comfortable weather and needing to break in my new hiking boots, I set out to visit the Hillsborough River State Park. The chaos of Tampa melts into the background as you turn off Highway 301, and towering [...]
The morning of my visit to Point Lobos State Natural Reserve was a balmy day. The clouds hovered at the tips of the mountains like pennants on flag poles as we drove south from Monterey. Did I mention it’s July, and I’m wearing a sweater? Being a native Floridian, the concept of temperatures lower than [...]
Hiking the Grand Canyon is a bucket list item I was not willing to pass up along our road trip. Being one of seven natural wonders of the world, we planned the entire road trip around making sure we could spend the day hiking and taking in the sights. We allotted a little over six [...]
Last summer for my birthday, Aaron and I when on an 11-mile hike in the Smoky Mountains National Park. I didn’t have on the right sock, shoes, or warm outerwear. It was a disaster. If you want to read the full experience I wrote about it in a blog post; Birthday Weekend. That hike took [...]
I feel like all blog posts now begin with during COVID or before COVID, I had plans to or want to do x, y, and z (you fill in the blank). I wanted to spend my Birthday weekend with Aaron in the mountains. We looked into Airbnbs to rent and different places to visit months [...]
