<![CDATA[A Trail Life

<![CDATA[A Trail Life - Blog]]>Fri, 24 May 2013 08:13:00 -0500Weebly<![CDATA[Pic of the Day!]]>Thu, 23 May 2013 14:31:51 GMThttp://www.atraillife.com/1/post/2013/05/pic-of-the-day15.htmlOur goal is to post a picture every weekday. You can see the latest pic on our homepage and you can see all of the past entries by clicking here.

This was the view from our tent when we woke up on the AT one morning. It had been raining off and on, but was sunny for the moment. There is something fascinating about watching a storm one mountain range over, while you sit in sunshine, hoping the rain cloud doesn't come towards you next. (spoiler alert - it did).

Any guesses which bald we are on?? Hint, it is shortly after the Smokies.

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]]><![CDATA[Pic of the Day!]]>Wed, 22 May 2013 21:54:03 GMThttp://www.atraillife.com/1/post/2013/05/pic-of-the-day14.htmlOur goal is to post a picture every weekday. You can see the latest pic on our homepage and you can see all of the past entries by clicking here.

Ahh, the Blue Ridge Parkway. Since the first time I crossed this road in 2007 on the Appalachian Trail, I've had a fascination with the Parkway. For those of you who haven't been or don't know, the BRP is 469 miles long, stretching along the Appalachian Mountains from the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina all the way to the Shenandoah National Park in Northwest Virginia. I've read that 17 million people hop on the parkway somewhere along the way, exploring either by foot, bike, automobile, motorcycle, camper or bus. Driving the parkway is like hiking in your car and a complete trip from one end to the other would be a fantastic vacation.

Anyway, now that we live less than a mile from the BRP, it's become my go to road for getting in and out of Pisgah National Forest. Even the dog get's excited when I make the turn on to it. In the coming days and months, you will be seeing many trips that begin off the Blue Ridge Parkway. This is one highly recommended destination spot and A Trail Life favorite!

]]><![CDATA[Trail Days 2013]]>Wed, 22 May 2013 02:09:52 GMThttp://www.atraillife.com/1/post/2013/05/trail-days-2013.htmlLast weekend was the Trail Days festival in Damascus, VA. If you aren't familiar, it's a really large gathering of hikers and vendors that love the Appalachian Trail. Thru-hikers from all years, including the current class, come back to celebrate. It's an awesomely fun time and we look forward to it every year. This year was especially fun because we hiked last year and moved away from Damascus afterwards so the trip back was a reunion of all kinds. Good stuff.

So on Friday, we packed up and drove from Asheville, NC to Damascus, VA. It's such a beautiful drive and we soaked up all of the views.

We pulled into Damascus and went straight to the brewery to meet up with friends. One of our friends, Firecracker, opened The Damascus Brewery and his beer is really good - go check it out and tell him we said hello.

Saturday morning we just walked around town, saying hello to old friends and checking out some of our favorite booths in the town park. Tons of vendors, both large and small, set up in the town park and out at tent city. You can check out all of the latest gear, pick up a souvenir or grab a snack.

Two of our favorites are (THE) honey candies and Jewelry by Wonder. I'm not a big shopper and I don't get excited about buying new stuff, but I look forward to getting new earrings each year. It's the one time I buy earrings and I get 4-5 new pairs each time I see Wonder. Her stuff is so earthy and cute - I just love it. There's a giveaway in the near future, that's for sure.

After that we made our way to the parade. Unfortunately, if you've read anything about this year's parade, you know that there was a terrible accident in which a man suffering from a stroke drove his car into the hikers who were walking in the parade. You can read more about it here.

Serial and I were walking in the parade when it happened. We had just passed our local Damascus friends (who had soaked us with water guns) and we were making our way towards downtown. We had been separated from our hiker friends a little and were walking with a group we didn't know well. Very suddenly, we felt a commotion behind us and before we could process what was happening, a car had hit several hikers to the right of us and then stopped on top of two of them. It was far enough away (5 ft? 8 ft? I don't know) that I didn't feel like we were going to be hit, but close enough that we saw and heard what happened.

Hikers and rescue workers stepped in very, very quickly to lift the car off of the trapped hikers and to provide medical care for those who needed it. It was an amazing thing to witness and no one hesitated. There was confusion and anger (at this point no one knew if it was intentional or accidental), but mostly care and compassion. Everyone was helping to make sure that the EMS crew could do their work.

We made our way to a friends house and listened as medical helicopters made their way to town and transported the victims to nearby hospitals. I'd be lying if I said the mood was anything other than dark and sad. It was all still very confusing and facts weren't available yet.

Some time later, when word got out that the hikers would be okay and none of them were in life-threatening situations, we all breathed easier. It was confirmed to be an accident and not an intentional act. Things were feeling a little less heavy.

On Sunday, we decided to join our trail friends in the Grayson Highlands. We parked at Massie Gap and walked a little ways in so that we could see some ponies and take in the scenery. The Graysons are a magical place for me and even though it was foggy and rainy, it was a fantastic trip and the perfect end to the weekend.

I'll leave you with one last image. Well, three actually. These portraits are hanging in Mojoe's Coffeehouse and are part of a series that Michael Wright is currently shooting, that captures hikers and locals. He's the owner of Mojoe's and Sundog Outfitter and he teaches photography at Emory & Henry. The man knows what he's doing with a camera and I can't wait until he turns these portraits into a coffee book.

So.... who can name these hikers and trail legends?!

]]><![CDATA[Warren Dunes State Park]]>Mon, 20 May 2013 14:33:55 GMThttp://www.atraillife.com/1/post/2013/05/warren-dunes-state-park.htmlThis post is part of a series on Chicagoland Parks. You can read more about how we are finding the woods while living in the city here. You can read all of the posts in this series here.

Wow!!! This may be the best (certainly my favorite) outdoor spot near Chicago. Located about 1.5 hours away from downtown, Warren Dunes State Park is worth the extra journey past Indiana Dunes State Park (coming from Chicago).

I happened to stumble upon this State Park the other day when I was returning home from visiting family in Detroit. Typically, when I wanted to explore some dunes in Southwest Michigan, I would stop at the Indiana Dunes State Park. With plenty of space and "wilderness" area, I thought it couldn't get any better that. Boy was I wrong. What makes Warren Dunes different is the size of the sandy, dune area. From the parking lot, it seemed to be about a quarter to half mile to the lake and there was some elevation loss down to the water. It was tons of fun to run in the sand downhill, but coming back up was a serious workout, a total calf/hammy/glute - blast.

There was no one else there and the dog could run free. I'm so glad I found this park and plan on taking Jill there when we are back in the area. If you live near Southwest Michigan, this State Park is well worth the drive out and is a place one could easily spend an entire day.

Rooney checking out Lake Michigan

]]><![CDATA[Pic of the Day!]]>Fri, 17 May 2013 12:08:20 GMThttp://www.atraillife.com/1/post/2013/05/pic-of-the-day13.htmlOur goal is to post a picture every weekday. You can see the latest pic on our homepage and you can see all of the past entries by clicking here.

Photo credit: Richard Smith, https://picasaweb.google.com/damascusvirginia/

It's that time of year again - Trail Days! For those who aren't familiar with Trail Days, it's a weekend-long hiker festival that takes place in Damascus, VA. Since we used to live there and we hiked the trail last year, this should be a really fun year for us. We will get to reunite with friends from D-town and friends from the trail all in one place!

There will be vendors set up, a hiker parade (seen in the picture above) and something like 10,000 hikers in town. Most set up their tents in a section of town that is lovingly called Tent City. It's a mess of people, dogs, businesses and fun. Can't wait!

Just for reference - here's a picture of what the town looks like before the parade. Beautiful, right?

Photo credit: Richard Smith, https://picasaweb.google.com/damascusvirginia/

]]><![CDATA[Pic of the Day!]]>Wed, 15 May 2013 18:16:32 GMThttp://www.atraillife.com/1/post/2013/05/pic-of-the-day12.htmlOur goal is to post a picture every weekday. You can see the latest pic on our homepage and you can see all of the past entries by clicking here.

A very common sight in the Shenandoah National Park. Rooney kept a lot of animals at a distance from us (we only saw one bear each during the whole 4 months - and only when Rooney was with the other person), but the deer in the Shennys were bold.

One time, I (Jill) was walking alone and was in the zone so I didn't see a deer up ahead, just off the trail. He waited quietly until I was very close and then snorted really loudly, less than a foot from my ear. I screamed and he bolted. Ah, life on the AT ;-)

]]><![CDATA[The Move to Asheville, NC]]>Tue, 14 May 2013 17:50:22 GMThttp://www.atraillife.com/1/post/2013/05/the-move-to-asheville-nc.htmlIt's official - we've moved to Asheville! A few months ago we started playing around with the idea of moving back to the Southeast and implanting ourselves in the mountains yet again. We weighed our options and finally decided to go for it.

Now that we're here and in the process of getting settled, we wanted to do a quick recap of how the move went. Overall, we definitely had a couple of hiccups along the way, but it all worked out and in some cases it was a total blessing in disguise.

We went back and forth on using a moving service or driving everything down ourselves. We don't have much in terms of "stuff" but we couldn't fit it in our car like last time we moved (we massively downsized before the trail). Sooo we researched options and found that I get a hefty work discount on ABT Relocubes. They're basically like Pods, but a different company. It was cheaper than renting a truck and we don't have to drive a truck through the mountains? Sold!

The idea is pretty simple - you have 3 days to load a Relocube at your starting destination, then the company takes 3-4 days to drive the cube to your new home on a semi. The cube is dropped off in your driveway and you have 3 days to unload the cube. Then the empty cube is picked up. Chicago is weird and won't allow cubes to be delivered in the city so we had to load it at the terminal, but if you lived in a different city you could do door-to-door service. Awesome, right?

So last Wednesday, 95% of the stuff that we own was loaded into one cube and shipped off to NC. Then on Saturday, we packed up the rest of our stuff, crammed into into the car, and started the drive down to NC.

Rooney was less than thrilled with his accommodations. Big dog, small space.

Sporting the Wings flag, leading up to Game 7. I'm sorry, Chicago, Serial wins on this one.

We stopped a few times along the way, for snacks and to explore state parks. We always do this on road trips, which turns a 10 hour drive into a 13 hour drive, but it's roughly 200% more fun that way. One of the parks we checked out was Big Bone Lick State Park in Kentucky. Go ahead, take a second to fully appreciate the name.

It was a cool area and definitely had locals there enjoying the day and fishing. I bet it's packed in the summertime. We just wandered and let Rooney burn off some energy, nothing too time consuming or difficult, but it gave us an energy boost to keep driving.

Get in where ya fit in, Roon.

Checking out the mountains as they first start coming into view.

Mountains!

The drive was actually really nice and we arrived in Asheville sometime around 11 or 11:30pm. We grabbed dinner and excitedly made our way to our new home. Serial had never seen it (Jill was the one who viewed it and signed the lease, while on a work trip) so we were excited to check it out together. Remember those hiccups I mentioned? Right, so this is where the first one popped up.

The keys weren't in the mailbox as planned. Our landlord forgot and she wasn't answering her phone (it was about midnight now). We went to her house (she's our neighbor) and she didn't answer the door. Blerg. There was no room to sleep in the car and we didn't have a tent (not to mention our energy levels were low and our annoyance levels were high) so we made our way to a motel for the night. Remember the blessings in disguise? We got to sleep in a bed and our landlord reimbursed us - it was actually a lot better than crashing on the floor of our new house.

The next day we slept in a little then met our landlord at the house. Serial loved the house (yay!) and we were excited to start moving our stuff in. But wait, another hiccup. The house hasn't been cleaned and the prior tenants dust/garbage/general grossness was still lingering. Our water wasn't turned on. The lawn was overgrown and there was a good amount of dog poop in the backyard. Sigh - this house was not ready for us.

In defense of our landlord, who we really like, she quickly remedied the situation by arranging for her nephew to come mow the lawn and by reimbursing us for the cleaning that we had to do ourselves. Hiccups gone!

OK, so we got the water turned on and decided to just go for a quick drive & hike along the Blue Ridge Parkway to clear our heads before we started cleaning and unpacking. GREAT IDEA. We love the BRP and it's right in our backyard - we're once again feeling fantastic about our decision to move here.

View from the BRP

Forest road on the BRP

Monday morning we got our internet up and running so Jill could get back to work. Serial kept cleaning and basically did all of the grimy work. Rooney played in his new backyard and met his new doggy neighbors. We were waiting for the cube to be delivered and ready to start getting our furniture set up.

Hiccup. The cube never arrived and we called to find out where it was. Turns out it was sitting at the terminal and they had the wrong phone number for us. *sigh* We work out the details, but they aren't able to deliver our cube until Wednesday now. No biggie, it gives us more time to clean and prep for the big stuff.

So that's where we're at now - exploring our new city and living in a relatively empty house. Life is good and we're excited to start making this home our own. We'll be back this week with pics of the house so stay tuned!

Rooney is wondering where all of the comfy furniture went.

]]><![CDATA[Pic of the Day!]]>Tue, 14 May 2013 13:18:44 GMThttp://www.atraillife.com/1/post/2013/05/pic-of-the-day11.htmlOur goal is to post a picture every weekday. You can see the latest pic on our homepage and you can see all of the past entries by clicking here.

Oh yes, friends. Your eyes are not betraying you. We are back in the mountains! It was a hectic weekend of moving and trying to get situated in our new home, but we are finally here in Asheville. To celebrate we went for a little drive up the Blue Ridge Parkway (we live right off of it) and explored some of the trails nearby. This pic is from the BRP right near our home. I can't wait to see this view in the fall when the colors are popping - can you just imagine it?

]]><![CDATA[Goose Lake Prairie State Park]]>Fri, 10 May 2013 16:11:15 GMThttp://www.atraillife.com/1/post/2013/05/goose-lake-prairie-state-park.html

Goose Lake Prairie State Park was one of the best outdoor experiences I've had yet in Chicago. With over 2,500 acres of land, Goose Lake Prairie has plenty of space to explore, open areas for Rooney to run and several lakes for him to swim. We went on a warm Wednesday mid-afternoon and there was nobody around, which was perfect!

Located about an hour south of downtown Chicago, Goose Lake Prairie is close enough to make a quick day trip to and expansive enough to spend an entire day at. There is a large picnic area with a playground in the park as well, making this a great place for a whole family outing.

I've been to over 15 state parks and forest preserves in the area and this one maybe my favorite. There was so much space to wander and the prairie landscape so impressive, it was simply fantastic. Highly recommended for folks living in the Chicagoland area that are looking for some nature, Goose Lake Prairie is a gem worth exploring!

This trail, whose name I can't remember, begins at the Visitor Center and was actually recommended to me by the lovely lady working the gift shop. Though I don't know the exact distance, it felt like a 2.5 to 3 mile round trip. There was a bit of flooding and wetness, but nothing that took away from my fun.

From atop the largest hill in the park, an awesome view is had of the entire park.

Obligatory Rooney Action Pics

]]><![CDATA[Pic of the Day!]]>Thu, 09 May 2013 13:05:49 GMThttp://www.atraillife.com/1/post/2013/05/pic-of-the-day10.htmlOur goal is to post a picture every weekday. You can see the latest pic on our homepage and you can see all of the past entries by clicking here.

Last year in April, after climbing the stairs and making our way up the Approach Trail, we were greeted with this beauty. Ready, set, hike!

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