Bailey Mountain Preserve

| March 25, 2024

Bailey Mountain Preserve

1.33 miles; 233-ft. total ascent; Mars Hill, NC Yep, it’s Auntie. I apologize for the long LONG hiatus. In my defense, I spent most of last year moving from rental to rental, and then finally in August into my new house. But I also admit I’ve kind of just let things slide. An osteoporosis diagnosis […]

Big Butt Mushroom Walk

| August 25, 2022

Big Butt Mushroom Walk

1.1 miles; 131 ft. total ascent; Black Mountain, NC Another day another mushroom walk. Seems like this is the only way I get out into the woods anymore. Gotta do something about that. Anyway… This is the other end of the Big Butt Trail wildflower walk I did back in May. [Imma refrain from the […]

Purchase Knob Mushroom Walk

| August 20, 2022

Purchase Knob Mushroom Walk

1.2 miles; 109 ft. total ascent; Waynesville, NC This was another Asheville Mushroom Club excursion, and it wasn’t till I got here that I realized I’d hiked here before, back in June of 2020. Last time I had to make the loooong walk up the road from the gate, but because the club was doing […]

Gorges SP Mushroom Walk

| July 22, 2022

Gorges SP Mushroom Walk

1.71 miles; 184 ft. total ascent; Sapphire, NC As you may or may not know, I am a member of the Asheville Mushroom Club (AMC—not to be confused with the Appalachian Mountain Club). The club sponsors walks or “forays” for club members, and creates species lists based on our finds. These species lists are sometimes […]

Big Butt Wildflower Walk

| May 5, 2022

Big Butt Wildflower Walk

1 mile; 303 ft. total elevation gain; Pensacola Township, NC This was a Wildflower Foray sponsored by the Asheville Mushroom Club (I know, right?), so as such, it took us over 3 hours to walk 1 mile along this trail. And the road TO the trailhead was a serious adventure, too, in that it was […]

Appalachian Trail: Lovers’ Leap Loop

| April 11, 2022

Appalachian Trail: Lovers' Leap Loop

1.81 miles; 367 ft. total elevation gain; Hot Springs, NC I did start out with the best of intentions on this hike, I really did. I meant to do a longer route called the Pump Gap Loop which includes a bigger section of the Appalachian Trail but, well, it was HARD, as in steep and […]