Coming home with nice pictures changes the whole complexion of my hikes. Case in point: I hiked just over 11 miles Sunday on the trails of Piedmont Environmental Center, about 30 miles east of my doorstep. The hiking’s just bumpy…
Monthly Archives: January 2011
First look at Crowders Mountain State Park
by tom • January 9, 2011 • 6 Comments
Weekends usually put the crowd in Crowders Mountain, the state park closest to Charlotte (metro area population 1.7 million), but the trails tend to be clear on January mornings when red’s all but gone from the thermometer. I started out…
First Hike of 2011: Lower Cascade Falls and Cook’s Wall
by tom • January 2, 2011 • 2 Comments
My New Year’s resolution is to hike a new trail every weekend. But coming up with a resolution was about as ambitious as I got Sunday morning, as I was satisfied with a jaunt to trusty ol’ Hanging Rock State…
The right time to ping your rescue beacon
by tom • January 1, 2011 • 1 Comment
This little news item from California reminded me there are right and wrong times to ping your rescue beacon. Scenario: Two guys go out winter camping, get caught in a white-out almost immediately. Snow covers their tracks and they get…