December 29, 2025 Mayo River State Park on a day when the wind moved steadily through the bare trees, lifting leaves, worrying branches, pushing us along the trail as if the land itself were in motion. Bear kept pace, small and intent, ears flattened, occasionally stopping to read the ground before hurrying on. Winter removes … More Mayo River State Park
December 27, 2025 There’s something quietly grounding about walking into a place shaped as much by human ambition as by time itself. Bear and I spent the day wandering Lake Norman State Park, and it felt less like a hike and more like a long conversation between past and present. Lake Norman is often introduced as … More Lake Norman State Park
December 26, 2025 Bear, the Boardwalk, and the Forest That Wouldn’t Be Sold A winter walk through Congaree National Park Congaree doesn’t rise to meet you. It doesn’t posture or flex. It waits. Bear and I arrived on a warm, quiet day, the kind of winter morning when the understory thins out and the forest finally … More Congaree National Park
December 21, 2025 I’m on a mission: visit every North Carolina State Park. Not “someday.” Not “I should.” This year (2026). And we started where the Piedmont lifts its chin and remembers it used to be a real mountain range. My daughter and I drove out to Morrow Mountain State Park in Stanly County. She brought along her … More Morrow Mountain State Park
SweetWilder went quiet for a while. Not because the wild went away, but because life asked for a different kind of attention. Less summit chasing, more staying put. Less counting miles, more counting moments. The last couple of years were not barren. They were busy in a deeper register. I became a full participant in … More SweetWilder, Again
June 23, 2024 I thought often of Harry Middleton’s seminal work, On the Spine of Time, while hiking Hazel Creek Trail. Writing a love letter to the mountains and its people as much as to fly fishing, he had this to say about the Smokies in the chapter “Bagpipes on Hazel Creek:” “There is something in me … More Hazel Creek Trail
May 12-13, 2024 As I finish the Smoky 900 (all the trails of the Smokies), one loop has eluded me for a while: a 32.7-mile circuit consisting of up the Appalachian Trail from Fontana to Spence Field Shelter, and then down Eagle Creek Trail. Eagle Creek was one of those trails that I had read … More Eagle Creek Trail
November 24, 2023 This nearly 20-mile trek is known as the Siler Bald Loop. It starts and ends at Clingmans Dome. The elevation gain is 4,326 ft. and you feel every inch of that going up Forney Creek. I really enjoyed this hike, albeit going down Jonas was more enjoyable than the trek back to … More Jonas Creek Trail, Forney Creek Trail
November 20, 2023 Normally, I would write a blog post, but my good friend Perry accompanied me on a hike last fall deep into the heart of the Smokies and wrote a stellar write-up: https://heartofthecowees.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-great-smokies-piscatorial-shambhala.html Total mileage is 16.2 miles.
July 30, 2023 The hiking loop from Fontana Dam to Shuckstack Tower, down Lost Cove Loop and return to the trailhead via the Lakeshore Trail is an interesting reminder of the genesis of this region. The modern history of the mountains of North Carolina was marked by several events: the history of Indigenous stewardship and … More Lost Cove Trail