Unexpected Arizona
I thought Arizona would be flat, and mostly brown. I was wrong. We woke up early to begin the long drive to Tucson from Holbrook. I wasn’t really looking forward to it because I thought the landscape wouldn’t be very interesting. Around an hour into the drive is when we learned that Arizona has mountains. […]
Under the Blue Ridge Parkway
Driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway, we discovered a trail during a stop at an overlook. The trail weaved through and around giant boulders, and followed the path of the Blue Ridge Parkway, underneath the busy scenic road. This stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway road is the Linn Cove Viaduct, which wraps around the […]
Mountain Cows
I could hardly believe it when we reached the top of Bearwallow mountain. A herd of cows gently grazing on the mountain top meadow. I was hoping to just see one cow, as the hiking guide had mentioned, so I was overjoyed when I saw so many of them! The cows were really friendly and […]
Bearwallow Mountain
Weeks ago on our short trip to Asheville I was trying to decide on a hike to go on. My decision ended up being pretty easy when I read about one that mentioned the possibility of seeing some cows at the top of Bearwallow mountain. We took the 30 minute drive to Bearwallow mountain from […]
The Big Hike to Hawksbill Mountain
I never posted the pictures from the Big Hike last fall. It was a one mile hike to the top of a mountain that stood tall along the Blue Ridge mountain range. Towards the end of the hike the trail was nearly straight up the side of the mountain! The views from the top of Hawksbill Mountain […]
Falls in the Graveyard Fields
I love discovering new places on the blue ridge parkway. Some places are a long and difficult hike to get to, others are just a quick walk down some wooden stairs. The quick walk down the wooden stairs at Graveyard Fields led to a peaceful rocky stream. I would have liked to stay here and […]
Graveyard Fields
Somewhere along the Blue Ridge Parkway, a little south of Asheville, is a meadow called Graveyard Fields. There isn’t a gravestone in sight though. The name came from a vast amount of trees that had been snapped in half during a violent storm and then resembled graves. But that was many many years ago. […]
Driving on Mars
During the dive away from the Grand Canyon, towards northern Arizona, the landscape grew more and more like nothing I had ever seen. Around every curve was an entire new world. It was a valley, with sharp red cliffs rising up to the sky. Then around just another curve, the road was on the top […]
When the Mountains Looked Small
Flying back from Houston, the plane took a detour to go around an enormous lightning storm. The detour meant I got to fly over the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was my third time flying, and the first time ever seeing mountains from a plane, so with my face pressed right up against the glass I started snapping […]
The BIG Hike
When planning a trip to explore the mountains, I wanted to include a hike; one we hadn’t been on before. On a quick search I found a trail to the top of Hawksbill Mountain. It was labeled as moderate, 2.2 miles round trip, with 360 views of the mountain range. That was the one! During the […]