Wilkie, Tower, and Twixt Trails, Dupont SF

| August 31, 2022

Wilkie, Tower, and Twixt Trails, Dupont SF

3.93 miles; 365-ft. total ascent; Cedar Mountain, NC So if you read my last post about how I never get out into the woods unless it’s on a mushroom foray… Today I went hiking with my new friend (she of the Ferguson Peak trail). I’ve been wanting to go to the Dupont State Recreational Forest […]

Ferguson Peak Trail

| July 18, 2022

Ferguson Peak Trail

3.25 miles; 673 ft. total elevation gain; Gerton, NC This was a very serendipitous hike, in that I met a new friend when I went to my volunteer gig at the Botanical Gardens at Asheville, and we hit it off so totally that we made a date to hike together. She took me to this […]

Big Laurel, Alarka Creek Headwaters

| May 1, 2022

Big Laurel, Alarka Creek Headwaters

2.51 miles; 183 ft. total elevation gain; Bryson City, NC This was the second guided hike I signed up for as part of the NC Wild Plant Society’s Spring Hiking Weekend (see my earlier post about this event in case you missed it). It was considerably less arduous than yesterday’s hike, but simply fascinating, botanically. […]

Lake Junaluska

| March 28, 2022

Lake Junaluska

3.76 miles; 276 ft. total elevation gain; Waynesville, NC This walk had been on my radar for a while now, so I finally made the trip out to Waynesville to visit. It definitely qualifies as an “Easy Walk,” in that it’s pretty flat, and all either paved or sidewalks, and even has a shortcut you […]

Beaver Lake

| January 1, 2022

Beaver Lake

2.25 miles; 16 ft. total ascent; Asheville, NC This post is a composite of many, many walks around this pretty suburban lake. I’m here at least once a week. Beaver Lake is part private park, Lakeview Park, and part Audubon Bird Sanctuary. You can also rent boats and kayaks here in the summer. The bird […]

Jane Bald from Carver’s Gap

| September 24, 2021

Jane Bald from Carver's Gap

3.27 miles; 613 ft. total elevation; Roan Mountain, TN Whew. It’s not a lot of mileage, but it’s probably one of the most spectacular hikes I’ve ever done. I got the idea to try to hit some sections of the Appalachian Trail, since it’s really not far from where I am nowadays, and I picked […]