Hiking in North Carolina

*Interactive Post* Place names are links, check them out!

 

Growing up in Vermont my brother and I were romping around in the Green Mountians since we were able to romp around anywhere. This was encouraged by our parents are grandparents who would bring us on nature adventures hiking, to camp, to canada, exploring the backyard. As a result both of us have a deep love of nature. My brother having found the woman who he wants to spend his life with (coinceidently Lynn is also my best friend) has been hiking every chance they get. So when I go visit them we go hiking. Last time I was in the Ashville, NC area it was my birthday and it was POURING, but we went hiking anyhow. This weekend it was beautiful and so the hiking was much more enjoyable. We went for a 5 mile hike up Crowders Mountain. It was so clear that we were able to see downtown Charlotte from the top. 

 

 On Saturday it was Lynns bachelorette party ziplining at Navitat lots of fun was had! 10 different ziplines and they're adding more next year! Not your traditional bachelorette party, but definately a good time.

 

On that same day of the bachelorette party Jason went hiking and he ended up off the Blue Ridge Parkway on a piece of the Art Loeb Trail. He came back saying that he had found a great place to take us. After reading A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson I've always been curious about grassy balds around this area. They are only found in a small area of the the Appalachians, and they are a unique biome. When Jason told me that he was going to take Lynn and I back there I was excited. The only way I could have described it was hiking out west. Because you could see for miles and the country was open, the tallest thing was about a 4 foot tall thicket, but mostly it was grassy. We were up about 6000 feet at the summit.

 

I've been wanting to go hiking all this winter to relieve some cumlative stress. Being in the woods has always given me a sense of the awesome world that we live in. Places that seem unexplored, and untainted wash away stress from our socially tangled worlds.