Oh, Beth, let's keep your Black Gum Hill house open year 'round! It's just sad to say good bye to the house each year, and I think it was especially hard this year. We all have been through so much over this past year and this mountain home has been such a place of solace [...]
Sheer disappointment filled my heart as I walked this path. I had wanted to complete the Six Peak challenge but was denied the opportunity because the Blue Ridge Parkway was closed due to icy conditions. A large metal gate with a "Road Closed" sign stretched across the roadway and sort of meant what it said! [...]
I love taking off on a Sunday afternoon and driving up to North Carolina, and Dry Falls is always a favorite destination. But it has been years since I have walked down the steps and stood behind the falls. Last year, I was in the middle of Chemo treatments and knew that even though the [...]
Behind me is where Elisha Mitchell is buried. He dedicated his life to this mountain; and sadly, he died while trying to cross a waterfall near the mountain. He is also the person, who bushwhacked the Old Mt. Mitchell trail. Mt. Mitchell is one of those places that stands apart from the ordinary. It's dramatic [...]
Earlier in the summer, I almost hiked Black Balsam Bald, but stopped before I reached the summit because I had not hiked that far in well over a year! For almost eight months, I dealt with Chemo treatments, and I walked very little. Once I healed from the initial surgery, we would all pile into [...]
This is a longer than normal post, but I wrote it so I would remember this adventure with friends and fellow bear trackers! We always sit on this porch in Balsam, North Carolina, and look out to the mountains in front of us and wonder about their location. We knew the Blue Ridge Parkway runs [...]
During my trip to Balsam in July, I got this really wild and crazy idea—hike at least six of the over 6,000 peaks in North Carolina and Tennessee. There are supposed to be 40 of these. We've made a commitment to hiking six before the first of the year! So, far we have hiked four [...]
Recovery from Chemo is my primary goal—not really hiking the longest trail right now. Though most of you know I want to hike longer until I can go back to the Len Foote Hike Inn in the fall. At five miles in and five miles out, that feels like a stretch, but I'm going to [...]
