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
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
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
July 18, 2023 Little River Trail is not that difficult of a hike at 6.4 miles long and 1,202’ of elevation gain, but today it was hard. The Canadian wildfires continued to waft in huge amounts of smoke and the weather was extremely hot and humid. The trail is a forest service style road for … More Little River Trail, Rough Creek Trail
July 17, 2023 I am not entirely sure of the genesis of the word “goshen”. Biblically, the land of Goshen was the Hebrew name for an area of the Nile in ancient Egypt. A goshen point is a lance-liked, concave projectile point used by Paleo-Indians. According to Appalachian Trail Names: Origins of Place Names Along … More Goshen Prong Trail
July 16, 2023 As someone who loves hiking and spending time in nature, Miry Ridge Trail is one of the best trails I have encountered. In the past I have written of the anthropomorphic qualities of hiking trails. Miry is the enchanting, high elevation siren beckoning the passerby. On this day it was amazing. I … More Lynn Camp Prong Trail, Miry Ridge Trail (1/2), Greenbrier Ridge Trail
July 14, 2023 The second portion of completing all the (Tennessee) trails in the Smokies during my sabbatical started with a nice, albeit hot hike out of Elkmont campground. It was too much in this heat wave to hike all the trails between upper Tremont and Elkmont, so I broke them up into two hikes. … More Jakes Creek Trail, Miry Ridge Trail (1/2)